Pre-sale survey?

Stelins

Help please! (apologies for the long post!)
We put our house on the market at the end of April for £375,000, having had 4 valuations all coming back at that price. After about 3 weeks we received an offer of £350,000 which we refused. About a week later the offer was increased to £355,000 and, on the advice of our agent, we reluctantly accepted. We then found and fell in love with a property and had our offer accepted. Things started moving, our buyers booked a survey and we had one done on the property we were buying. Then come the problems! Our house was built in 1939. Our buyers had a home buyers report which flagged up some potential issues - possible woodworm, 'salts' in the plaster in the kitchen and the need for a new roof to comply with building regs! (we have an attic room which we have used as a playroom and a bedroom but we have never marketed it as such - we sold the house as a 3 bed property). Our buyers then bombarded us with demands - a £5000 reduction (as we'd already dropped £20,000 on our asking price we were not ready to accept this). Eventually, as we didn't want to lose the property we were buying, we agreed that we would get the woodworm and the plaster fixed (even though we don't believe there's a problem) between exchange and completion.
A week later, however, the buyers changed their minds and wanted the work done immediately. After much deliberation, we reluctantly agreed only to discover they weren't sure this was what they wanted so they've pulled out!
So, back to square one! We're now faced with trying to find another buyer before the property we want is sold. Our EA has very helpfully told our vendors EA that we're sure to face the same situation in the next survey, thereby scaring the living daylights out of our vendors and banishing any hopes we may of had of them waiting for us!

So, my question is.. should we get a survey done ourselves? We feel then, at least, we may know what we're up against as opposed to the unseen home-buyers report that has apparently flagged up problems such as potential re-pointing (we had the pointing redone 5 years ago along with render repairs!) We've been here 20 years and as far as we know there are no problems! Would a survey be worth the money? Would it reassure any potential buyers?
Are we just being taken for mugs?!
Or do we just admit defeat, cut our losses and give up now before my hubby has another heart attack?!

On the upside - I feel better for that rant! :eek:

TIA :beer:

Guest101

Any survey you do wont reassure your buyers.


So only do so if you intend to act upon what is found.

DumbMuscle

If possible, clear out the playroom/bedroom so that it's obvious to the surveyor that it's an attic rather than living space. Otherwise, any surveyor will flag up issues with using it as a living space, as they don't necessarily look at the property particulars (given that they're looking at the actual house!).

Next time, ask to see the homebuyers' report before agreeing to any work or reduction (partly because if the valuation comes in the same as the offer, you're totally justified in telling them to jog on). It may be worth asking if you can have the one previously drawn up - worst they can do is say no, and it could save you a few hundred.

ReadingTim

It's an older house - it's going to have some issues. If someone wants a completely up to date house which meets all relevant modern standards, tell them to jog on and buy a new-build - not that they're issue free...

Paying for a survey yourself is likely to be a waste of money - anything less than a full structural survey is a waste anyway, and unless you're going to rectify any issues it uncovers, its only use is to know what you're up against in terms of things a buyer's survey might uncover - whether it's a genuine problem, or whether they're reading too much into problems that could potentially happen, but in reality, won't.

Next time, as DumbMuscle says, ask for a copy of the buyer's survey, or at least copies of the relevant section discussing the 'problem' and take a view before agreeing to do any work, or reduce the price. Chances are, it's scaremongering so stand firm on price; but if it's a genuine issue, then you have the basis on which to get quotes to rectify, which could form the basis of an agreement to reduce the offer price. If that doesn't agree with your potential buyers, refer them to the new-build point above.