Non-standard construction

LMCLMC

Hi there

Does anyone have any experience of buying a house with non-standard construction?

Our valuation has just come back as £0 and we're not sure whether to pull out or try another lender (we have a broker).

Anyone have any good or bad input please?

gaz_moose

ask your broker if he has ever done a house of none standard construction before.
im surprised they suggested someone who then got a value of £0.
most of the ones that I see for sale around where I am are usually marketed at cash buyers because they know they are un-mortgageable

spadoosh

hat has your broker said?

Did you know it was NSC?

If you knew it was NSC and told your broker you need to be changing the broker. They should be filtering the lenders who would return a £0 valuation due to it being NSC.

If its all news to everybody than see what your broker says regarding finding another lender. They should be able to find you one, NSC isnt that non standard and theres a few lenders who are happy to lend on them, providing you tick the usual boxes.

LMCLMC

Hi there

No we didn't know it was NSC but presumably the agent did and didn't say. we're a little stuck as we're with an adverse credit broker

spadoosh

gaz_moose wrote: »

ask your broker if he has ever done a house of none standard construction before.
im surprised they suggested someone who then got a value of £0.
most of the ones that I see for sale around where I am are usually marketed at cash buyers because they know they are un-mortgageable

Round here theyre all (read mostly) the concrete block NSC and get mortgages on them pretty easily.

Theres an estate of old prefabs that are sold as cash only for about 25% of the surrounding prices.

spadoosh

LMCLMC wrote: »

Hi there

No we didn't know it was NSC but presumably the agent did and didn't say. we're a little stuck as we're with an adverse credit broker

I wouldnt assume that. Im guessing theyll be equally as frustrated at finding a buyer that is unable to complete on the house if its unmortgageable.

NSC in itself isnt usually a big issue.
Adverse credit in itself isnt usually a big issue.

Both are going to complicate and restrict things further though.

You need to be speaking to your broker to find out if they have anyone who will do NSC and adverse credit. It might not be dead in the water yet for this house but there might be compromise on the prices etc (interest rate).

If you where finding a few comparable houses id be happy to let it go, if you feel this one is special (ie because its the best house in your range, probably also a good indicator of the NSC issue) then you might still be able to pursue it with your advisors....advice.

m0bov

I purchased a NSC townhouse (crosswalled). We did'nt know till Virgin Money said no, but then Santander and then Natwest had no issue. Try the broker again, what sort of NSC is it? Do you have a link to the add? Also, get a full buildings survey done.

LMCLMC

Thanks for your advice so far.

Just to give you a rundown of the whole situation so you fully understand.

This house is definitely special to us and the best we've seen all round. We had an offer in of the full asking price within 48 hours of it being advertised because we couldn't believe what a bargain it was (now we know why).

Then another buyer appeared 24 hours later (mmm) who also offered the asking price and it went to best and final. We ended up putting in a final bid of around 19,000 over the asking price to try and wipe out the competition and we honestly thought it was worth that. the seller accepted the offer.

we now don't think it's fair that we were pushed into increasing the offer and paying for the brokers and valuation fees and it was all wasted money, when someone knew all along it was NSC. the agent or the seller.

we may be still willing to buy the house if they put the price back down to the original advertised price, as we feel the house has major issues which is going to cost us more money, eg buildings insurance for a start plus any future structural issues, so now not worth the extra 19,000 any more.

our broker at the moment is trying to get hold of the valuer to get more information about what kind of material exactly it was built with. then we will know if we can carry on or not.

Hope all that makes sense.

Lungboy

Is there a Rightmove/Zoopla advert for it? Sometimes you can tell what it's built with from the style or location.

LMCLMC

yes there is but i don't feel comfortable putting something so private on a public forum.

spadoosh

LMCLMC wrote: »

Thanks for your advice so far.

Just to give you a rundown of the whole situation so you fully understand.

This house is definitely special to us and the best we've seen all round. We had an offer in of the full asking price within 48 hours of it being advertised because we couldn't believe what a bargain it was (now we know why).

Then another buyer appeared 24 hours later (mmm) who also offered the asking price and it went to best and final. We ended up putting in a final bid of around 19,000 over the asking price to try and wipe out the competition and we honestly thought it was worth that. the seller accepted the offer.

we now don't think it's fair that we were pushed into increasing the offer and paying for the brokers and valuation fees and it was all wasted money, when someone knew all along it was NSC. the agent or the seller.

we may be still willing to buy the house if they put the price back down to the original advertised price, as we feel the house has major issues which is going to cost us more money, eg buildings insurance for a start plus any future structural issues, so now not worth the extra 19,000 any more.

our broker at the moment is trying to get hold of the valuer to get more information about what kind of material exactly it was built with. then we will know if we can carry on or not.

Hope all that makes sense.

If the agent knew it was NSC theres just no way theyd let people go down the bidding route without expressing it. Itd be a huge waste of time for them.

When something is a bargain you need to do due diligence. If it wasnt NSC it'd be an agricultural tie etc etc. Bargains are bargains for a reason, you might be lucky in that its a bargain because its an acrimonious divorce and they just want rid, but you find stuff like that out soon enough anyway.

You wherent pushed in to increasing the offer. You chose to do that. If you jumped in at asking within 24 hrs, its a bargain by your own definition, then its not that unlikely that other people would do the same. The other seller doesnt matter, you chose to offer that.

However you put your offer in on the understanding that it was a standard construction. On this basis youve got reason to negotiate, NSC as you point out has costs associated with it, which you wouldnt factor in on a conventional property. So fell free to use it to renegotiate, i would.

Id find out the likelihood of actually getting a mortgage though before bothering with trying to negotiate. I suspect the seller did know it was NSC. Impossible to know whats happened but i do know people who have bought NSC properties without actually being fully aware they where. I pointed out to a friend that their house was NSC and she was completely unaware of it. I enquired as to who her lender was and how the mortgaged application was and she said the brokers and solicitors sorted it all. Im pretty sure, she will not be mentioning it to to any prospective seller. She wouldnt be being deceptive, just ignorant. If it sailed through a mortgage application and theyre not the type who are inclined to read the finer detail they could very easily choose not to remember it. Thinking back, my survery said my roof needed fixing.... i must get round to it.