Inherited property "unmortgagable" advice

Emily_Joy

OP, you mention that another house on the street in really nice condition was sold for 200K... do you mean to suggest that this days it is possible to get 1) central heating 2) rewiring 3) new kitchen 4) new bathroom 5) whatever else the house needs to make it comparable with that other house all for 50K? ...

crazyoldmaurice

mi-key said:

crazyoldmaurice said:

mi-key said:

Do you know what the lenders surveyor valued the property at? It could be thy have downvalued it and the buyer can't come up with the difference and are trying to get a higher mortgage from another lender.

The buyers probably wouldn't tell the agent this, so they wouldn't know.

Lenders are lending on all sorts of properties every day, including ones that need a lot of work, so it is unlikely to be the house itself. The only properties they tend not to lend on are either ones that are uninhabitable, or have non standard construction.

If it were me I would relist with a different agent, and see who comes along. You could get a cash buyer, or someone who needs  mortgage but can actually afford it. 

No, they didn't tell me this info but I've just asked estate agent. The buyer has some saving along with deposit at 15%. We dropped from 145k to 140k so guessing somewhere around there 

To be honest the agent will only know what the buyers have told them. I doubt a buyer would say to the agent they can't come up with the money as the agent would advise you to remarket, and the buyer would lose out on the house.

It all sounds quite fishy that one lender wouldn't lend, then another would but changed their mind... Are you sure the buyer wasn't just making up the second lender and saying they would lend them less to try and get money off? Maybe hoping you would give  them more off so they could afford it?

I think if you are listing it at £145K and a done up one is worth £200K then you shouldnt have a problem getting a buyer via a normal listing rather than auction. It really depends if you are desperate to sell quickly, or don't mind hanging around

Who knows? Could be. Although the EA was totally shocked at the retraction. He only got 5k off which makes me think it must have been genuine as we then agreed at 140k. I had some cash offers of 130, 135 but with the 12k council tax debt every penny counts.

I'm not desperate to sell fast, it feels disrespectful selling at all in a weird way so I just wanted to know what on earth was going on. The lack of communication from the EA was what infuriated me as he should have told me the moment the 2nd mortgage application offer was retracted (that and he never ever gets back to me and I have to hound him constantly, but that's normal).

It's important to me to get what the property is worth as I was never expecting any inheritance and I always thought the house would go into complete ruin before my loved one passed away. So it feels important to get what it is worth for my children.

mi-key

Emily_Joy said:

OP, you mention that another house on the street in really nice condition was sold for 200K... do you mean to suggest that this days it is possible to get 1) central heating 2) rewiring 3) new kitchen 4) new bathroom 5) whatever else the house needs to make it comparable with that other house all for 50K? ...

If you can do most of the work yourself, it is easily possible to do that for quite a lot less. Its a 20s terraced house, so an ultra modern look isn't going to suit it. I doubt the other house had £100K spent on it to modernise it to only then be worth £200K

If the house is basically sound, then most of the work is cosmetic. It isn't going to need a £15K bathroom and £20K kitchen. Fitting central heating to a small house isn't that expensive, and it probably doesn't need fully rewiring, just bringing up to standard, new consumer unit and some extra sockets. 

mi-key

I think if you are listing it at £145K and a done up one is worth £200K then you shouldnt have a problem getting a buyer via a normal listing rather than auction. It really depends if you are desperate to sell quickly, or don't mind hanging around

Who knows? Could be. Although the EA was totally shocked at the retraction. He only got 5k off which makes me think it must have been genuine as we then agreed at 140k. I had some cash offers of 130, 135 but with the 12k council tax debt every penny counts.

I'm not desperate to sell fast, it feels disrespectful selling at all in a weird way so I just wanted to know what on earth was going on. The lack of communication from the EA was what infuriated me as he should have told me the moment the 2nd mortgage application offer was retracted (that and he never ever gets back to me and I have to hound him constantly, but that's normal).

It's important to me to get what the property is worth as I was never expecting any inheritance and I always thought the house would go into complete ruin before my loved one passed away. So it feels important to get what it is worth for my children.

From the sounds of it it would make a good fixer upper for someone who can do most of the work themselves and then wants to live in it, rather than someone trying to flip it for a profit. This is why I think it would still sell for around £140K with no problem. £60K saving on the other house pays for a lot of refurbishment for someone who is handy.

The problem with auctioning it is it will appeal to either BTL landlords, or someone wanting to make money out of it, so they will want to pay a lot less than it is really worth

mi-key

Emily_Joy said:

OP, you mention that another house on the street in really nice condition was sold for 200K... do you mean to suggest that this days it is possible to get 1) central heating 2) rewiring 3) new kitchen 4) new bathroom 5) whatever else the house needs to make it comparable with that other house all for 50K? ...

Bear in mind the sort of person it will appeal to as well. People buying a small £200K terraced house aren't going to expect top of the line fittings and granite worktops and a £3000 built in oven. 

Emily_Joy

mi-key said:

Emily_Joy said:

OP, you mention that another house on the street in really nice condition was sold for 200K... do you mean to suggest that this days it is possible to get 1) central heating 2) rewiring 3) new kitchen 4) new bathroom 5) whatever else the house needs to make it comparable with that other house all for 50K? ...

Bear in mind the sort of person it will appeal to as well. People buying a small £200K terraced house aren't going to expect top of the line fittings and granite worktops and a £3000 built in oven. 

First, we do not know whether the house needs new floor and/or new roof either. Basically, if the buyer comes with 20K deposit and the lender is not satisfied that it can easily sell the house for 120K, then the mortgage is not likely to be approved. OP, have you considered getting level 3 survey yourself?

mi-key

Emily_Joy said:

mi-key said:

Emily_Joy said:

OP, you mention that another house on the street in really nice condition was sold for 200K... do you mean to suggest that this days it is possible to get 1) central heating 2) rewiring 3) new kitchen 4) new bathroom 5) whatever else the house needs to make it comparable with that other house all for 50K? ...

Bear in mind the sort of person it will appeal to as well. People buying a small £200K terraced house aren't going to expect top of the line fittings and granite worktops and a £3000 built in oven. 

First, we do not know whether the house needs new floor and/or new roof either. Basically, if the buyer comes with 20K deposit and the lender is not satisfied that it can easily sell the house for 120K, then the mortgage is not likely to be approved. OP, have you considered getting level 3 survey yourself?

Very few houses need a new roof or floor. In any case the OP did say it was generally all solid, and if it did need major works like those then it more than likely wouldn't have been valued by the agent at £145K 

I dont think the OP mentioned if the buyer had got as far as getting a survey done, so if not then this shouldnt have made any difference to a lenders opinion ( also unlikely the buyer would have offered £140K if a survey came back saying it did need a new roof or floor

eddddy

crazyoldmaurice said:

The estate agent is telling me it's down to the condition but can't tell me anything more than that, no specifics at all as he says he doesn't know. 

OK  -  so when the Estate Agent said to the buyer "What specifically is it about the condition that you mortgage lender doesn't like?"

What did the buyer reply?


(If the buyer didn't give a straight answer to this question, I would suspect that the buyer is fibbing - and you are worrying about the wrong things.)

crazyoldmaurice

eddddy said:

crazyoldmaurice said:

The estate agent is telling me it's down to the condition but can't tell me anything more than that, no specifics at all as he says he doesn't know. 

OK  -  so when the Estate Agent said to the buyer "What specifically is it about the condition that you mortgage lender doesn't like?"

What did the buyer reply?


(If the buyer didn't give a straight answer to this question, I would suspect that the buyer is fibbing - and you are worrying about the wrong things.)

All the estate agent was told was it was due to "property condition".... apparently. That's all they said the buyer told them and that's all they are entitled to know according to estate agents.

crazyoldmaurice

I'm fuming as I sent the EA an email stating I didn't agree with the property being cash only and also gave notice to cancel the contract (21 days I have to wait before another EA can market)

And I've seen last night they have re-listed the property to rightmove and have also put cash buyers only on the listing!!! So petty!!! I didn't realise they were allowed to make the listing live again without my approval.