Propoerty marketed as a 3-bed but in fact a 2-bed with loft room

kakasha

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

If this is your dream house that you plan to live out the rest of your days in, the fire safety of the loft room isn't important to you, and you can afford it then no reason not to carry on as you were.
If not, you've got a problem.

We are planning to spend there about 5 years probably but we might end up staying longer. The loft room was supposed to be a guest room/storage rather than a bedroom.

My biggest problem is whether the price we're paying is really that much over what the property is worth? As mentioned in one of my previous posts, a 2-bed house in the same street just came on the market and the asking price for it is £10k higher than it was for our house (£12k below what we've offered to pay), and I'm assuming it will get sold for about the same price we're paying for the 2-bed with a loft room - but we have the loft room as a bonus, don't we?

The market has become so crazy it's really hard to keep up with what's still reasonable and what's not. Truth is properties are worth what people will to pay for them - not what the valuation says as it will usually be lower than the offered amount.

kakasha

smifffy1989 wrote: »

walk away sounds horrendous

I'm tired of walking away, and I need a house for my family.

notanewuser

kakasha wrote: »

We are planning to spend there about 5 years probably but we might end up staying longer. The loft room was supposed to be a guest room/storage rather than a bedroom.

My biggest problem is whether the price we're paying is really that much over what the property is worth? As mentioned in one of my previous posts, a 2-bed house in the same street just came on the market and the asking price for it is £10k higher than it was for our house (£12k below what we've offered to pay), and I'm assuming it will get sold for about the same price we're paying for the 2-bed with a loft room - but we have the loft room as a bonus, don't we?

The market has become so crazy it's really hard to keep up with what's still reasonable and what's not. Truth is properties are worth what people will to pay for them - not what the valuation says as it will usually be lower than the offered amount.

Potential death trap = bonus??!

I think you're insane.

notanewuser

kakasha wrote: »

I'm tired of walking away, and I need a house for my family.

At any price, hey?!

Errata

kakasha wrote: »

The market has become so crazy it's really hard to keep up with what's still reasonable and what's not. Truth is properties are worth what people will to pay for them - not what the valuation says as it will usually be lower than the offered amount.

Truth is, properties are worth what the mortgage lender says they are and sometimes they decide a property is unmortgageable. ie of no value to them.

mrginge

kakasha wrote: »

We made an offer 5.8% higher than the asking price. £30k makes 7.5% of the price we've offered to pay for it.

We have large deposit but getting the building regs to make the loft room a bedroom will probably cost us quite a lot (I've no idea but estimating about £15k?) which we don't have.

So we're talking a 380k asking, 400k offer and 370k valuation? and the downgrade from asking price is around a couple of percent. (Cba working it out ). So, effectively the vast majority of the difference is down to you over offering.
Sounds like you've shot yourselves in the foot, for a 'dream house' that you plan on living in for only five years???

You could go back and tell them you'll only pay the valuation. Tbh it's such a small amount if the vendors are sensible they may well accept it.
Fwiw if i was the vendor i'd probably go for it seeing as i'd still the getting >90% of asking.

kakasha

Errata wrote: »

Truth is, properties are worth what the mortgage lender says they are and sometimes they decide a property is unmortgageable. ie of no value to them.

In an ideal world - yes. But not in London. Example?

The 1st house we were buying was put on the market at £350k asking price. We offered £375k and then the sale fell through. The validation came at £360k as far as I remember. They put it back on the market - obviously at £375k, not £350k and sold the house for £405.

This is how this market works.

hazyjo

kakasha wrote: »

A local agency has just added a 2-bed house on the same street, similar standard and the asking price is £10k higher than the asking price for the property we're buying. The prices in the area are going up quickly and since last year they've increased by an average of 13% (according to Zoopla). There are some major developments planned for 2015 that I know about which will probably make the location even more desirable. .

Irrelevant what they're asking - it's what they've sold for that matters. Compare against sold prices, not asking prices. Also take no notice of zoopla price estimations, only their listed sold prices.


Jx

kakasha

mrginge wrote: »

So we're talking a 380k asking, 400k offer and 370k valuation? and the downgrade from asking price is around a couple of percent. (Cba working it out ). So, effectively the vast majority of the difference is down to you over offering.
Sounds like you've shot yourselves in the foot, for a 'dream house' that you plan on living in for only five years???

You could go back and tell them you'll only pay the valuation. Tbh it's such a small amount if the vendors are sensible they may well accept it.
Fwiw if i was the vendor i'd probably go for it seeing as i'd still the getting >90% of asking.

You are very correct The time we're planning to spend in the house will depend on the time we'll be living in London - however, our circumstances might change in a few years time, that's why I've said 5 years. The alternative solution would be to live in a crap/not dream house for those 5 years, or rent a place and be paying for someone else's mortgage. And after 5 or whatever years leave the city/country with no return on investment...

kakasha

hazyjo wrote: »

Irrelevant what they're asking - it's what they've sold for that matters. Compare against sold prices, not asking prices. Also take no notice of zoopla price estimations, only their listed sold prices.


Jx

I get that BUT properties in London (don't know where you're from) get sold for above the asking price - always. It used to be different back in the days but now you can forget about getting your offer accepted if you go under or just meet the asking price. I've been doing this for quite a while now so I know what I'm talking about. And it's not at all unusual for the vendor to ask for more money in the middle of the buying process - happened to us once, happened to a friend of mine and probably many many more. It's bad but as there are absolutely no regulations, you either go along or move out somewhere more sensible (i.e. Scotland).