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Estate Agents doing us over ?
mustoofa
Posts: 23 Forumite
So Mrs and I see a nice old house. We like it. We arrange a viewing. House is old..1940's..timber and bricks frame. decent price as well.
During the viewing
Us : Any known issues?
Agent : if there was something, we would be obliged to tell you.
Us: So apparently the house was on sale earlier, then it came back on market, what happened ?
Agent : The buyer pulled out. He couldn't "get funding"
Us : Can we have a copy of the homebuyers report the previous buyer got?
Agent : sorry we cannot do that as its paid for by him and its his property
Us : fair enough
Other facts :
The house is unoccupied as the owner has got fragile. Looked after by his daughter.
So we get a Homebuyers report, we pay 777£ . the report is pretty damning and our lender won't give us the mortgage until we get a structural survey done. Ive called at least 3-4 structural survey companies and they 'decline' to do the survey after seeing the homebuyers report.
So now I am thinking, the estate agent probably knew the reasons why the previous buyer pulled out (because he couldn't get a mortgage) and they just 'tried' with us again.
We are now 1000 £ deep in it and feeling very frustrated and done over as we haven't got the mortgage yet.
Is our assumption correct ? Any recommendations ? We are still interested in the house and seller is willing to renegotiate.
Thank you for reading and responding.
During the viewing
Us : Any known issues?
Agent : if there was something, we would be obliged to tell you.
Us: So apparently the house was on sale earlier, then it came back on market, what happened ?
Agent : The buyer pulled out. He couldn't "get funding"
Us : Can we have a copy of the homebuyers report the previous buyer got?
Agent : sorry we cannot do that as its paid for by him and its his property
Us : fair enough
Other facts :
The house is unoccupied as the owner has got fragile. Looked after by his daughter.
So we get a Homebuyers report, we pay 777£ . the report is pretty damning and our lender won't give us the mortgage until we get a structural survey done. Ive called at least 3-4 structural survey companies and they 'decline' to do the survey after seeing the homebuyers report.
So now I am thinking, the estate agent probably knew the reasons why the previous buyer pulled out (because he couldn't get a mortgage) and they just 'tried' with us again.
We are now 1000 £ deep in it and feeling very frustrated and done over as we haven't got the mortgage yet.
Is our assumption correct ? Any recommendations ? We are still interested in the house and seller is willing to renegotiate.
Thank you for reading and responding.
0
Comments
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I think the estate agent who is working for the vendor was really fair. He did tell you that the previous buyer couldn't get a mortgage. So that should have rung alarm bells for you.
The reason why it appears to be cheap is probably because you can only buy it if you don't need a mortgage.
Houses are always cheap for a reason. This house is cheap because they need a cash buyer.0 -
I think the estate agent who is working for the vendor was really fair. He did tell you that the previous buyer couldn't get a mortgage. So that should have rung alarm bells for you.
The reason why it appears to be cheap is probably because you can only buy it if you don't need a mortgage.
Houses are always cheap for a reason. This house is cheap because they need a cash buyer.
That's quite a few assumptions you are making there. I am sure there are as many mortgage declines on affordability as there are on house issues.
Also, the price was described as decent, not cheap (or remarkably so).
I do agree that the EA was honest with the OP, they may have no idea what reason the original purchasor was rejected for.Thinking critically since 1996....0 -
Never mind the estate agent - at £777 for a Homebuyer's report, the SURVEYOR did you over...0
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Thank you for your responses.
I should have been more clearer. Nowhere in the conversations, the agent mentioned that the previous buyer did not get a mortgage specifically. my bad there.
They used words like "did not get funding", "change of situation"..which led us to believe that the buyer had an issue with getting money, but we did not suspect that it was because of the house itself.
Also, as said by @somethingcorporate the price was decent...not cheap.
Now, after our mortgage has been refused, we are thinking...maybe the original buyer did not the mortgage after all. Because to put an offer on a house, you would need to provide a Agreement In Principal - so apparently he did have funding then, but then got refused...just like us.0 -
We had to go with the lender's 'panel of surveyors'...so didn't have a choice. even independently, it was coming around the same price.ThePants999 wrote: »Never mind the estate agent - at £777 for a Homebuyer's report, the SURVEYOR did you over...0 -
The survey has done its job. It has told you what a money pit this house is likely to be.0
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We had to go with the lender's 'panel of surveyors'...so didn't have a choice. even independently, it was coming around the same price.
Well this just isn't right.
You can let the lender do his own valuation and just instruct your own if you shop around a bit. In the South of England I rarely paid over £400 for a full buildings survey from an accredited CS.
So not sure about the EA but the surveyor has shafted you.0 -
What isn't right? The lenders only ever allow their own surveyors as they are working on behalf of the bank to be sure they are getting a proper account of a property they are lending hundreds of thousands of pound for.Well this just isn't right.
You can let the lender do his own valuation and just instruct your own if you shop around a bit. In the South of England I rarely paid over £400 for a full buildings survey from an accredited CS.
So not sure about the EA but the surveyor has shafted you.
No point getting one from any where else as it will just be ignored, why pay twice?0 -
What isn't right? The lenders only ever allow their own surveyors as they are working on behalf of the bank to be sure they are getting a proper account of a property they are lending hundreds of thousands of pound for.
No point getting one from any where else as it will just be ignored, why pay twice?
Valuation =/= survey. The valuation is what the bank does, with the sole purpose of confirming whether the property is suitable security and valued correctly. Quite often the results aren't even shared with the borrower beyond pass or fail. The survey/HomeBuyer's Report is instructed by the buyer, to discover problems with the house that the buyer may not have noticed. For example, for my current purchase, the valuation was 'acceptable', but the survey came back with a whole host of things which needed correcting, but which didn't affect the structural integrity of the house and which the lender therefore wasn't interested in.
Some lenders offer to have the person doing the valuation also do a survey or HomeBuyer's Report at the same time, for an additional fee, but they aren't the same thing.0 -
What isn't right? The lenders only ever allow their own surveyors as they are working on behalf of the bank to be sure they are getting a proper account of a property they are lending hundreds of thousands of pound for.
No point getting one from any where else as it will just be ignored, why pay twice?
A valuation, the only bit the bank is interested in, is a tick-box exercise, and normally the surveyor spends around 10-15mins inside the property.
Sometimes they don't even bother going inside.0
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