Homebuyers survey suggest our offer is too high by 15k and we should renegotiate. Now what?

[cluelessfirsttimebuyers]

Renegotiate or leave it?

Major problems identified are; need new front door, bannister installation recommended, bath poorly fitted and needs regrouting, sealant round bathroom fixtures deteriorating so needs replacing otherwise risks wood rot, mortar bed on roof is starting to weather and so some tiles need fixing or replacing.

Should we take their advice and try to renegotiate with the seller? They had a lot of offers but their purchase is ready now so they are waiting to move asap- I can’t see they’d choose someone else over us, surely?

First time buyers and a bit clueless. As stated they’ve said it’s worth £15k less in their opinion than our offer.

Offer accepted at 210k, was on rightmove for offers over 200k and had about 10 offers in total. They are recommending 195k.

Thanks in advance!

I can understand your not wanting to be out of pocket when presumably you're stretched to the max, but the reality is that asking for a £15k reduction is unrealistic for what amount to cosmetic issues. In your vendors' shoes I would bin you off and go with someone else. Buyers pulling out is a massive pain, and they have had a lot of other offers, so they don't appear to have a lot to lose. You, however, have paid for the survey, and that money's spent.

The important thing is the valuation survey, as if that comes back under the price you're offering you might not get the mortgage you need. At that point you may have no choice but to try to negotiate a reduction - do you really want to be doing that having already tried to get £15k out of the vendors?

We’re not trying to get 15k out of them though. It’s looking as though the mortgage lender will say the same, or close to. We won’t do anything until next week when we know for sure anyway.

I would ignore this report, the only thing I would be worried about are any major structural problems it came up with. Everything it mentions are easily, and fairly cheaply remedied - especially if you can do at least some of them yourselves.

If the mortgage valuation falls massively short you might have a problem, but then if it finds something terribly wrong, so will the vendors!

Just wait for the mortgage valuation, that's what will matter, to you and to your mortgage company. If that comes back at the same valuation then this may affect how much you can borrow (unless you've got a low LTV) as the lender bases their working out on this, you'll then need to renegotiate or pull out.

If the mortgage valuation puts it as £15k under what you've offered you will be in a much stronger position, as anyone else with a FTB mortgage is likely to be in the same position, and the vendors will have to reconsider. Even then, you'd be well advised not to be too bullish, as if someone has equity to make up the difference between the valuation and their mortgage they might not care as much.

I may be picking you up wrongly, but if you aren't trying to get £15k out of them, what are you doing? As has been explained, the things you've mentioned will cost a couple of hundred to put right - where has the figure of £15k come from?

Maybe a badly worded OP. The surveyor has stated he believes the offer is too high and the house is worth £195k in line with other properties in the area and taking the condition of the property into account. Suggests renegotiating

I listed the things the surveyor has highlighted as issues, in case anyone thought it was pertinent to the down valuation

Thank you very much.

Ah, ok. In that case it comes down to how much you want the house, assuming your mortgage is covered. You could mention it to the EA, and see what they say, but be prepared for the vendors to be unhappy, as they will presumably have factored in the agreed price to their next move. If you think it's too much of a risk that you'll not get your money back, you have a difficult decision to make. You might be able to get a reduction of some of it though.

Agree to wait for the mortgage report and in the meantime consider what you will do if it also suggests lower value. With multiple offers and no huge issues identified I would predict the vendors will not accept a lower offer but go back to another buyer.

If you love the house and are in it for the long time, I wouldn't rock the boat.

Given the number of offers, I can just about guarantee they will sell it to one of the other interested parties instead if you try to reduce your offer. If the mortgage valuation is low that might help you, but renegotiating on the basis of sealant, grout and an aging front door/roof tiles would be madness.

What if the mortgage valuation is also 195k though?

Then you find some or all of the money from elsewhere, ask the seller to accept a lower offer or you lose the house. Honestly anything you buy will have issues we sold our renovated house recently and if their survey pointed out some minor maintenance points I would have laughed at them asking for 15k whilst getting the tool kit back out the boxes!

What is wrong with the front door? Does it need adjusting or does it just not meet modern standards, bannister is a choice and as for the bathroom that a DIY point that you will be doing every couple of years.

You said "It’s looking as though the mortgage lender will say the same, or close to". How do you know this? We've bought a number of houses with a mortgage and have never been able to predict what the mortgage valuation would be until the day we received it.

Assuming it does come in under, then you're in a more justified (though not necessarily stronger) position to go back to the seller and negotiate. They may still choose to decline and go back on the market. Remember, not everyone needs a mortgage to buy a house and £200k is well within the budget of some cash buyers, particularly downsizers.

They will tell you where to go. None of that affects the valuation. Those are typical things picked up. It's not brand new.

It seems to me you have put an offer in that's over your budget and on further research, over the ceiling price for the area.
You seem pretty sure the mortgage valuation is going to be more in line with previous sold prices rather than your offer.
Stop messing these people around by trying to utilize a report that has found minor faults to get out of an offer that you've now realized you can't afford.🤔😡

If it's had 10 offers one of those will have more than you to put down and the mortgage valuation won't matter. You're playing with fire. They took you in all likelihood because you offered the most - that's your leverage.

If you came to me asking for a 15k reduction on minor issues like regrouting, and a nice-to-have-but-not-needed front door, I’d kindly and firmly show you the front door. Time waster in my books. Be cautious: you just might end up losing the property.

If the mortgage valuer doesn't believe it's worth £210k and feels it's more like £195k you will have to renegotiate as the lender won't give you enough to cover £210k.

The roof is a major thing. I think I’d walk away tbh.

But the roof issues?
Thats a major point to me (not the regrouping agd the new front door, I fully agree there)

Until you get the mortgage valuation you have absolutely no idea what they’ll say, what makes you think they’ll say this? If it’s based on other houses on the street you should’ve researched that already and offered in the same region.

Even the roof issues aren’t £15k.

We haven’t got loads of cash to start fixing stuff though.