Buyer’s survey happening today

ss2020jd

I’m feeling nervous about impending visit from surveyor. I’m not there but husband will let him in and offer a cuppa then leave him in peace in the house, going out for a couple of hours. It’s a Homebuyer’s report and I’m getting (hopefully irrationally) worried there may be things lurking that I have no idea about or really serious issues that would mean our house is unsaleable. I have been reading on here about houses valued at £0 which sounds very scary. It’s a Victorian terrace so will bound to have certain issues but the buyers are not getting a mortgage so fingers crossed it won’t be too horrific. Any (not too awful!) experiences or advice to calm me down would be appreciated. 

verytired11

ss2020jd said:

I’m feeling nervous about impending visit from surveyor. I’m not there but husband will let him in and offer a cuppa then leave him in peace in the house, going out for a couple of hours. It’s a Homebuyer’s report and I’m getting (hopefully irrationally) worried there may be things lurking that I have no idea about or really serious issues that would mean our house is unsaleable. I have been reading on here about houses valued at £0 which sounds very scary. It’s a Victorian terrace so will bound to have certain issues but the buyers are not getting a mortgage so fingers crossed it won’t be too horrific. Any (not too awful!) experiences or advice to calm me down would be appreciated. 

It's horrible isn't it.  My buyer's survey was this time last week and I have had unmanageable anxiety all week waiting for the outcome.  Once you start seeing your house through the eyes of a surveyor you notice things you have never seen before.  Every single day this week I have noticed 'new' cracks, gaps, defects and I am terrified that they are going to suspect subsidence (it had subsidence 25 years ago but since then I have added a loft conversion 9 years ago).  My house is also a Victorian terrace and I have got very behind with maintenance over the last 5 years for various reasons.  I can't give you any reassurance, but I know exactly how you feel and the waiting is horrible.  Best of luck and fingers crossed.

ss2020jd

verytired11 said:

ss2020jd said:

I’m feeling nervous about impending visit from surveyor. I’m not there but husband will let him in and offer a cuppa then leave him in peace in the house, going out for a couple of hours. It’s a Homebuyer’s report and I’m getting (hopefully irrationally) worried there may be things lurking that I have no idea about or really serious issues that would mean our house is unsaleable. I have been reading on here about houses valued at £0 which sounds very scary. It’s a Victorian terrace so will bound to have certain issues but the buyers are not getting a mortgage so fingers crossed it won’t be too horrific. Any (not too awful!) experiences or advice to calm me down would be appreciated. 

It's horrible isn't it.  My buyer's survey was this time last week and I have had unmanageable anxiety all week waiting for the outcome.  Once you start seeing your house through the eyes of a surveyor you notice things you have never seen before.  Every single day this week I have noticed 'new' cracks, gaps, defects and I am terrified that they are going to suspect subsidence (it had subsidence 25 years ago but since then I have added a loft conversion 9 years ago).  My house is also a Victorian terrace and I have got very behind with maintenance over the last 5 years for various reasons.  I can't give you any reassurance, but I know exactly how you feel and the waiting is horrible.  Best of luck and fingers crossed.

Thank you. Yes that is exactly how I feel. Hopefully for you no news is good news. I have been scrutinising everything too. I hope yours is okay. They have been standing for over 100 years so hopefully that will mean nothing is insurmountable but the anxiety is awful. Best of luck and fingers crossed for you too. Feel free to update when you hear! 

verytired11

ss2020jd said:

verytired11 said:

ss2020jd said:

I’m feeling nervous about impending visit from surveyor. I’m not there but husband will let him in and offer a cuppa then leave him in peace in the house, going out for a couple of hours. It’s a Homebuyer’s report and I’m getting (hopefully irrationally) worried there may be things lurking that I have no idea about or really serious issues that would mean our house is unsaleable. I have been reading on here about houses valued at £0 which sounds very scary. It’s a Victorian terrace so will bound to have certain issues but the buyers are not getting a mortgage so fingers crossed it won’t be too horrific. Any (not too awful!) experiences or advice to calm me down would be appreciated. 

It's horrible isn't it.  My buyer's survey was this time last week and I have had unmanageable anxiety all week waiting for the outcome.  Once you start seeing your house through the eyes of a surveyor you notice things you have never seen before.  Every single day this week I have noticed 'new' cracks, gaps, defects and I am terrified that they are going to suspect subsidence (it had subsidence 25 years ago but since then I have added a loft conversion 9 years ago).  My house is also a Victorian terrace and I have got very behind with maintenance over the last 5 years for various reasons.  I can't give you any reassurance, but I know exactly how you feel and the waiting is horrible.  Best of luck and fingers crossed.

Thank you. Yes that is exactly how I feel. Hopefully for you no news is good news. I have been scrutinising everything too. I hope yours is okay. They have been standing for over 100 years so hopefully that will mean nothing is insurmountable but the anxiety is awful. Best of luck and fingers crossed for you too. Feel free to update when you hear! 

Thanks!  The surveyor said it would take 5 working days to produce the report so the buyer may only be getting it today or tomorrow.  My agent is going to chase him before the weekend.  I think the main problem with the survey will be that the surveyor will simply note all the problems and say they need further investigation, so depending on how robust the buyer is, it may be a while yet before I really know whether the sale will go ahead.  I am in catchment of two excellent state schools and the buyer has a young child, so I am hoping that he will pretty much accept anything, but of course if there's subsidence, the whole thing is off.  

skm1981

I had this and it was such a stressful time.  We had cracks running down the side of our house and I was so paranoid that it was going to be flagged as potential subsidence.  Then after he went, it's another waiting game while you hope you hear nothing back from the buyers.  Ours did raise potential subsidence.  Our buyer then wanted a structural engineer to come round.  More waiting.  Structural engineer came.  More waiting.  He said the dreaded subsidence word, but that it was historic and not ongoing.  Then my buyers wanted a drain survey.  That found we had a collapsed drain, but luckily we had insurance to cover the cost of that getting fixed, but we made it to completion.  I've never been so stressed in my life!  Great diet though, I lost a stone, so every cloud I guess!

Justonemorecupoftea

@verytired11 - I agree it seems like it's the buyer's reaction to the survey that is often more problematic than anything in the survey - which often aren't much more than !!!!!! covering exercises!

ss2020jd

verytired11 said:

ss2020jd said:

verytired11 said:

ss2020jd said:

I’m feeling nervous about impending visit from surveyor. I’m not there but husband will let him in and offer a cuppa then leave him in peace in the house, going out for a couple of hours. It’s a Homebuyer’s report and I’m getting (hopefully irrationally) worried there may be things lurking that I have no idea about or really serious issues that would mean our house is unsaleable. I have been reading on here about houses valued at £0 which sounds very scary. It’s a Victorian terrace so will bound to have certain issues but the buyers are not getting a mortgage so fingers crossed it won’t be too horrific. Any (not too awful!) experiences or advice to calm me down would be appreciated. 

It's horrible isn't it.  My buyer's survey was this time last week and I have had unmanageable anxiety all week waiting for the outcome.  Once you start seeing your house through the eyes of a surveyor you notice things you have never seen before.  Every single day this week I have noticed 'new' cracks, gaps, defects and I am terrified that they are going to suspect subsidence (it had subsidence 25 years ago but since then I have added a loft conversion 9 years ago).  My house is also a Victorian terrace and I have got very behind with maintenance over the last 5 years for various reasons.  I can't give you any reassurance, but I know exactly how you feel and the waiting is horrible.  Best of luck and fingers crossed.

Thank you. Yes that is exactly how I feel. Hopefully for you no news is good news. I have been scrutinising everything too. I hope yours is okay. They have been standing for over 100 years so hopefully that will mean nothing is insurmountable but the anxiety is awful. Best of luck and fingers crossed for you too. Feel free to update when you hear! 

Thanks!  The surveyor said it would take 5 working days to produce the report so the buyer may only be getting it today or tomorrow.  My agent is going to chase him before the weekend.  I think the main problem with the survey will be that the surveyor will simply note all the problems and say they need further investigation, so depending on how robust the buyer is, it may be a while yet before I really know whether the sale will go ahead.  I am in catchment of two excellent state schools and the buyer has a young child, so I am hoping that he will pretty much accept anything, but of course if there's subsidence, the whole thing is off.  

,Yes that is the worry of further investigations, and the ‘S’ word! But if it has had this already (that must have been scary) and it has been addressed would that hopefully be a reassurance or would the remedial work still be covered perhaps. Hoping that it’s not an issue anyway! 

ss2020jd

skm1981 said:

I had this and it was such a stressful time.  We had cracks running down the side of our house and I was so paranoid that it was going to be flagged as potential subsidence.  Then after he went, it's another waiting game while you hope you hear nothing back from the buyers.  Ours did raise potential subsidence.  Our buyer then wanted a structural engineer to come round.  More waiting.  Structural engineer came.  More waiting.  He said the dreaded subsidence word, but that it was historic and not ongoing.  Then my buyers wanted a drain survey.  That found we had a collapsed drain, but luckily we had insurance to cover the cost of that getting fixed, but we made it to completion.  I've never been so stressed in my life!  Great diet though, I lost a stone, so every cloud I guess!

Oh no that does sound so stressful! Thank goodness that after all that it still made it to completion. Gives me hope. What a nightmare going through it at the time. Haha, yes to the weight loss, that’s an unforeseen bonus!  

verytired11

skm1981 said:

I had this and it was such a stressful time.  We had cracks running down the side of our house and I was so paranoid that it was going to be flagged as potential subsidence.  Then after he went, it's another waiting game while you hope you hear nothing back from the buyers.  Ours did raise potential subsidence.  Our buyer then wanted a structural engineer to come round.  More waiting.  Structural engineer came.  More waiting.  He said the dreaded subsidence word, but that it was historic and not ongoing.  Then my buyers wanted a drain survey.  That found we had a collapsed drain, but luckily we had insurance to cover the cost of that getting fixed, but we made it to completion.  I've never been so stressed in my life!  Great diet though, I lost a stone, so every cloud I guess!

Oh my goodness, that does sound stressful.  I am also worried about collapsed drains.  Did you have any warning signs of a collapsed drain prior to getting the drain survey?  Thank goodness you made it to completion.  Your buyer must have been patient and have really wanted the house.

Irishpearce26

It sounds like you know there are issues with the house and are worried your buyer will find out? The surveyor will pick up things and depending on what type of buyer you have will ultimately be key. If its a FTB they will likely ask for a big reduction based on the report (ask for a trade quote on the things listed as surveyors guide is usually way off), if its someone who realistically understands buying a house they will do their homework based on what is showing as urgent work.

If they do come back to you for a reduction ask them what the surveyor valued the house at. Our buyers tried to get £1000 from me for minor things but the surveyor valued the house at what they are paying in its current state.

ss2020jd

Thanks @Irishpearce26 that’s good to know. 

Thankfully there are no glaring issues that my untrained eye is aware of so I was more thinking of things that I wouldn’t have a clue about that would come as a shock. I have probably read too many stories about that!