Should I walk away from the house after this survey report?

Tiglet2

If the sale price is not enough to clear the current mortgage, how is the seller intending to redeem the loan?  I assume you want the lender to remove their charge on completion?  Perhaps this is one reason why the seller is unwilling to negotiate any further.

kungfu_navs

Physiobro said:

Hello all, 
I have had the survey report on a 1910 stone built semi detached house. I secured it for 15% below asking as it had been on the market for ages and it needs a full cosmetic revamp. I feel my offer was closer to the true value of the property anyway. 

if you feel the house was on the market for this long due to the price being too high and a 15% offer is closer to the true value of the property, the vendor could remarket the house with a 15% reduction and get more viewing and possible offers.

AdrianC

Tiglet2 said:

If the sale price is not enough to clear the current mortgage, how is the seller intending to redeem the loan?  I assume you want the lender to remove their charge on completion?  Perhaps this is one reason why the seller is unwilling to negotiate any further.

Indeed. The lender are probably quite happy to either write-off or roll-over a certain amount of the debt, but not more than that.

Which means that unless the vendor has other funds to redeem the debt with, the lender will kibosh the sale.

Physiobro

Tiglet2 said:

If the sale price is not enough to clear the current mortgage, how is the seller intending to redeem the loan?  I assume you want the lender to remove their charge on completion?  Perhaps this is one reason why the seller is unwilling to negotiate any further.

I don't know how it's working but the seller is covering the extra from somewhere... but yes I think this probably is the main reason for the problems at the moment

Physiobro

kungfu_navs said:

if you feel the house was on the market for this long due to the price being too high and a 15% offer is closer to the true value of the property, the vendor could remarket the house with a 15% reduction and get more viewing and possible offers.

Suppose they could yeah

jacklaurence

Great advise I'm in a similar situation, cheers for the advise 

Crashy_Time

kungfu_navs said:

Physiobro said:

Hello all, 
I have had the survey report on a 1910 stone built semi detached house. I secured it for 15% below asking as it had been on the market for ages and it needs a full cosmetic revamp. I feel my offer was closer to the true value of the property anyway. 

if you feel the house was on the market for this long due to the price being too high and a 15% offer is closer to the true value of the property, the vendor could remarket the house with a 15% reduction and get more viewing and possible offers.

15-20% reduction could certainly get things moving, yes.

teachfast

I disagree with everyone's advice. The seller's position is really not something you should be taking into account. Your budget is what it is and you've offered what you felt the house was worth, then discovered extra, expensive outlay. 

Your final position to them seems to be: get it fixed or I'll get a quote and take that off. This mitigates your loss.  That seems incredibly reasonable to me.  I would stick to that, or be prepared to lose the money yourself. Remember: there will be a whole bunch of things neither you nor the survey have discovered that will also eat into the pot. 

The person noting that the % are less helpful is correct. If it's 10% of £500k then £50k will get most of your cosmetics done (kitchen, bathroom and some change for decoration). Whereas if it's 10% of £100k that will not, for example. 

AdrianC

teachfast said:

I disagree with everyone's advice. The seller's position is really not something you should be taking into account.

It isn't something the OP should take into account in their offer... but it is something they need to take into account in their expectations of whether and why an offer reduction may not be accepted. However reasonable the reduction may appear to the OP, the vendor's hands may simply be tied.

Falafels

It all depends how much you want the house.

If the vendor decides to re-market having dropped the price by 15% - and, right now, they've nothing to lose if they do - will that generate more interest from viewers and you'd risk losing it anyway? You're obviously much better placed to answer that than anyone on here!

In any negotiation, if you want it to be successful, you DO actually need to take into account the other party's position. If you're not that committed to the property and feel that the hassle just isn't worth it, then by all means walk away. However, if you look at a potential positive outcome from a relatively small amount of additional expenditure on your part (if the vendor doesn't want to play ball), and it's your dream house - hang on in there.