HELP FTB -Just made an offer, need advice

m344

Edit: have uploaded report on 2nd page. 

Hello

I'm a FTB who has just made an offer on a property. I do not have anyone else family, friends etc that I can ask. Most either do not own their own homes or are not close enough for me to ask for detailed advice. I have done extensive research however, so hoping people will kindly help to fill in the blanks.

I'm roughly following these steps:

• Stage 1 – Find a property you can afford -got a MIP and aware of my budget
• Stage 2 – Make an offer -found a property and made an offer 2k over asking price
• Stage 3 – Arrange a solicitor and surveyor -need help from here.
• Stage 4 – Finalise the offer and mortgage 
• Stage 5 – Exchange contracts 
• Stage 6 – Completion and final steps

I know that I need to have a surveyor inspect etc next but I still need some help and advice please. The property was listed at £390k and I've offered £392k. The seller is now saying he will accept £395k and has asked the estate agent to send me a RICS building survey they had done at the end of June. I counted 17 things highlighted in the report that I counted as 'things that need doing which will cost money' however the report is a LOT longer. Do I now offer lower based on this? Are they implying the survey is good so they can ask for more money? Do I still need my own survey done? How do I now which things I should be very concerned about? Quite a few things in the report said have a builder inspect or have a roofer inspect. Instead of a surveyor is my next step to go back with a roofer and builder? How much is usually acceptable in a survey as as a FTB I have nothing to go by. I cannot tell if the things in the survey are a big concern or average/expected. 

Thank you 

Edit: the estate agent sent the surveyors report over with this message ‘ Your offer on the property should account for having read the full survey provided, so no further reductions will be given on the property.’ This seems off to me.

PollyWollyDoodle

You will definitely need your own survey, and if you are having a mortgage then the lender will want a valuation (not the same thing). They want to know if the property is worth the amount they are lending against it. You need to know if there are major works that need doing. You can’t rely on the survey done previously, because usually if you didn’t commission it then you can’t sue the surveyor if he missed something. 

Don’t panic too much about the survey. Firstly, it’s the surveyors’ job to find any faults with it, and secondly they are generally very cautious about what they will say. They will not comment on gas appliances, electricity etc. What you need to know is whether there are any structural issues, e.g. is the roof sound, is there any sign of subsidence, damp. They will usually categorise these. Even the “urgent” stuff is often not essential, but it should be a priority. You could certainly ask to go back with a roofer and builder if your offer is accepted. 

There is often a long list of things that it would be ideal to do, but you can do them in your own time. If you can afford £395K and you think that’s what the property is worth then stick with it. If you want to list some of the things in the survey, I’m sure you’ll get some more detailed advice.

owenjt

The seller is now saying he will accept £395k and has asked the estate agent to send me a RICS building survey they had done at the end of June.

Why have they had a building survey done? I thought this was something only buyers do. Either way, it's very handy to have this and although you should get your own survey done, you could use theirs to determine whether it's worth £395k. Is there a part of the survey that lists the suggested work required and an estimate of costs?

theoretica

So actually you have not yet had an offer accepted.  The usual order is, I think, to have an offer agreed before the buyer pays for any surveys - which may change the offer if they produce any nasty surprises, but with the seller's survey hopefully there will be fewer surprises in your own survey. 

You probably want to look around now for a conveyancer - do you have a mortgage advisor who can suggest someone or did you go direct to a bank for your mortgage offer?  You don't need to pay them anything yet, just identify who you want to go to and their costs rather than doing it in a rush when you really need them.

m344

@PollyWollyDoodle thank you. I will list some of the specifics 

@owenjt I’m not sure why they’ve had it done. The estate agent just said they’d had it done and wanted to send it to me. It appears to have been done since the house has gone up on the market. I can only guess it’s either because they weren’t sure about the condition of the house and didn’t want any nasty surprises which would hinder selling or because they are having trouble selling and thought it would reassure buyers. The survey lists the work that is or could be required but no costs. I will redact and post a copy on here as I think it could help. 

@theoretica no they said they will accept £395k. That was their counter offer. I will say the estate agent sent it over saying ‘ Your offer on the property should account for having read the full survey provided, so no further reductions will be given on the property.’ Does anyone know if that is normal? To me it sounded a bit odd. As I had assumed I would be getting my own surveyor in so this is where some of my confusion has stemmed from. If mine for example came back different to theirs and there was 20k more of issues -of course I’d want to change my offer. 

demontfort

I know this is supposedly a seller's market but I find it bizarre for your opening gambit to be to offer more than the asking price and then agree to offer even more over the asking price. Whenever I have bought a house or a car I always start off comfortably below asking price and have always shaved off a few thousand. As for the below, it's nonsense they're just trying to pull the wool over your eyes. I'd shop around a bit more and if you bid on another property try to get in below asking price, if you don't ask you don't get.

"Your offer on the property should account for having read the full survey provided, so no further reductions will be given on the property."

m344

demontfort said:

I know this is supposedly a seller's market but I find it bizarre for your opening gambit to be to offer more than the asking price and then agree to offer even more over the asking price. Whenever I have bought a house or a car I always start off comfortably below asking price and have always shaved off a few thousand. As for the below, it's nonsense they're just trying to pull the wool over your eyes. I'd shop around a bit more and if you bid on another property try to get in below asking price, if you don't ask you don't get.

"Your offer on the property should account for having read the full survey provided, so no further reductions will be given on the property."

Thank you for the advice. 

I offered £392k and they have counter offered £395k but I have not yet accepted or responded. I said I’d think about it and then the estate agent called back and sent the report over. However, I am in London and most places are now ‘offers over £xxx’ at least that’s what I’ve noticed since stamp duty reductions and the boom. I do understand what you are saying though. In future I will low ball! 

I won’t go over £392k so that’s that part sorted. If they want £395k I will bow out. 

I am still concerned about the report in terms of content. And actually the ‘no further reductions’ is complete rubbish since they haven’t given a reduction in the first place. I’m wondering if that’s just a copy and paste the estate agent has added in. 

whenever

Walk away. As a chain free FTB you have an advantage and you should be looking to maximise it. If their property did not sell during the stamp duty holiday and they have a surveyors report then you have to wonder why. Find a seller who needs to sell fast and will give a discount or maybe a new build. The market has cooled after the stamp duty holiday so play your hand to it's full advantage. Once you have a property to shift you won't have this advantage again.

PollyWollyDoodle

I wouldn’t necessarily walk away at this point if you like the house. In the current market you do need to offer above asking to be considered. I don’t think it has cooled that much.

I don’t find what the estate agent has said to be particularly odd. It’s a common tactic to bid high, and then use the survey report to negotiate down and what they are saying is that you knew the condition of the property when you made an offer so they’re not accepting any reduction. If your report reveals something major then of course you would expect to seek to reduce it further. It’s very irritating when buyers try to negotiate a reduction for things that were obvious when they looked at the property. 

I’m puzzled as to why they got a survey report at all. Has it been on the market already and the sale fell through? Quite honestly I wish I had done this on mine, my buyers’ surveyor produced a report that was more like a snagging list for a new-build (my house was 100 years old). I only got some parts of the report sent to me, and if I’d had my own I would have been better able to challenge it.  See if you can find out how long it’s been on the market and whether the price has changed at all. 

theoretica

m344 said:

As I had assumed I would be getting my own surveyor in so this is where some of my confusion has stemmed from. If mine for example came back different to theirs and there was 20k more of issues -of course I’d want to change my offer. 

And they have said in advance they would not accept the change - you would of course be free to completely withdraw your offer and simply walk away. 

What is reasonable to do in response to an asking price depends on how the asking price relates to the value of the property to you as a buyer and to other people.  Same property could go up with an asking price of £180k, £200k or £220k - it would still be the same property and the same value to the potential buyers.

AdrianC

If you are offering in knowledge of a recent survey, then you have no hope whatsoever of the vendor accepting a lower offer post-your-own-survey...

Where did this survey come from? Was it a previous sale that fell through?

The big difference between this survey and any you commission is that you have no come-back against the surveyor should you buy the house, and later find they missed something.

As for the buying process, identify the solicitor and surveyor you want to use before getting an offer accepted - then they're ready to go when you need them.