Awful woman slagging off my family home

My guess is that she probably wanted a house that was more finished, and couldn't afford it so bought a house that needed some modernisation. She resents that it needs the work because buying a house that needs work isn't what she wants.

Try not to let it get to you. If you had modernised it, she still wouldn't have had it because the price you sold for would be higher.

Like you said @misscee5, just flip it - the house was good enough for her when she bought it, not good enough for you when you sold it.

She sounds a bit chippy. Maybe it's that. You've presumably upgraded by moving to a bigger/nicer house and she has bought your old house you didn't want any more. So she's put out that people might think you're "better" and griping about the house to try and lower the opinion other people might have of you?

That's all very speculative of me but the same thing happened to my sister. Was selling her house to move to a bigger one. A work colleague who'd always been very friendly excitedly told her that she too was moving to a new house. After the agent confirmed names they realised colleague was buying sisters house. Colleague suddenly got very cold towards sister and started moaning to others about aspects of the house, how it had been badly maintained etc. She seemed to have a complex about having bought the "cast off" of someone she knew. Weird but it does happen.

Shame she couldn't afford a deluxe finished house. Maybe she needs to work harder and earn more money.

Buyer's remorse.

Just let her. It's not your problem any more.

She can renovate or sell or live with it. End of story.

If I heard someone slagging off an old neighbour because of the state of the house (that they had looked at and chosen to buy) I would think poorly of them for bitching and steer clear, not of the old neighbour.

What a shithead. That's horrible OP.

This takes me back to days of living in Army quarters! On leaving a house/flat you had to endure a 'march-out' inspection, the house was forensically examined, eg the frying pan you'd used for 5 years had to be spotless, not a burn in sight, one person knelt down in front of of the gleaming cooker, put her had as far under as it would go and scraped the underside, 'That's greasy!'.
However there were many wives moving into a quarter who, whatever the state of the house may be, and they'd all passed these inspections, told everyone who'd listen that it was filthy, and not up to 'her high standards'!. It's what some people do to make themselves feel superior! Ignore her!

"Well it's a shame she couldn't afford the type of house she really wanted. Trades and materials are so high right now."
"I didn't put a gun to her head and tell her to buy it!"
"Aww, she said that? That's a shame. I love my new house."

Reframe it and be careful of the friends/old neighbours who are reporting back as they may well be reporting back to her!

THIS. I wouldn't think badly of the seller, I would think what an idiot of a buyer! 😂

She saw the house when she viewed it. Yes, they often look worse when empty but cest la vie.
She only has grounds to be pissed off if you left it dirty- hate it when people do that.
Take no notice

She’s possibly regretting moving for other reasons, and has focused all her hate on the house. Ignore it, and her.

Something like that has just happened us so you have my sympathy. We sold an older house that was a fantastic house but some of the decor was a bit dated. Very up to date when it was built but trends change. We still live in the local area. The guy who bought it has put stuff up on Instagram about the house. So as he rips stuff out he comments on how dated it is in quite a derogatory way. Also we had planted wild flowers, as encouraged, for the bees and while he was ripping that out he commented on how the previous owners had let it go wild and he was being tasked with planting a perfect lawn again. This was only a small minor area of the garden. I feel it when he says these things as that was our home for 20 years so l feel it reflects on me. People are clueless at times l think. I would ask your friend not to pass comments on as l have asked my kids not to pass on comments since l am not on Instagram.

There's an old joke about how you'll never hate anyone more than the former owner of your house. It's not that deep. You sold a renovation project, and she bought a renovation project. She's allowed to moan! You're allowed to ignore it.

Just shut your friends up when they start stirring. "Oh I've no interest in hearing about that house anymore - it isn't mine"

As for her - most people would think she is nuts going on and on about her home's previous life as someone else's home. She must be so boring to have to listen to.

If your friends relay more of this just shrug and say ‘I don’t want to hear it to be honest. I’ve got their cash, they got the house, that’s the end of the story as far as I’m concerned’ .

This woman is probably dramatising the work to make herself look busy / heroic, and might be cold and unfriendly whether or not she had bought your house.

Just agree and say you can’t believe how lucky you were to get rid of it so quickly . Then add you only had to drop the price by £5 k which was a lot less than it would have taken to update the bathroom etc.

You haven’t done anything wrong . Don’t be drawn into her pettiness. Hold your head up high and smile and nod at her when you pass her in the street / at school etc. People don’t care about these things at all. The people who would listen aren’t people you want to be friends with anyway.

Unless you lied about something that's now come to light and made the property seem like it was bought under deception I don't see why she'd be taking it that way. I'd just ignore her back!

If she ever complains to your face just say ‘if you’re not happy with your house then sell it, that’s what we did’! Rinse and repeat!
In the meantime, tell everyone that you’re so happy in your beautiful new home and couldn’t face the work that needed in the old house so had to sell it cheap 🤣🤣

I'd say "yeah what a dump it was, I couldn't believe it when X was dumb enough to buy it but she must have been desperate. Ah well, I moved to bigger and better things now".

Has she actually done any reno work? Maybe she's saying this stuff because she's paranoid that people will judge her. Because unless she's totally gutted it, she will also be living there with kids.

Ah I think it’s a hard one. One of the first houses we bought we obviously could see from viewing that it needed modernisation, new bathroom etc so we were accepting of that. What we didn’t see upon viewing, because the sellers had hidden with strategically placed furniture and quick ditch cover ups, were all the other many problems. It wasn’t until we got the keys and saw the place empty that we realised what a shit hole it was, in that instance I would have said the same about our seller. New bathroom & some modernisation VS a hidden shithole is very different so if this is the situation I don’t blame her!

Well then you got a very basic survey or used a shit surveyor

Did this person have a survey?
After the advice in that document it's just paper and paint. If they wanted a deep clean that's another matter.

We have a situation in our locality a bit like the mafioso. If you don't go with the local agent after valuation they trash your house to anybody they meet.
There were three large houses on our private estate. I didn't instruct them as I found them very rude. Next thing I know the other houses (modern so very similar) were getting viewings we didn't. My neighbour told me he enquired re selling his whilst we were on the market and he was told my house was a dump!
We sold it privately.
This lady is ill mannered. Ignore.