Survey says 20k repair, estate agent says it's only 2k

AdrianC

ladyellyria wrote: »

The surveyor's valuation was a bit strange. I think it was done by someone else at the firm, because it was a separate report. They said they value it at 173-184k, because most of the 2 bedroom properties in the area go for 170-180k. They said because this house has good qualities ie kitchen extension & garden, they have put it at the upper end at 184k. But that was a separate report, so does not say if that valuation takes into account the condition with the repairs, etc.

So there y'go.
Wave that bit at the EA, and say "Look, the surveyor says £184k."

Yes, that value is in the condition they viewed it.

Your mortgage lender will certainly take that valuation into account, and will base their LtV %age on £184k, not £195k.

When we visited there were no floorplans, so it was hard to visualise

Floorplans are for before you visit. Once you've visited, you can see for yourself.

and because of the large kitchen extension, downstairs it felt like a 3 bed property with a through lounge.

There y'go, then.

Simple question: Were there three rooms you'd happily put a bed in?
Yes? Then it's three bed.

And, yes, the UK property market is utterly bizarre in the way it deifies the number of bedrooms to the exclusion of so many other factors. "Look! A bedroom!" (which you can't swing a cat in)

ladyellyria

AdrianC wrote: »

So there y'go.
Wave that bit at the EA, and say "Look, the surveyor says £184k."

Yes, that value is in the condition they viewed it.

Your mortgage lender will certainly take that valuation into account, and will base their LtV %age on £184k, not £195k.

Floorplans are for before you visit. Once you've visited, you can see for yourself.

There y'go, then.

Simple question: Were there three rooms you'd happily put a bed in?
Yes? Then it's three bed.

And, yes, the UK property market is utterly bizarre in the way it deifies the number of bedrooms to the exclusion of so many other factors. "Look! A bedroom!" (which you can't swing a cat in)

No, there were no 3 bedrooms. Upstairs only have 2 bedrooms. When the currently owner bought it, it had 3 bedrooms, because the bathroom was downstairs. They now converted it back to a 2 bedroom property (with bathroom upstairs), which is how originally the house was built.

I told the agent about valuation, and guess what he said? "So if it's at 184 at the moment, then there's 20k of repairs, your surveyor agrees with our valuation that it's 200k in perfect condition then! So you shouldn't argue the price down!"

AdrianC

ladyellyria wrote: »

No, there were no 3 bedrooms. Upstairs only have 2 bedrooms. When the currently owner bought it, it had 3 bedrooms, because the bathroom was downstairs. They now converted it back to a 2 bedroom property (with bathroom upstairs), which is how originally the house was built.

So when you saw the place, before you offered, you said to yourself "Where's the third room that I'd put a bed in?"

I told the agent about valuation, and guess what he said? "So if it's at 184 at the moment, then there's 20k of repairs, your surveyor agrees with our valuation that it's 200k in perfect condition then! So you shouldn't argue the price down!"

<shrug>
So walk away.

ladyellyria

AdrianC wrote: »

So there y'go.
Wave that bit at the EA, and say "Look, the surveyor says £184k."
Yes, that value is in the condition they viewed it.

What confuses me is in the separate valuation report, they said they'd put it at 184k, at the higher end, because it was "in good condition". But the survey says otherwise. That's why I'm thinking it's done by two different people, the valuation was done by someone who didn't visit the property.

We were actually told the survey came with no valuation, and if we wanted valuation we had to pay extra, which we opted not to, and they still sent a valuation report, so...

Davesnave

ladyellyria wrote: »

Bloody hell. Do you think it's worth it, in the end, though? And how much did you argue down for, if your renovation work is 100k!?? (How much did the survey say it was?)

Oh, it was a bargain, bought at the bottom of the last recession and resulting from two of the 3Ds: death, debt, divorce... so priced accordingly. When the bailiffs come knocking....etc.

No official survey; family does those. Cash purchase.

Was it worth it? No one ever knows. Happy in it now though.

anfieldred

ladyellyria wrote: »

No, there were no 3 bedrooms. Upstairs only have 2 bedrooms. When the currently owner bought it, it had 3 bedrooms, because the bathroom was downstairs. They now converted it back to a 2 bedroom property (with bathroom upstairs), which is how originally the house was built.

I told the agent about valuation, and guess what he said? "So if it's at 184 at the moment, then there's 20k of repairs, your surveyor agrees with our valuation that it's 200k in perfect condition then! So you shouldn't argue the price down!"

That 20k won't be the end of it either. We bought an older house that needed a bit of cosmetic work doing, and in pretty much every room we've uncovered more problems along the way.

If the survey has uncovered those problems, walk away. You'll regret it if you go ahead because you think it's the only house for you.

ladyellyria

AdrianC wrote: »

So when you saw the place, before you offered, you said to yourself "Where's the third room that I'd put a bed in?"

I know right. It sounds dumb. But we thought, ok, big bathroom, big master, reasonably big second bedroom, if you had to build a house from scratch, with that kind of floor area, you could make it into a 3 bedroom -- many modern houses do. So we thought the owner just wanted two spacious rooms instead of 3 meh-sized rooms, which we thought was reasonable. But it turns out it was built that way, so that affected our perspective.

We don't want to walk away just yet -- any suggestions on what we could say that that ludicrous comment made by the EA? Sometimes I get trapped by their logic. I can't put my finger on it but what he said about "184k+20k repair = 200k market price, therefore 194k=splitting cost" doesn't sound right.

ladyellyria

anfieldred wrote: »

That 20k won't be the end of it either. We bought an older house that needed a bit of cosmetic work doing, and in pretty much every room we've uncovered more problems along the way.

If the survey has uncovered those problems, walk away. You'll regret it if you go ahead because you think it's the only house for you.

How old was your house and what did the survey reveal? I mean I'm prepared to do some work, but I also think there should be a reasonable reduction in price to reflect that. I've had another house fall through because that survey revealed much bigger problems with the roof -- structural work needed, not just repairs -- so in comparison if there is a reasonable reduction in price I'd go with this one, because there's no guarantee the next house won't have any issues like this!

ladyellyria

Davesnave wrote: »

Was it worth it? Hard to put a value on these things. Essentially exchanged a 4 bed city semi for 4 bed detached with a big barn and 5+ acres at the back. OTOH, if we had stayed where we were it would be worth £250k more without even lifting a finger. Might have gone stir crazy by now though!

Ohhh I see. Yeah that's a different need and mentality I'd say. To work on a house that came with 5 acres of land? Absolutely worth it, are you kidding? That's not something we can even think about right now though!

lookstraightahead

You do realise that your loan (mortgage) will be based on the surveyors valuation?