Survey showed spray foam, cut beam and sagging... recommending new roof

rundmc-k

Albermarle said:

rundmc-k said:

youth_leader said:

So sorry, that spray foam appears to be very damaging in many cases, what a shame.  If you really like it, could you negotiate a reduction in the price?

What did you 'bid' over the asking price to get your offer accepted?  

We really love the location and the grounds. The house itself isn't ideal for us but we felt like we could make it out own. I'm really not sure if the owner would go for a reduction in price. We actually agreed a figure under the asking price, but with what the surveyor is saying it feels like the asking price was too high anyway. 

The thing is, if the owner agrees to drop by say 30k (a big if), and a new raised roof ends up costing say 80k, does the extra cost/stress/time involved make it foolish. Something we're wondering long and hard about.

Although if you got extra habitable space/ extra bedroom , then it should add significant value to the property.

This is true, and we do like the thought of it with work "complete", stairs in there and a couple of rooms upstairs. The move would be envisaged as being our forever home though, so adding value wouldn't be a primary motivating factor.

ThisIsWeird

Hi Rundmc.

Pah and piffle - go for it.

With some provisos.

Would you be looking to extend into the roof space at some point? If so, go for it, but ask a decent £10k+ off the price.

If not, then you'll need to budget for an unwanted new roof at some point, so you should be looking at ~£30k off.

For the former scenario, you'd be expecting to pay a considerable sum for this loft conversion in any case, and this would include a new roof, so the £10k is effectively just a nice bonus towards it.

Meanwhile, your roof ain't going to fall in. Probably. Yes, it'll need some immediate attention to prop and replace that beam - a few £undred - but it'll otherwise last you until you are ready for your loftie, or for a new roof. 10 years? Easy.

You almost certainly have a good opportunity here to initially haggle hard, starting at the £30k-off regardless of the two options above, as the vast majority of potential buyers would be running away very quickly right now, certainly those who need mortgages. But, don't lose sight of what could be an opportunity here for you.

Just take into account the future cost of the roof, whether a simple replacement or as part of a conversion. Have some minor remedial work done to restrengthen the roof, and it will last you as long as you need - it ain't going to fall down.

If you do plan for a conversion at some point, then I'd say def go for this house as you'd obviously be factoring in the cost for a new roof in any case, and this is a chance to get a few £k towards it .

FreeBear

rundmc-k said: They've put a hole in the master bedroom wall that was going to be for the ensuite, but they haven't done much else with it, and they've knocked down a wall between a bathroom and WC but there's still plenty of exposed brick there.

A timber stud wall, you could get away with punching a hole through, but if it is supporting ceiling joists, I'd want a closer look. Knocking down brick walls is never a good idea without consulting a structural engineer first.

Did your surveyor give any indication of what he thought the place is worth (discounting the spray foam) ?

youth_leader

My daughter is house hunting in Belfast, so I've got a search in with Templeton Robinson - a 4 bed bungalow has just come up at 27 Dunlady Road - offers over £825K! It is fully renovated. 

I agree that asking the surveyor to 'value' the bungalow as is, it would be worth the extra money. 

jimbog

The seller knows the spray foam will be  deal-breaker for whoever is interested (the estate agent would be aware of this too). So, drop the offer by £30K and let the owner and estate agent have a think about it

tacpot12

One possiblity that arises if the property does need a new roof (and if it is a detached bungalow that has solid walls) is to also add external wall insulation.  The new roof can be made larger so that it correctly covers the wall insulation. Although the cost of the wall insulation will add to your financial woes, you will make the money back over time through much lower heating bills. The wall insulation can be added at a later date if the new roof is built with the correct overhangs to cover the insulation.

Skiddaw1

Interested to know whereabouts the house is OP. Helen's Bay area perhaps?

If it is going to be your forever home it might be worth just going for it on the basis that once the roof issue is sorted you'll have a fab house (and one that will almost certainly hold its value).

rundmc-k

ThisIsWeird said:

Hi Rundmc.

Pah and piffle - go for it.

With some provisos.

Would you be looking to extend into the roof space at some point? If so, go for it, but ask a decent £10k+ off the price.

If not, then you'll need to budget for an unwanted new roof at some point, so you should be looking at ~£30k off.

Well, I do like your positivity lol, as the wife and I have been feeling quite down about it, especially with the first couple of replies in this forum (not that I'm saying they're not correct in saying walk away).

What you have suggested is something we'd considered... i.e. try to get a discount, do the necessary to support the sagging tiles, then 3 years down the loan when we hopefully have some more money (and still active planning) look at the roof raise.

The only thing is we don't want to "have" to do this, it would just be nice to have the option if we had the money in a few years. So to a certain extent it is an unwanted new roof, i.e. something where we're likely going to have to pay a minimum of £60k on top of the sale price (which is already in the 350k region) whether we want to or not.

So it feels like we should definitely be getting a significant reduction considering the house hasn't been put on the market with an unmortgagable roof priced in (considering when I asked the EA about the dip in the roof they basically responded "i dunno"). Is 30k reasonable if a new roof even without raising it could cost double that? I know you're running the risk of the seller pulling out, but still...

rundmc-k

FreeBear said:

rundmc-k said: They've put a hole in the master bedroom wall that was going to be for the ensuite, but they haven't done much else with it, and they've knocked down a wall between a bathroom and WC but there's still plenty of exposed brick there.

A timber stud wall, you could get away with punching a hole through, but if it is supporting ceiling joists, I'd want a closer look. Knocking down brick walls is never a good idea without consulting a structural engineer first.

Did your surveyor give any indication of what he thought the place is worth (discounting the spray foam) ?

Yeah I don't know too much more about it until we get the report, although I do think the surveyor suggested the door cutaway shouldn't be a significant problem as although it wasn't timber stud, it wasn't a load bearing wall. It just wasn't done "right". The surveyor didn't give any indication on what he thought it was worth, but certainly indicated you'd expect a reduction if you were going ahead.

rundmc-k

jimbog said:

The seller knows the spray foam will be  deal-breaker for whoever is interested (the estate agent would be aware of this too). So, drop the offer by £30K and let the owner and estate agent have a think about it

The seller definitely knows about the spray foam as the only part of the roof that isn't covered in it is where he has taken away part of the rafter with a view to putting a velux window in, hasn't done it, and the tiles are sagging in. The EA either doesn't know or is feigning ignorance as I asked them specifically about the tiles sagging and they said they knew nothing about it. Just wondering should we be dropping the offer by more than 30k given the prospective expenditure.