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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to not pay an extra £5k for this house?

37 replies

inneedahome · 18/12/2018 11:58

For background, DP and I bought our new build flat a year ago, we've sold it for a profit and want to move into a house (always the plan) with our dog and do not plan on having children (at least not for 8 years).
The flat is sold to first time buyers who will wait for us to find somewhere but also are ready to move asap - we're in a great position.

We live in a commuter town outside of London/M25, it's where I grew up and we need to live closer to the train station for my commute.

The house is 20mins walk from the station, nicely done inside but not to our taste and they have 2 children so lots of minor work needed in terms of the door frames having a lot of damage, wallpaper ripped off, they also have a conservatory that is connected to the kitchen and seems to suck out energy and so I don't imagine it being the easiest house (I would want to make it energy efficient so would need to spend on changing the conservatory roof) on our second viewing I couldn't stand on the kitchen floor as it was so cold (no shoes but socks).

Anyway, it's a 2 bed in reality of good sized rooms, but has this TINY third bedroom (1m x 3m) that isn't really a bedroom, but perhaps could be a nursery...
It's semi detached on the market for £335k

Before we were in a place to put offers in we found this lovely decorated 3 bed of decent size size, modern, 8 min walk from the station with similar space elsewhere for £350k.

I just don't think it's worth that so we went for £320k, they've come back saying to make their mortgage work etc they'd want £325k. I'm tempted to just say no. We didn't want to go above £320k as it isn't a forever home, it'll be for 3 years and we want to develop it and make some money. i'm concerned about the market changing in 2019 with Brexit etc, house prices, panic.

They've had 18 viewings in the 2 months it's been on the market and no offers except ours.

Would I be stupid to not go for 325 and risk losing the house for the sake of 5k? WWYD?

My thoughts are in Jan lots more will come on the market and theirs will lose interest even more and not as many people will be wanting to buy over xmas.

OP posts:

DeepanKrispanEven · 18/12/2018 13:24

I just don't think it's worth that

Are you a FRICS then?

Irrelevant. The question is what it is worth to OP, in the context that she is well aware of house prices in the area in question.

INeedanInterestingUsername · 18/12/2018 13:24

What is going on with the housing market at the moment? Where I live (SE), there are loads of homes up for sale, but no one is buying. Prices are dropping. Meanwhile, the council is telling us the government is 'forcing' them to build tens of thousands of new homes. Every farm field or any spare land around me has now been filled with all these new homes and still more are being built. Within a couple years we now have 3 or 4 new communities and another starting Spring 2019 and further consultation have started on where to build the next few new communities.
Traffic is a nightmare, getting a GP appointment is a nightmare. Where are all these new people moving from? I thought everyone was leaving due to Brexit? These are 3-6 bedroom homes, postage stamp gardens, 0-1 car parking space each starting at over £450,000+. (These are not 'low income' or 'starter homes'.) Is this happening everywhere?
Op, if you like the house, spend the extra £5,000 (which is nothing when you're talking about hundreds of thousands of pounds). If you really don't want to spend £5,000 then walk away and find something else. Maybe you could rent for now as I personally wouldn't want to loose the buyer on your flat. In the Spring more houses will come onto the market and you'll have more choice.

Chloe84 · 18/12/2018 13:26

I think if you loved the house, the £5k would be a non-issue.

Neverunderfed · 18/12/2018 13:26

If you don't think it is worth it to you, don't go for it. Depends if you want the house or not surely? 🤔

BlueJava · 18/12/2018 13:27

You clearly don't love it - so it's not worth buying as you may regret it. Leave and find something else.

Original poster

inneedahome · 18/12/2018 14:09

The issue is I probably would never love a house. I am very emotionally detached from houses when buying as I feel like it'll cause too many issues. I liked the house enough to see myself there and have viewed about 20 others and hated them.

I would be willing to spend £320, our budget is about £450 but I'm early twenties and don't want to spend too much money in a long term home just yet.

I am viewing this as an investment as in general I will be potentially moving abroad in 5 years for work.

You've all raised excellent points. I will say £320 final offer.

OP posts:

m0therofdragons · 18/12/2018 14:13

We offered 320k on a 350 house but were turned down. We really didn't think it was worth more so walked away. We moved to our now new home August 2017 and the house we walked away from finally sold August 2018 for 301k! I feel a little smug that their greed lost them 19k and a year! Go with your instincts.

InSightMars · 18/12/2018 14:14

See, your problem is even though the second house is already priced lower than the house you couldn't offer on, you still want it to be lower still to justify what you see as its inferiority. The people selling are taking a 10k hit at 325k and if 5k were nothing, as some would have it, in their eyes they're seeing 15k and if the 5k really does means the difference between them getting their mortgage or not they won't budge. To you the 5k also matters because in your mind you're settling for second-best compared to the other house and the only way to justify that is to get it as cheap as possible. I'd walk away to be honest, because I suspect even at 320k you're not going to be happy with your choice, it's never going to be the house you actually wanted.

BarbaraofSevillle · 18/12/2018 14:39

^Depends how much you want the house.
Depends how much they want to move^

^^ This. However, their mortgage situation has fuck all to do with how much the house they are selling is worth to you. Sometimes sellers have unrealistic expectations.

If it's had lots of viewings but no offers, that sounds like it isn't worth the asking price, probably partly due to people seeing the reality of the tiny bedroom.

DearTeddyRobinson · 18/12/2018 15:31

Not the question you asked, I realise, but why are you buying a house to sell again in 3 years? You will cost yourself 2 lots of stamp duty, fees etc, and no guarantee that the price will go up in the meantime.
In your position I would go for the £450k option and save yourself the hassle, money, etc of moving twice.

veggiepigsinpastryblankets · 18/12/2018 15:41

The question I asked myself over a similar sum was will I be kicking myself in a few months if we lose this over 5k and then don't find anything else we like. In my case it was the first place we'd seen that we didn't hate and the market here was going a bit mental, so we paid it and are very happy. I think you need to ask yourself what else is on the market that would suit you, and proceed accordingly.

pinkdelight · 18/12/2018 16:41

Totally agree with DearTeddy - bizarre strategy to have bought n sold your flat within a year then buy the wrong house for three years then upgrade again, esp when you don't even want DC for 8 years. Unless you're developers turning properties around for profit, which isn't the case, why not wait and buy a house you're going to stay in a while? Sounds like the flat was a mistake so don't make a mistake with the house.

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