Cool head needed

mi-key

Emily_Joy said:

mi-key said:

Not really sure how that is relevant being as it's a completely different sort of case?

This example meant to illustrate the asking price is not always adequate. Somewhere else on these pages you pointed out to a buyer who was surprised by the fact that the property need rewiring that since the house was not on sale as "a 1960s house that was rewired" there is no reason the buyer can reduce his offer. I simply disagree with the statement that whoever was evaluating the house took all details into account. An ideal experienced buyer will probably have a list of things that needs checking, but many will miss something important here and there.

You are a FTB aren't you? 

youth_leader

As the house is 1800 (listed?), and you really like it, I would just have your Level 3 survey, plus an independent damp/timber survey, and see what happens.

If the surveyor comes back with major 'red' traffic light points,  you can negotiate the price.  As a seller that had a chancer trying to chip the price down for everything and anything, quoting incredulous sums his surveyor had given him, I would recommend sending  the relevant extracts of the survey to the vendor via the EA.   

Emily_Joy

mi-key said:

You are a FTB aren't you? 

No, what makes you think so?

mi-key

Emily_Joy said:

mi-key said:

Not really sure how that is relevant being as it's a completely different sort of case?

 Somewhere else on these pages you pointed out to a buyer who was surprised by the fact that the property need rewiring that since the house was not on sale as "a 1960s house that was rewired" there is no reason the buyer can reduce his offer. I simply disagree with the statement that whoever was evaluating the house took all details into account. An ideal experienced buyer will probably have a list of things that needs checking, but many will miss something important here and there.

My point with that is that houses are valued by the estate agent in the condition they are currently in ( barring any unseen things only a survey would show up ). 

If house A has been mainly unmodernised since the 70s it will be for sale cheaper than house B next door that has had extensive modernisation. This is taken into account in the listing price. 

mi-key

If I put my car up for sale that has done 200,000 miles for half the price of an identical car that has done 100,000, that isn't a reason to try and reduce the price of mine saying 'it has done 200,000 miles...

Emily_Joy

youth_leader said:

As the house is 1800 (listed?), and you really like it, I would just have your Level 3 survey, plus an independent damp/timber survey, and see what happens.

If the surveyor comes back with major 'red' traffic light points,  you can negotiate the price.  As a seller that had a chancer trying to chip the price down for everything and anything, quoting incredulous sums his surveyor had given him, I would recommend sending  the relevant extracts of the survey to the vendor via the EA.   

I think what might have confused both EA and the vendor is that we wanted building condition survey and wanted to make sure they will allow us to do it. So we sent this request together with the offer. The vendor and the EA probably decided that we will be using this to renegotiate the price, while we actually wanted to know what the house really needs (i.e. there are walls that are just wet to touch etc) and whether we can continue to afford it for foreseeable future.

youth_leader

Mortgage lenders do a home survey and some buyers pay for an additional RCIS level 2/3 survey - are you mortgage or cash?  I was a cash buyer, but still wanted a survey - for all the good it did me here!  Some people don't have surveys, but I think of it like an MOT on a car, I want to know what I'm getting.

I can't really understand your EA being confused about this.  So you submitted your offer and specified subject to survey?

I'd had a lot of time wasters and had two offers - one mortgage, one cash.  I accepted the cash offer.   Everyone said declutter and make sure you are ready to move fast - six weeks later buyer admitted he didn't have the cash. Mortgage buyer came back and put in a similar offer. 

My EA told me that my buyer was going to have a survey, and 'withdraw' if it threw up too many problems.  It is unsettling to be told this and I was p'd off - especially when his surveyor took six and a half hours to do the survey (listed 264 sq m).  And left loft debris on my bed.  After the survey buyer dropped his price by £50K citing 17 out of 23 red traffic light URGENT works. 

I forgot to add that after the buyer's RCIS survey, the buyer's Natwest mortgage surveyor came to do a survey, and valued the house at £0 until I had a damp/timber report.  The EA told me to contact a PCA damp/timber specialist - which I now know is a no no - and when I forwarded the report to the EA to pass on, the buyer's mortgage lender threw it out as useless.

I withdrew from the sale and went to auction.  If you do have your survey, do back up any renegotiation with concrete evidence.  Good luck.

Emily_Joy

mi-key said:

My point with that is that houses are valued by the estate agent in the condition they are currently in ( barring any unseen things only a survey would show up ). 

If house A has been mainly unmodernised since the 70s it will be for sale cheaper than house B next door that has had extensive modernisation. This is taken into account in the listing price. 

As you walk from thread to thread saying that agent's estimate is accurate and any price reduction requires justification, it makes me wonder whether you actually work (or used to work) as an Estate Agent yourself.

Emily_Joy

youth_leader said:

After the survey buyer dropped his price by £50K citing 17 out of 23 red traffic light URGENT works. 

We need a mortgage, about 45% LTV. Thank you for sharing your story. Were any of these real problems or just surveyor protecting themselves?

mi-key

Emily_Joy said:

mi-key said:

My point with that is that houses are valued by the estate agent in the condition they are currently in ( barring any unseen things only a survey would show up ). 

If house A has been mainly unmodernised since the 70s it will be for sale cheaper than house B next door that has had extensive modernisation. This is taken into account in the listing price. 

As you walk from thread to thread saying that agent's estimate is accurate and any price reduction requires justification, it makes me wonder whether you actually work (or used to work) as an Estate Agent yourself.

If an agent overvalues every house they market, none will sell and the agent makes no money. It's not in their interest to have houses sitting on their books for months with no sales, they rely on a constant turnaround, and the only way to do that is to have houses valued at prices that will sell. This also helps their reputation as people who have sold with them will tell their friends 'go with them, they sold our house really quickly' rather than saying 'nobody viewed it for 6 months and we had to sell it for £100K less'

And of course price reductions need to be justified! If you go to a seller and just tell them you want their house for £50K less because that's what you fancy paying, then they will turn you down.