Whats My Best/next move

SquirrelJ

I had an offer accepted on a house on November 21st for 127,500 the house was on the market for 129,500 the house is old and in need of modernization but has a lot of potential, its a 2 bedroom terraced.

I had a report done which brought back a few minor issues, that we would eradicate with our modernization. but 3 major issues one get an electrician to check the electrics ( he has come back and said its ok apart form a couple of switches which will cost £100 and is about 10 years old and has good earth readings).

The plumber has said that although the central heating is working its nearly 30 years old and is on its last legs once it goes it will need an entire new system putting in at a cost of £3000. he said it could last 10 days or 10 years, but will go and will need a new system.

The roof had some loose slates and that has come back at £1000 to fix them and some more work inside under the slates.

What is my best option??? Should I offer to fix them myself and reduce my offer, or get him to fix the problems. How much should i revise my offer at??? i am a first time buyer and he is selling his parents old home not his house that he lives in.

Cheers for any advice

selectcase

If it was my house i was selling i would reduce by say 2k - 1k for the roofing and 1k towards potential problems if that makes sense but you did not knock down much in the first place so you could possibly go for 5k?

SquirrelJ

What about the central heating???? 3K is a lot to fork out potentially 2 months after moving into a property to fix a problem that the house was advertised as having??? That is whats worrying me if we have to put in a new system the cost and the potential damage to the rooms we have started to modernise.

Cheers

Phirefly

I wouldn't panic TOO much about the central heating. My Mum was warned the same when she bought her house and 6 years on the CH is still chugging away with regular servicing. By all means factor it in to your reduced offer, but you said so yourself, as it stands, its working. And in a worst case scenario, there are lots of ways to save money on a new system, run a search on the diy moneysaving board.

Biggie

if the house is in need of modernisation and the CH is that old,
I would just change it.

It's probably not very economical so will save you bills in the long term anyway.

I would try it on with a 3k reduction.

selectcase

If it was also advertised as needing work/modernisation then thats part and parcel of doing it up basically but how much cheaper was it than others in the same location?? sometimes doing a house up costs more than buying one thats allready been done

SquirrelJ

The house was advertised as

"This is a deceptively well proportioned property, in need of some updating, but with great potential to make a very comfortable family home."

What do you think of the following idea:

Asking him to drop to £125,000 which is a loss to him of 2500 and 4,500 less than the house was orginally on the market at and we sort out all the problems.

We then don't have to pay stamp duty (I think that is right) and should have enough to cover the problems.He can then get rid of the house a quick sale and is still getting a decent price.