Help please...buyer pulled out week b4 completion after 13 weeks wait...

egg345

Lost purchaser after waiting 13 weeks...help!

We accepted an offer 13 weeks ago on a house we have developed and as it was privately very naively stopped 'marketing' it. a week from completion, the buyers have pulled out.

stating in the future needs a lot of money spending on it which was in the survey.

I desparately need some estimates of prices to know where to go next-

some repointing-3 bed semi, how much at worst would it be?
some roof tiles-again worst case how much?
some timbers in roof showing sign of decay....?
chimney flues need ventilating?
replace wooden glass door with 2 side windows-sort of patio doors onto garden. upvc patio doors how much? fitting?
roof felt needs repalcing in approx 3 years time.....?price??

I don't know what we can do if anything but would SO appreciate some ideas for prices for this work.

Thanks, a very gutted and 'smashed' egg345!!!!

tinkerbell84

do you mean completion? have you exchanged contracts yet?

neas

This is not your main residence?

Is this a Property Flip? i.e buy property and do it up etc? I can see people are getting worried, stressed by the HPC... every day they need to sell the house as every day goes by they loose more value/more profit and even make a loss.

macaque_2

egg345 wrote: »

Lost purchaser after waiting 13 weeks...help!

We accepted an offer 13 weeks ago on a house we have developed and as it was privately very naively stopped 'marketing' it. a week from completion, the buyers have pulled out.

stating in the future needs a lot of money spending on it which was in the survey.

I desparately need some estimates of prices to know where to go next-

some repointing-3 bed semi, how much at worst would it be?
some roof tiles-again worst case how much?
some timbers in roof showing sign of decay....?
chimney flues need ventilating?
replace wooden glass door with 2 side windows-sort of patio doors onto garden. upvc patio doors how much? fitting?
roof felt needs repalcing in approx 3 years time.....?price??

I don't know what we can do if anything but would SO appreciate some ideas for prices for this work.

Thanks, a very gutted and 'smashed' egg345!!!!

If you 'developed' it, why has it still got all these problems?

If you are a real 'developer' you must accept that deals fall through. It goes with the territory.

Dr_Moe_2

If you are a 'developer' then surely you must have a rough idea of how much these repairs cost or at least you must know someone who can give you an estimate.

Given the current state of the market, you can't blame the buyer for pulling out. With house prices falling, buyers will be reluctant to buy a house that needs (even minimal) work done. If you want the sale to go through then you will probably have to negotiate on the price.

Anyhow, why has it taken you 13 weeks to reach the 'survey' bit?

Microstar_2

I suspect this is someone who's had a crack at making a bit of money out of a house by fitting a new kitchen and bathroom, painting it all a neutral colour and banging down a cheap carpet. Just like they do on the telly.
It really is unforgivable that a 'developed' property is in need of basic roof repairs. Someone's been very naive here.

Anyway, to be helpful, its very difficult to give an estimate without seeing the property and your descriptions are very vague (what area to be repointed, how much decayed wood in the attic??). A few tiles & a few square-metres of pointing will not cost a lot. The felting and woodwork are another matter and you really need to get someone to look at it an give a quote - but you are into a few £000's I suspect, if its anything more than very minor work. Its not the end of the world though.

egg345

Hi thanks for the replies.

No we were due to 'exchange' contracts tomorrow.

We are a family who could not find a suitable house to find when our last one sold so to stay in school catchment areas (have 4 children) rented a house which we are in now.
rather than letting our money sit in a bank we bought a 3 bed semi in a university town that was a probate and have gutted it ourselves working every weekend and evenings after work so we were still in effect on the property ladder.
yes, fully appreciate the english system and know nothing can be done and have to accept these things but as a mum am gutted emotionally and financially too,as we've spent a lot on doing it up.

a 'real' developer ?no just a mum who has done everything our survey showed and these things above have come up as things to consider in the future on a more indepth survey i guess.

have done full rewire, fitted complete central heating system, have full damp proof course, had complete house plastered. have every certificate you need. new bathroom, new kitchen.

any rough ideas of these prices i need would be so helpful.

dopester

neas wrote: »

This is not your main residence?

Is this a Property Flip? i.e buy property and do it up etc? I can see people are getting worried, stressed by the HPC... every day they need to sell the house as every day goes by they loose more value/more profit and even make a loss.

neas - I like the theme of most of your posts and find myself agreeing with you on many issues, but please.... in this context it's "lose" not "loose".

Opposite of win = lose

Opposite of tight = loose

PasturesNew

Reading that list it seems to me like the best choice from the start of your project would have been to judge whether the property needed re-roofing.

Depending how old the house is, the tiles that want replacing could in fact mean that most of them are shot.

While you've got all the tiles off, you'd see how good the roof timbers were and be able to address that.

Old roofs didn't have felt on the inside. Now they do. Again, if you'd re-roofed it from the start that would have been done with the job.

A poorly maintained, or old, roof on a property is quite a hot item for surveyors to pick up on survey.

Why not get 3 roofing firms round to quote.

Get quotes to fix the problems as they exist - and - to just rip it all off and put a new roof on.

You don't have to have the work done, just have the quote(s) available to buyers perhaps.

As for the rest, it's fairly minor. So, with the right help, shouldn't be more than a few hundred quid. But I am unsure about that door/patio area and what it really means.

It could mean that building regs aren't met because of a change you've made, or because of the materials/glass you've used.

I don't see how this is at present: "replace ...glass door with 2 side windows-sort of patio doors onto garden." What did you remove? What's in its place?

Best bet is to get some small local builders round to quote you for everything. And also get a couple of handyman quotes. Most of the items are handyman skills.

Doozergirl

egg345 wrote: »

some repointing-3 bed semi, how much at worst would it be?
Budget £25 per square metre and hope you can get someone to do it - it's not a popular job!
chimney flues need ventilating?
Cost pennies. You need someone with a drill with the correct attachment and then you cover it with a ventilation grill.
replace wooden glass door with 2 side windows-sort of patio doors onto garden. upvc patio doors how much? fitting?
Small, local independent firm for the patio doors not a major firm - £1000 if you are lucky.
some roof tiles-again worst case how much?
roof felt needs repalcing in approx 3 years time.....?price??
Essentially, you need a new roof. :eek: Budget at least £4000
some timbers in roof showing sign of decay....?
You need damp and timber expert to determine Best time to replace would be when the roof is off!

What kind of survey did you have carried out yourself? A full building survey? That is what I would have had carried out if I wasn't already a property developer! You need a comprehensive list to work to. If things don't look mint, it's best to budget for replacements.

The bricks and mortar are where true value is held. If you want to sell something beautiful then you must ensure that your buyers will have at least several years of maintenance free living. Especially in this market!

neas

Yea English was never my strong point, thanks i'll try to remember the difference :P. Good job i dont need english (well fully anyways) for my degree.

Yea i noticed you thanked alot of my posts .

Back to the post, Anyone can call themselves a developer inspired by those crappy television programmes. I wonder if those programmes will be replaced by:

Repossession Repossession Repossession. Programme showing how FTBers are getting great bargains on the previous properties showed on Location, Location, Location :P.

Alot of the problems stated are quite 'big' problems that should be picked up on any decent survey. Roofing/Tiling Problems especially can be costly.

Looks like you won't be making as much profit now... hey maybe a loss . Not your fault though it was the nasty tv shows misleading you .

To the OP: People on this forum are a bit biased against people as yourself who buy a property and 'develop' it (amateur style).. then slap a nice 30-50k profit on it and think they are a professional. The majorit of the profit came from the House Price Inflation... Now we are having a House price CRASH, will see your profit turn to a loss...

Forget about doing any work just negotiate a 10-20k drop in value... to sell it before its too late and you loose all your savings... you might come out breaking even... you might be more in debt .