Making an offer on a house that needs work

Cintakins

Hi,
I've made an offer on a house. I've not offered the full amount that I could because the place needs a lot of work. They have come back to me giving me the price they would accept and it's the maximum I can get a mortgage for. I'm not sure what my next move should be. The place needs insulation and windows replaced and eventually some refurbishment. I'm a first time buyer living in a semi-furnished flat, so I'll need to buy some furniture also. Should I accept their counter-offer, and hope for the best, or should I move on from this property and wait till I get a larger deposit/better job, or find a cheaper house.

propertyrental

Depends what other resources your have. But it sounds like you would be financially stretched with no contigency fund.

housebuyer143

The house will almost certainly need more work than you think and can see. If you think it needs a bit of work, it probably needs a lot so will cost more than expected. 

If you can live with it how it is while you save for the work then it might be worth it, but if not then it's a non starter 

MeteredOut

Cintakins said:

Hi,
I've made an offer on a house. I've not offered the full amount that I could because the place needs a lot of work. They have come back to me giving me the price they would accept and it's the maximum I can get a mortgage for. I'm not sure what my next move should be. The place needs insulation and windows replaced and eventually some refurbishment. I'm a first time buyer living in a semi-furnished flat, so I'll need to buy some furniture also. Should I accept their counter-offer, and hope for the best, or should I move on from this property and wait till I get a larger deposit/better job, or find a cheaper house.

You've missed the other option, which is to say your offer is all you can afford/are willing to pay due to the repairs needed, and put the ball back in the vendors court. You could throw in some words about the current market outlook too, to put the pressure on.

FreeBear

housebuyer143 said: The house will almost certainly need more work than you think and can see. If you think it needs a bit of work, it probably needs a lot so will cost more than expected.

Tales of repairs/renovations here...

Replace windows - Chunks of plaster get knocked off the walls. They now need stripping back to brick before insulating (or I could just patch up the plaster).

Replace the door - Needs a lintel to support the outer leaf of brickwork. No room to wriggle one in, so the soldier course needs removing first. In doing so, the bricks come out so badly damaged, new ones are needed. Being old imperial bricks, only one local supplier has any, and even then, need to pick over a pallet to find good matches.

Replacing the ceiling in the hallway - Cut a few laths out, hear a loud thud from an adjoining room. A big chunk of plaster has fallen down from the ceiling....

Boiler gets condemned. So new boiler needed along with new plumbing and bigger radiators in some rooms.

Water leaking in through the kitchen ceiling after heavy rain. Several attempts to find the source, and eventually track it down to a small crack in the render. Chip away the render to make a repair, only to find a larger crack in the wall that goes all the way through.

Still have to replace the ceilings in three rooms due to cracks, and will be adding more insulation when they get done... And then the bathroom needs a complete refit.

If you don't have the skills to do most of the work yourself, you need a sizeable chunk of money to pay someone else to do it. Plasterers, electricians, and plumbers do not come cheap. It is also a crap shoot to find a reliable person that can do a good quality job.

Gavin83

Cintakins said:

Hi,
I've made an offer on a house. I've not offered the full amount that I could because the place needs a lot of work. They have come back to me giving me the price they would accept and it's the maximum I can get a mortgage for. I'm not sure what my next move should be. The place needs insulation and windows replaced and eventually some refurbishment. I'm a first time buyer living in a semi-furnished flat, so I'll need to buy some furniture also. Should I accept their counter-offer, and hope for the best, or should I move on from this property and wait till I get a larger deposit/better job, or find a cheaper house.

How much are you offering and how much are they asking?

I would expect the required work to have been included in the original asking price so I can see why they're reluctant to reduce further. Ultimately though it depends on how desperate they are and what other interest they've had. If they're desperate to sell and have had no other interest they may well want more but will have little choice than to accept your offer. If they've several other interested parties you may well lose out. It's a gamble at the end of the day.

If you found out they'd sold the house to someone else and you'd missed the chance how would you feel?

meeemee

What else could you get for your money? Anything that doesn’t need work, or is this a good price even though work is required? 

gazfocus

As others have said, I would not guarantee that the house only needs the work that you can see - even if you go ahead and have a survey done, there are things that can come up when you start poking around. 

We are buying a house that needs a lot of work (a 1930's Semi that's not been touched since the day it was built), so we are expecting quite a substantial refurb. We will be able to do the majority of the rip out ourselves (what's the point in paying professionals to make a mess when I can do that...haha) but we are still preparing ourselves for the refurb taking a couple of years to a) be able to afford it and b) find decent trades people to do the jobs. Everything we've said needs doing, we've also said 'well this could happen so account for that', etc, so have tried to budget for that extra work too.

Anyway, to answer your question, it largely comes down to how you feel about the house. Are you wanting it just because you think you can get it cheap due to the work needing to be done, or are you in love with the house?

If you love the house, still try and think with your head and not your heart. Perhaps go back to the estate agent and increase your offer a little (if you want to) and justify the figure you've come up with a bit of detail, so the seller doesn't think you've just plucked a figure from thin air. That might make them take your offer more seriously. 

caprikid1

It is worth noting that a house needing work is often (Not always) priced accordingly. To many more savvy buyers it may be obvious so there is little room for price negotiation.

housebuyer143

FreeBear said:

housebuyer143 said: The house will almost certainly need more work than you think and can see. If you think it needs a bit of work, it probably needs a lot so will cost more than expected.

Tales of repairs/renovations here...

Replace windows - Chunks of plaster get knocked off the walls. They now need stripping back to brick before insulating (or I could just patch up the plaster).

Replace the door - Needs a lintel to support the outer leaf of brickwork. No room to wriggle one in, so the soldier course needs removing first. In doing so, the bricks come out so badly damaged, new ones are needed. Being old imperial bricks, only one local supplier has any, and even then, need to pick over a pallet to find good matches.

Replacing the ceiling in the hallway - Cut a few laths out, hear a loud thud from an adjoining room. A big chunk of plaster has fallen down from the ceiling....

Boiler gets condemned. So new boiler needed along with new plumbing and bigger radiators in some rooms.

Water leaking in through the kitchen ceiling after heavy rain. Several attempts to find the source, and eventually track it down to a small crack in the render. Chip away the render to make a repair, only to find a larger crack in the wall that goes all the way through.

Still have to replace the ceilings in three rooms due to cracks, and will be adding more insulation when they get done... And then the bathroom needs a complete refit.

If you don't have the skills to do most of the work yourself, you need a sizeable chunk of money to pay someone else to do it. Plasterers, electricians, and plumbers do not come cheap. It is also a crap shoot to find a reliable person that can do a good quality job.

Not too the same extent but bought last year and thought, new kitchen, painting and boiler is what was needed.

Turns out: 
1. Water tank leaking through the ceiling.
2. Hole in the roof

3. All double glazing is badly installed and the doors are so badly warped they let a gale in. All new needed. 
4. The bathroom waste just poured through the ceiling the moment the bath got too full.
5. Just loads and loads of jobs the old owners did badly that needed attention. 

I honestly have never seen a house with so many water stains on the ceiling... I mean how?!

They are all done now... Time to start on those few jobs I thought the house needed when I bought it 🤣🤣😅 

Houses are money pits! 

Cintakins

propertyrental said:

Depends what other resources your have. But it sounds like you would be financially stretched with no contigency fund.

I have my parents who say they'r willing to help pay for things like insulating the house etc. but they're already helping my sister pay for an extension to her house for her disabled daughter. I don't feel good about accepting their help, as I know they would use their pension to help me with no question