Clearing a house : seller or buyer?

chickaroonee

Do you need a mortgage? I would think the mortgage company would say it was unmortgageable in its present state.

BJV

I think it is really sad for both sides. Sad as you could miss the house you want to buy and sad for the seller as anyone who can hoard like that must have some major issues.

Prothet_of_Doom

Think laterally. I'm assuming no need of mortgage here.

What is the WORST that could be hidden? How much extra would the worst cost to put right ?
How many skips would you need and what would they cost?

Calculate the worst case, and make him a fair offer, based, on you clearing it all up, and finding it's just a shell, with a roof.

Explain in writing how you've calculated your valuation.

Note that there might, just might be something valuable at the bottom of the pile. I dare you, to put every single item on ebay with a 99p start price.

uptomyeyeballs

chickaroonee wrote: »

Do you need a mortgage? I would think the mortgage company would say it was unmortgageable in its present state.

Yes we do.

chickaroonee

I'd check with a mortgage broker, but honestly I think there's a big problem then. Tough but what else can you do?

uptomyeyeballs

Interesting. It will be a 2nd home mortgage, so we'll only be looking for 75% of the amount (around £25k), but is it likely the mortgage co. would only offer 30-40%, or nothing at all? I guess we need to find a way of getting the survey done at least. That means clearing the house, but it might take 4 or 5 skips at c. £70 each, and if the survey reveals something else and we don't buy, then we'll have just cleared his house for free!!Any ideas?

Slinky

Why don't you buy the one next door?

uptomyeyeballs

Slinky wrote: »

Why don't you buy the one next door?

We like that house too, but it's a little expensive for us. The owner lives in that one and it's in decent nick. We'd be looking at £80k for purchase, so a £60k mortgage. Unfortunately we wouldn't be able to borrow that much, and couldn't raise the deposit.

It's also true that the state of the house next door will drag it's value down.

uptomyeyeballs

EvaCustard wrote: »

I think if he wants to sell his house, he's going to have to clear it out.

Are you happy to give him an ultimatum and walk away?

We've offered him his asking price, on the condition he clears it out. He's refused, so we've withdrawn the offer. His reply was that he's in no rush to sell. By the time he does decide to sell, his house will be virtually worthless, as it will have deteriorated further and as has been pointed out here, be virtually unmortgageable. His insurance will be invalid anyway, so if it burns down or floods he'll get nothing. He's frittering away his asset.

moneyistooshorttomention

Some people just cant/wont see sense (ie the seller in this case). You and I (and most other people) wouldn't let our precious asset sit there devaluing...but that's us.

My guess is that he was more "testing the water" or muttering the impulse of a moment regarding selling the house in the first place and, as others have pointed out, may not actually go through with it anyway.