Mortgage people won't lend following the valuation

acmh-2007

Should we still proceed with the purchase?

To be very brief (as lost this post once already!):
House was for sale at £159,950
Our offer of £155,295 was accepted
We were aware the house needed work doing to it but thought it was still worth the £155k as my brother owns the house 5 doors down (exactly the same house but done up) which he paid £209k for in July this year.
We always planned to have a full survey done but the mortgage people have done their valuation survey today and are now saying the house is only worth £152k in it's current state. We would also have to do certain work such as removing polesterine tiles from the bathroom, within 3 months.
We would also need to get the woodwork checked.

Do we carry on with this purchase or pull out now before we spend any more money? we are first time buyers and we only have a 5% deposit

cattie

If you want the house & feel it is going to be a comfortable home you will be happy living in for some time once you've done the work to make it the house you want it to be, then go back with a lower offer in light of your lender's valuation.

Valuer's are being more cautious these days, so in some cases are actually giving a valuation that is under market expectation for the property.

PasturesNew

If you can either afford the difference - or, better - get the seller to drop by the appropriate amount... then if you really want the house, why not.

I suppose its interest to you is the proximity to your brother - and you therefore feel you have a good handle on the issues the house will bring to get it up to the standard of his.

I would get the woodwork checked as the mortgage lender suggested. Can get that done for free - look in the Yellow Pages (online/offline) for a Timber specialist.

However, have another thought or two:
1) Is the main draw of this property because it's close to your brother? And do you think that might have clouded your judgement? Is this a handy wake up call/get out chance?
2) Do you feel the market is stagnating, do you think you could get another in that road for the same price or less in the next 2 years, that might be better?

SquatNow

Obligitory Prices are dropping, wait out the crash post.

IveSeenTheLight

SquatNow wrote: »

Obligitory Prices are dropping, wait out the crash post.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz<snore>zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

SquatNow

{Elbows IveSeenTheLight's in the ribs and tells him on roll on his side}

IveSeenTheLight

SquatNow wrote: »

{Elbows IveSeenTheLight's in the ribs and tells him on roll on his side}

LOL, thanks SquatNow. You normal manage to make me have a wry smile.
This time it was quite funny

Getting back on topic, I would suggest to the OP that they should go back to the seller and advise the received valuation and request to re-offer at the valuation reflecting the work required to be done.

There is a good chance the seller may accept, especially if they do not have any other buyers.

There is also a chance they could reject the offer to reduce.

You never know if you never ask