A FTB about to purcahse a house would like some advice please!

lisal0u

Hi Everyone,

I have posted on here previously about a house we have had an offer accepted on. It needs around £20k worth of work doing so we put in an offer 15% less than asking and it was eventually accepted.

We have just had the survey back and 3 extra things cropped up that I wasn't aware of. One was that the plumbing is lead, the side elevation of the roof has some worn tiles and the chimney needs re-pointing and some of the bricks are weathered. Would these things worry you?

I have found out that it will cost around £850 to replace the lead piping and between £2-£3k to re-tile the roof (I'm not sure yet if the whole roof needs re-tiling but I wanted to see what the worst case would cost us).

Would £20k worth of work plus these extra things put you off? Would you revise your offer or are they fairly minor problems?

The valuation values the house at £110k once the work has been finished, which means the £20k we spend will increase the house by that amount. Is this normal for a valuer just to value it at the price paid (£90k) plus the cost of the renovations? I hoped the renovations would increase the house slightly more than they will cost to do! Do you think it will be worth it?

We are intending to live in it for 10 years or so and are not in it to make money. We are only borrowing 2.5x our joint salary too so the repayments are quite comfortable and fixed for 5 years.

I do love the house and can see its potential but I do worry that we may be taking on too much.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards
Lisa

brit1234

What ever you do don't buy prices are plumitting and will easily continue over the coming months. If you don't believe me hold off just a couple of weeks till both the Halifax and Nationwide house price figures are out. I'm sure you will see a big drop in these figures.

You could save tens of thousands and quite possible stop making the biggest mistake of your lives.:exclamati

JanCee

I've just had 2 chimney stacks re-pointed at a cost of £350 per stack. It's not a big job and could be done at the same time as replacing roof tiles.

lisal0u

Hi brit1234, I have been keeping a close eye on house prices in my area, I live in an area where house prices are already quite low (£85-£110 for a 3 bed semi). So far there has only been 8 properties drop their prices by £5k. I am hoping that by negotiating a £15k reduction in our property we have hopefully secured ourselves against too much of a drop in the housing market.

The problem I have is how long do we wait, this could go on for years and I cannot bare living in a rented 2 bed flat that we are bursting out of, that has no parking or a garden for any longer! And also what if a house like this doesn't come up again. Its in a lovely area with a huge garden and no houses at the back so its not looked on.

JanCee - Thanks for that, thats not too much money. I think they are probably minor things we don't need to worry about that much!

Kind regards
Lisa

stockmarket-diva

Take not notice of the entrant about house prices plummeting. I am an Estate Agent and it is scaremongering like this and through the media that is putting some people off. In fact there are still plenty of people looking to buy.

Before you make a decision, read The Times online which has issued today an list of the top recession proof areas of England and see if the property you are referring to lies within these areas; for example Kent where I operate still saw prices increase by 6.7% and Westminster by 24%!

The works you need doing outlined by the survey should be negotiated between you, the agent and vendor. In the market at the moment there needs to be alot of negotiating and most people are being very reasonable about what needs to be done to secure the sale.

Brainache

stockmarket-diva wrote: »

Take not notice of the entrant about house prices plummeting. I am an Estate Agent and it is scaremongering like this and through the media that is putting some people off.

stockmarket-diva wrote: »

for example Kent where I operate still saw prices increase by 6.7% and Westminster by 24%!

Does anyone else see the irony in these statements? Prices only ever go up, nothing to see here, move along...

OP - I'd think carefully about negotiating a further reduction, as the 20k+ of repairs required will bring the house up to 'top of the market' value, when in truth the market isn't strong enough to support it. I fully sympathise - I'm in the same position, waiting to buy but only at the right price...

margaretclare

Just as well you were warned about these, but AFAIK all plumbing pipes were of lead in any house that's a few years old. Not sure when they stopped using lead for pipes. We had ours checked last year and they're not causing any problem. If they were, it would be possible to replace them with blue plastic pipes but 'if it ain't broke why fix it'.

Chimney re-pointing - not a problem. Find out who your local small builder is and get a quote.

Same with roof tiles - there may be a local small roofing company that your local small builder will know about. It's possible to replace ordinary tiles, as long as they're not asbestos. We ended up having to replace the whole roof last year because the 70-year old asbestos tiles were slipping and these cannot be repaired.

Unless you buy absolutely new there's sure to be some minor defect because materials wear out over time and nothing lasts for ever, but it needn't put you off.

HTH

SquatNow

stockmarket-diva wrote: »

Take not notice of the entrant about house prices plummeting. I am an Estate Agent and it is scaremongering like this and through the media that is putting some people off. In fact there are still plenty of people looking to buy.

People like this shouldn't be allowed on here.

F***ing disgraceful property ramping.

And completely unaware of how stupid they look! :rotfl:

bryanb

margaretclare wrote: »

Just as well you were warned about these, but AFAIK all plumbing pipes were of lead in any house that's a few years old. Not sure when they stopped using lead for pipes. We had ours checked last year and they're not causing any problem. If they were, it would be possible to replace them with blue plastic pipes but 'if it ain't broke why fix it'.

HTH

Because lead is poisonous and affects (especially childrens) brains Any disturbance to the pipes may dislodge internal scale and allow lead into the water supply. Just like lead in paint it is dangerous!

margaretclare

bryanb wrote: »

Because lead is poisonous and affects (especially childrens) brains Any disturbance to the pipes may dislodge internal scale and allow lead into the water supply. Just like lead in paint it is dangerous!

Yes, exactly. That's why we had it checked last year. We were thinking of having the drive re-paved and the lead pipes run under the drive and under our property to the bathroom. The man from the water company came along and identified exactly where the pipe run is, using a kind of ultrasound device, and then he took 2 samples of water and had them tested. If the water that he sampled hadn't come within set parameters we would have gone ahead and got the lead pipes replaced - however, they were well within limits and no action was needed.

We still haven't had the drive re-done - local builders are just so, so busy at present!

Incidentally, the drive is the last job to be done at this 1932 bungalow. Since I bought it 18 years ago practically the only structures that haven't changed have been the walls! Double glazing, new bathroom, new kitchen, rewiring, re-plastering, new boiler, new roof, insulation (actually that was the first thing to be done). Then redecoration room-by-room, but the place was reasonably liveable to start with and the rest of it has all been done over a period of years as and when we could afford it.

beautifulgorgeous_2

If you love it and can afford it then go for it, it is your home first and an investment second.