Hey all.
Finally in my 40s I’m fortunate enough (with a lot of family help & a mortgage) to be buying a home. It’s end-of-terrace; just spoke to the surveyor today after he’s done most of the inspection and he’s found a lot of structural problems.
Feeling a bit defeated, it’s taken so long to get to this stage of having an offer accepted, and being close to exchanging contracts. It’s an old house so while I wasn’t expecting it to be fault-free, I’m quite disappointed and I guess looking for some advice / reassurance.
Not got the report in text yet but he mentioned potential subsidence; rising damp; cracked walls; problem with the chimney stack; window frames; and others. Said it’s all stuff that can be fixed, but potentially expensive. My plan is to wait for the text report next week, then contact the estate agent and attempt to negotiate a price reduction in line with the cost of the repairs, which imo will run into at least £15k. Considering it’s on the market for £85k, and the owner wouldn’t even put the electric on for viewing because she didn’t want to pay £1 a day standing charge, I’m anticipating some pushback.
But, should I even bother? Is this ‘sunk cost fallacy’ at play? I certainly feel like if they’re not prepared to negotiate re repairs then I have to walk away as I could buy a well-maintained property round here for the total cost of around £100k!
Any advice much appreciated.
owner wouldn’t even put the electric on for viewing because she didn’t want to pay £1 a day standing charge
I bet the real reason is that turning on the power would reveal more trouble.
I’m often told I can be negative with regards to the intentions of others but this definitely crossed my mind. I’ve reiterated many times the importance of the electrics being sorted because I write music, I’ll have ~£15k of equipment in one room and do not want my new home burning down or my kit damaged due to faulty wiring.
Interestingly / worryingly, the electrical cert they handed over at the start of this process hadn’t even been signed (though the company appears to exist).
Not sure how the laws work in the UK for informing people about potential problems, but you might be doing someone else a solid if you forward the inspection report to the current owner and their agent with clear documentation proving you did even if you just plan on walking away at this point (which I would also suggest because even all the things the inspection found might only be scratching the surface).
Where I am, if you aren’t aware of a problem (and aren’t completely negligent to be unaware), you aren’t guilty of fraud for not declaring it. But if you do know about it and neglect to inform a buyer…
Once you have the written report in hand get a quote from the best remodeling firm around. Have them check over the report and give you an estimate based on how much it will cost for everything.
Use that report and estimate as your bargaining position. Be prepared to walk away, as it already sounds like this lady isn’t taking very good care of the place.
This was my thinking, get some estimates and hard data in hand before attempting negotiations. Tbh it’s not looking good, and am seeing a return to combing through house listings this weekend.
If you aren’t comfortable with managing repairs, walk away. The repairs will likely take months and can be very disruptive.
It sounds like there are some very pricey repairs, chimneys are generally expensive and require specialized masons. Replacing windows can be expensive, but if the house doesn’t have double pane windows, the insulation benefits can offset the cost.
The biggest worry is the moisture issues, rising damp and bad window frames could mean significant water damage is discovered as part of repairs. Cracked walls can also be a big deal depending on the root cause, foundation issues are really bad.
I do have somewhere within walking distance where I can stay while works are being completed. Windows I’m not so much worried about, as estate agent said she had similar issues and just did the windows one at a time as budget allowed. The damp / potential subsidence though is my biggest concern. It’s likely the provider would pull the mortgage offer based on that, and there’s no way I’d get building insurance with issues like this.
If you really like the location you might consider trying to negotiate a vastly reduced price for the land and do a demo and rebuild.
Walk away unless you plan on doing a large, time consuming, and expensive renovation. Don’t fall in love with the idea of what the property could be. Make sure it suits your needs now and the seller is much more transparent.
Yea unless you’re ready to fix (or more likely redo /replace) a lot of existing things while you live there, I’d walk unless they make a really compelling offer.
Renovations are really time consuming especially when you have a job, family, etc. And living in a renovation can be exhausting as you have to work around all the fixes until theyre done or at least usable. I speak from experience unfortunately.
That said, if the place is liveable and you can break things down into more manageable parts, could be worth it if again, they make a really compelling offer.
Renovations are really time consuming especially when you have a job, family, etc. And living in a renovation can be exhausting as you have to work around all the fixes until theyre done or at least usable. I speak from experience unfortunately.
Am self employed, single so I guess that’s going for me in this respect. Writing music would be pretty difficult though with drilling and hammering going on through the rest of the house! Thanks for your advice.
As a fellow music maker i feel that. And absolutely, happy to help. Best of luck to you.
the seller is much more transparent.
Am trying to take the attitude of not taking it personally, it’s just business and the seller is trying to maximise what they get for the house… but it’s hard not to feel deceived. They surely must have known there are serious issues and clearly have not priced the house accordingly. It’s frustrating to have to dig out these issues, every buyer is going to pay for a survey and waste money finding out things that should really have been disclosed by the seller.
Apparently in Norway, the seller pays for and provides a survey to all prospective buyers. Seems a much more efficient and fair way of doing things.
Foundation/structural issues are ALWAYS walk away.
Unless it’s cheap to basically rebuild. Or absolutely must have that particular house.
I’d just recommend not settling for something in poor condition just because you feel beat down or overwhelmed by the grind.
You will be filled with constant regret if you wind up buying some dilapidated property simply because you’re tired of the back and forth because once you sign the papers, you’re stuck with it. The process isn’t enjoyable, but try not to let that get to you.
Not sure what the exact condition of house is nor what contractors charge for work in your area, but in my area of the US, $15k isn’t going to get you very far on most projects. One of my coworkers just spent $27k to have an HVAC system installed and $40k for new windows. I think he got fleeced, but even halving those prices, you’re still being given a rough quote equivalent to these somewhat basic tasks for what sounds like serious structural work.
Ok, I have to ask- what the hell kind of place do they live where HVAC costs $27k and windows cost $40k? Were these new installations where there had never been ductwork or windows before? Because those are way, WAY out of line for replacements in a typical single family home. By about an order of magnitude.
But to your larger point, yes, structural work can very easily (and quickly) hit 6 digits. I wouldn’t accept it unless the terms are that the original owner makes the repairs first.
Yes the HVAC was a full install as he had an oil burning furnace with radiant floor heating prior to this. They installed an AC/furnace and ducting. The windows were through one of those sleazy companies like Renewal by Anderson and like I said I think he got fleeced on both jobs.
Walk away. If they’re cheap on electricity, they’re probably cheap on maintenance.
Walk away. Seriously.
You say it’s priced at 85K, repairs 15K. Would you buy it if it was in perfect condition for 100K? If so, buy it. If not, walk.
I don’t know what your local market is like, but in most places a seller won’t entertain that much price reduction.
This is very sage advice. I mentioned this comment to my dad and we both didn’t take a heartbeat before responding “Definitely not” to the question of if we’d buy it in perfect condition for 100k.
When you buy something that’s going to be with you till your last day, it should give happiness. You shouldn’t be anxious and sleepless at night because of that.
Op… their transparent lie about not wanting to pay 1 pound a day to turn the electricity on should have told you to walk away let alone the structural issues.
This is in the US so your experience obviously may differ but we recently bought a house that needed a completely new roof. We actually had to back out of the deal once because the seller refused to pay any portion of the roof. It took the house sitting on the market for another 3 months before they finally agreed to cover just half the cost of a new roof and at that point we were tired of looking and just wanted a house so we accepted the offer. Our new roof looks great and we’re happy with the house but paying for half of a roof was an expensive add-on to the purchase for sure.
That’s funny - not your roof troubles but that they came crawling back in the end, because they must’ve found that every other buyer was similarly unhappy about the roof. My dad had the same thing trying to buy a house last year, they wouldn’t accept his bid then came back months down the line to accept it… at which point my dad reduced his offer again by 5k haha.
I am definitely going to make the point to the estate agent (who was boasting she could’ve sold the house 10x over), that all other buyers are going to have a survey carried out and discover the same serious issues. So if the seller and her are serious about selling the house, then they need to sell it for a serious price that reflects those serious issues!
PS as a half-Malteser, cool username :)
Walk away NOW. If the issues are known ahead of purchase insurance won’t cover them. You do NOT want to have to declare subsidence on your insurance quotes - most brokers just won’t cover you. Almost everything you said is a huge red flag and there are probably more “nice surprises” to come. If you have a mortgage approved already then go and find another property.
If this is your dream house, at least get a building & contents insurance quote before you go any further. You don’t want any further surprises.
Edit: source: bought a money-pit house, thought we had subsidence, we didn’t but it was a huge hassle and a lot of stress regardless. We got a bonus moth infestation out of it, though!
Also in the US so it might differ.
Honestly, if you’re in love with the house and you really want it, go for it, try to get them to cover as much as you can. At least you are somewhat aware of what you’re getting into, but beware these kinds of things have a tendency to balloon in costs. What starts out as 15k in estimated costs could easily end up being 25k by the time everything’s done.
If you’re not that attached to it if it’s “Just a house” to you, try to get them to cover the full cost of repairs, if they say no walk away. In the US price cuts have already started happening, houses are sitting on the market longer and longer again. On top of that, you said you’re buying for 85k + 15k for repairs that ends up being 100k and you can get a much better maintained house for 100k? I’d take that option if it were me and save myself the headache.
Am definitely not in love with the house! I think I’m pretty desperate to be a homeowner after renting all my life and dealing with scummy landlords, plus while I’m living with my dad I can’t really work. There’s just about room for a table with my PC and one synth, but certainly no space for my giant monitor speakers, let alone any bass traps or room treatment (as this is essentially a rental for my dad, albeit housing association so he’s very secure).
So I prob need to factor in my emotional state, try my best to be as cold & calculating about this as possible. Thanks for your advice.
Sounds like it comes down to your approach on risk management. Others have pretty clearly laid out the risks and frustrations of living in a house that’s being fixed/renovated, but if the seller is as negligent as they sound then I’d expect to find even more issues. If the inspection couldn’t cover anything pertaining to electricity then that’d be a huge red flag for me, that stuff can get real expensive real fast. Follow your gut and try not to fall for the sunk cost fallacy, it can be hard when you focus on how many hundreds of dollars and hours of time you’ve spent so far but it sounds like you’re looking at at least another several thousand dollars in repairs, and that’s only for the problems you’re currently aware of. Everybody’s situation is different so maybe this whole thing is right for you, but don’t ignore the red flags just because of how much you’ve already invested
Follow your gut and try not to fall for the sunk cost fallacy
Have to say my gut is saying to walk away. Of course it’s me that has to make the decision end of the day, but the responses I’ve gotten here have clarified all the subconscious worries I had and given me a lot more to think about. Much appreciated, glad I made this post.
