Homebuyer Report - Advice

Reggie256

Looking for advice again if possible.

My wife and I are in the process of buying a house. Offer accepted, mortgage approved, survey's done. As part of the process we also decided to have a full homebuyer's report carried out.

The report arrived today; mostly '2's' but quite a few '3's' too. It also valued the property at 8k below what we offered/was accepted.

So what happens from here? Those #3's need attention, and most of the #2's are a bit of a concern. But having no experience in such matters - presumably the vendor wouldn't foot the bill for repairs, and if we're supposed to I guess we'd require quotes from a builder. The work required is potentially quite expensive.

So in view of all of this, do we revise the offer we placed with EA/vendor?

Hoploz

You need to find out what are necessary repairs and what will just be part of your ordinary home-owner maintenance. Then get an idea from a builder or roofer or whoever is relevant what the necessary repairs will cost. Then you decide whether or not you want to proceed in buying it, foot the bill yourself, or ask the seller for a contribution.

The reduction in valuation is a good negotiating tool. Was there a retention mentioned?

You can still go ahead with the same agreed price if your LTV is not affected, or it might cause you problems if you cannot finance the full amount if the lender won't lend as much as you need.

If you negotiate a discount you will need to inform the lender who will need to modify their offer accordingly.

Hoploz

If you aren't sure how serious some of the items are, post the basics of the points raised here, and people will give you their thoughts on whether the things are significant or less important.

Reggie256

Well, irrespective of how serious the items highlighted in the Homebuyers report may or may not be, we are being badgered by the EA and vendor to complete. The vendor doesn't want to pay another month's mortgage on the property and has, basically, said 'completion by the end of the month or I put it back on the market/rent it out again'.


We are visiting the property again on Saturday, both to confirm it is vacant possession and to allow a builder (known to the family for the past 25 years) to inspect the issues raised in the report. But as I said, we're being constantly badgered by the EA.


I have to admit, not sure how to proceed - we do want some idea of how much it might cost us to fix the issues noted in the report, and the house doesn't have gas or electricity safety certificates but the vendor doesn't seem willing to wait - her only concern is not having to pay another month on the mortgage on the house - our concerns is that we don't want to take out a mortgage of hundreds of thousands of pounds just to find that the house requires £XX more spent on repairs afterward.


What do we do?

Nick_C

I would suggest forwarding a copy of the HBR to the EA and say you are considering your position, although you are not withdrawing the offer at this stage. Ask him to forward it to the vendor for comments.

We withdrew an offer based on a HBR that highlighted problems we had not spotted on our visit.

Smodlet

Hi, without specifics as to what issues/areas require attention, it is difficult to offer any specific info/opinions but EAs need to learn how to speak to customers, imo. This is not the first post this week from someone who feels they are being pressured by their EA. You are the customer, not them!

It could be (hard even to guess without a little more to go on) that the seller knows what state the property is in and is desperate to off-load it, ideally to someone who has yet to realise they are (possibly) buying a money pit. They may well be under pressure to move as well if they are buying another property.

I would be polite but firm (unless you cannot bear to lose this house and want it in any condition) and say, "this is what the Homebuyer's Report has revealed, we require more information, especially costings before we proceed. We have arranged this for (date) Please tell the seller we look forward to seeing them then" or something along those lines.

Sounds to me as if this is one Homebuyer's Report worth every penny you paid for it. Good luck and please let us know how you get on.

davidmcn

Reggie256 wrote: »

the house doesn't have gas or electricity safety certificates

Along with 99% of other houses. I wouldn't worry about that. If there was expensive stuff needing done to the gas or electrics you'd probably have guessed at it by now.

Hoploz

How long has this been going on for? Badgering you to complete by the end of the month is a bit quick, unless you've been slow up till now. Ignore the EA until Saturday. I assume they realise something's up as you've had the survey then booked an appt to get someone to investigate further. It's all you can do.

If they start banging on about 'paying another month' on the mortgage, it's rubbish - if they've overpaid in advance it'll all be worked out on completion, so they'll get it back. You only pay the mortgage as long as you own the house!

DRP

Smodlet wrote: »

Hi, without specifics as to what issues/areas require attention, it is difficult to offer any specific info/opinions but EAs need to learn how to speak to customers, imo. This is not the first post this week from someone who feels they are being pressured by their EA. You are the customer, not them!

It could be (hard even to guess without a little more to go on) that the seller knows what state the property is in and is desperate to off-load it, ideally to someone who has yet to realise they are (possibly) buying a money pit. They may be well be under pressure to move as well if they are buying another property.

I would be polite but firm (unless you cannot bear to lose this house and want it in any condition) and say, "this is what the Homebuyer's Report has revealed, we require more information, especially costings before we proceed. We have arranged this for (date) Please tell the seller we look forward to seeing them then" or something along those lines.

Sounds to me as if this is one Homebuyer's Report worth every penny you paid for it. Good luck and please let us know how you get on.

The buyer isn't the customer though, is he? He isn't paying the agent's fees.

Reggie, Does the 8k undervalue affect your mortgage ltv?

Clutterfree

If the vendor puts it back in the market she will paying more than just one months extra mortgage. Doubt she would want to start the process again with a new buyer because that could take months.

What were the issues that your report said needed addressing?

Thrugelmir

Reggie256 wrote: »

Well, irrespective of how serious the items highlighted in the Homebuyers report may or may not be, we are being badgered by the EA and vendor to complete.

Well you've had the report nearly a week and what action have you taken. Have you shown the EA the report to see if the vendor will reduce the price. If you are considering pulling out then the vendor needs to know. As the property can still be marketed.