Valuation has come in 19k under our offer price

[birdladyfromhomealone]

Offererd £199,000 on a house on at £205,000 a probate sale in early August.
Probate is still going through so we cant exchange until that is done.
The offer was sold as seen ie with all the deceased clothes, furniture books etc for us to clear.
We had our mortgage survey done in late August but have since decided to have a full structural survey due to points highlighted in the mortgage survey.
That has come back with damp, woodworm, rotted windows, no damp proof etc
The valuation was £179,000
Clearly we would be fools to pay £199,000 and then spent £££ getting it made sound.
The estate agent sent us this :-

Hi Birdlady

The property is sold as seen and the owner will not wish to carry out any works on the property.

Obviously it is your decision as to whether you would like to proceed or not, if you can let us know as soon as possible in order for me to update the owner.

WWYD?

[Knittedbreasts]

Would they accept a reduction in price in view of this?

[TangBloodyFastic]

I would explain the house has been down valued and offer the valuation price. Expect them to come back with a higher price or at the worst a “no”.

I would walk away if they wouldn’t renegotiate. 10% is quite a difference

[Mjs0510]

I would be reducing my offer in light of the information you now have. The offer you made was not based on the structural items needing doing

Is it your dream home? Can you walk away from it if they don’t accept a lower offer?

[bastardkitty]

It's often a case of meeting halfway. Would you consider this? They may not, especially since they can't proceed anyway. I had a downvaluation of 10k - offered to meet halfway. They said no, they were going back on the market, but by morning they had had a change of heart.

[wowfudge]

If they won't accept the down valued price then walk away - they are incurring no costs at all if they are not even clearing the place. That could easily cost you several grand in skips, etc.

[birdladyfromhomealone]

They will not negotiate at all according to the estate agent who says we have got a bargain at £199,000
They can not proceed anyway as they are awaiting probate so its gone back on the market at £235,000
What a waste of 12 weeks :(

[Thegirlisnotright]

My sympathies to you. We walked away from a house where the valuation was 25k below offer price with a mortgage retention as well. The market here is not great and it felt too risky.
Good luck with finding another property x

[wowfudge]

At least it's 12 weeks and not thousands of pounds.

[ItsNiceItsDifferentItsUnusual]

They’ve increased the price?!

[Lunenburg]

Think if it as great detective work and a lucky escape, rather than a waste of time.

I have spent a great deal more than £20k dealing with the issues you describe, three times as much !!

[Everytimeref]

We had a similar situation. We walked away and really glad we did. The property would have been a money pit and we would have been broke. Found an amazing property three days later.

[AdalindSchade]

They are greedy twats then wanting to sell a mouldy house full of crap for top whack. Do you think anyone else will offer more than you did?

[bastardkitty]

That could backfire spectcularly!

[ArbitraryName]

I’d imagine they’ll struggle to sell it at an even higher price when they’re not even willing to clear the bloody thing for the buyers. And that’s without woodworm etc to consider.

You’ll find something better.

[TangBloodyFastic]

The thing is they’re, more than likely, going to have the same problem when another lender goes out to value.

Greed will overrule sense in these situations and the EA will push a higher price for more commission.

[newmumwithquestions]

It's rubbish but a lucky escape for you. Our house was valued at 20k less than we offered, we managed to talk the surveyor up £10k and the buyers accepted the amended valuation, so in the end we saved 10k.
We've spent about 60-70k on it!

However if the sellers aren't willing to negotiate then they're dreaming as someone will only get a mortgage for the amount it's valued at, and they'll be lucky to get a cash buyer.

[BewareOfDragons]

I would walk away. Yes, it's 12 weeks. The the long term financial hit will be felt a lot longer than that.

[pp2017]

If probate has taken 12 weeks it sounds like there is an issue between the family selling (usually takes 5/6 weeks for probate).....

That could be why they’re not willing to move on price, or the estate agent just doesn’t want to lose commission 🤣

[Blankscreen]

It sounds as though you had a mortgage valuation then a full structural survey and you are referring to the value given in the full structural?

What did the mortgage valuation value it at? -if that that was what you offered then I see why the seller might have a problem.

[Bluntness100]

I agree what did the mortgage valuation say?im shocked they have put the price up even further though.

[InvisibleKittenAttack]

Never mind, there will be other houses.

This one was going to be a money pit!

[Beaumatrix]

How much are other houses going for? Can you compare the market value?

[birdladyfromhomealone]

The last time a house sold on this road was 2015 (165k) as it is a no through road with a primary school(outstanding) at the end of the close. In March this year other roads were selling at around the 190k mark
The agent sent this :-
Hi Bird

The prices we have used as comparisons are all sales from March this year. It is just not feasible to compare a price of a property from 2015 as the market is completely different. We have already discussed with them and they are not prepared to renegotiate below the accepted offer and have requested that we readvertise the property should not wish to withdraw your offer. If you can let us know your final decision so that we can update them.

We asked to meet them half way and pay £189,000, we are looking to have to spend 25k on top. for a mid terrace 2 bed with no parking or views. The other roads all have sea views.

[InvisibleKittenAttack]

Reply that you don't think it's worth it, given the amount of work needed, so wish them luck finding an alternative buyer. If they would like to get it sold, they have your offer.

Ideally book some more viewings this week elsewhere so you've mentally moved on.

The estate agent might well view it that they might struggle to get another buyer at the higher level and a slightly lower commission is better than having to start again with viewings and advertising. (Guessing that as it's empty the estate agent is having to do the viewings themselves )

[SilverSpot]

I bet the EA is pissed off at them - they have now lost a second sale. It isn't worth it for an EA to get £20k more for a house for all that extra work when they just get something like £300 -£600 of that!