Or is the person we're buying a house from totally fucking batshit?

[sootspritez]

I'm gonna start by saying I know I'm not being unreasonable, however I am inexperienced, so looking for some guidance on where you think things have gone wrong and what I can now do to placate this nutjob vendor. NC as outing. Will try not to drip feed.

Dh and I are first time buyers. Visited a house. Loved it. Offered full asking price. All fine up until this point.

3 weeks after offer is accepted the survey happens. This is when things start going south.

Let's say that house was on market for 150k. Survey came back and said the house was only work 137k due to needing new Windows, chimney work, roof tiles, etc and the bank believe this was all the house was worth.

Survey cost in excess of £500 so fairly decent survey for a reasonable priced house. Put it to the agents that unfortunately this is now all we can offer as the mortgage lenders I.e. bank believe it's all the house is worth due to work needing doing. Fully prepared to be told tough and that they're holding out for the full price as I know they rejected a previous offer for being slightly below asking.

Vendor agrees to sell for 137k immediately. Phew... Or so we thought.

From this point on the following has happened via estate agents -

• vendor has cancelled 3 second viewings because they were inconvenient though she initially agreed

• she has denied entrance to the property for a contractor to come out with us to estimate how much work needs doing

• pointlessly got in touch to specify that now that they had gone below asking that all appliances wouldn't be included (I didn't want her appliances)

• asked EA to ask us TWICE if we would be willing to offer them more money despite accepting price given by mortgage lender

• when we have asked for another viewing she has proposed just insane times '20 mins at 6pm on the last Sunday of the month' '30 mins at 10.30am exactly 4 weeks on friday' despite us offering to be entirely flexible where possible (I.e. evenings and weekends at her convenience but would be willing to book an hour off work if she can guarantee the time). She says she cannot guarantee time as she works fill time and has 2 boys who play football until 8pm every single night and all day every weekend and they are her priority.

She has told the EA that she thinks we are inflexible and both the EA and the branch manager have apologised to us for her behaviour but obviously won't challenge her on it.

Am I right in thinking she's pissed off about lowering the price and just doesn't wanna sell her house?!

ferrier's right, of course. I don't understand people laying into the OP here, she's a first time buyer, buying a property is a minefield anyway, however many times you buy or sell, depending on the trustworthiness of the vendor and the estate agent. I don't understand why the OP feels obliged not to withdraw her offer, or at least say she will withdraw it until she has got a builder in to look at the points highlighted by the survey. Although I think the OP is long gone, having been subjected to the replies of the massed ranks of MN AIBU

I am amazed at the number of people who say they wouldn’t allow more viewings! Even though a price has been agreed, it is in the sellers interest to keep the buyer on board until exchange of contracts. It is by no means a done deal. If she won’t allow you back, I would think she was hiding something and seriously consider pulling out.

I am not a newbie either. I have bought 3 houses, sold 2 and helped to sell 2 more. I have also had 2 offers accepted which fell through. In every case there have been (at least) 2 viewings before an offer was accepted and then at least 1 more viewing after an offer has been accepted. That is usually the one that is more relaxed and involves a cup of tea and/or the arrival of tradesmen to quote and/or lots of measuring up!

Just thinking about the sellers kids playing football 7 days a week, do these poor buggers ever have any time to chill out.

Has the OP been back.

For me it wasn't that a second viewing was unreasonable, or that the Op was unreasonable to have concerns, it was that the OP was being unreasonable to describe the seller as batshit for giving restricted times for them to come back to her house with builders especially as the seller had already knocked a significant % off the value of the house to cover works that will need doing. If you have kids it can be a big effort to maintain show home standards so you would probably want to fit in a tidy up before they arrived especially if the buyer doesn't already have kids, it would be a pain when you have accepted an offer and thought you could relax for a bit. People often love their houses or are emotionally attached to them so having someone coming and looking for problems is probably a bit unsettling.

People who want to measure up before moving in would annoy me because I am way too disorganised to order curtains etc before moving into a house ;)

I am a bit puzzled about not allowing more viewings, because you would have to if your house was still on the market. Measuring up for curtains, surveys, builder quotes seems normal to me. I would oblige. We had two agents, the first did not find a buyer for us. The second in one day. The first then bleated they had lots of viewers for us so could they come round tomorrow

As there is so much experience expressed on this thread, could I ask a question about accepting offers please? When a buyer makes an offer for the house and the seller accepts verbally, at what stage is the offer officially accepted: ie does the offer have to be accepted in writing and legally right there and then or is a verbal acceptance enough for, say, three weeks or so?

Verbal acceptance, as Sam Goldwyn said, is not worth the paper it's written on. At that point, the solicitors draw up contracts, and only when they're signed and exchanged is anything fixed.

@llizzie - you will want to make it a condition of your offer that the house is taken off the market, to reduce the chance of being gazumped. The rules are different in Scotland and I've no idea about NI; assuming you are in England or Wales it isn't a final deal until you exchange contracts.

Thank you for your replies.

RSAcre the vendor has already sold the house. To the OP

@Passthecherrycoke - not so.
The vendor has not sold the house until all completion documentation is done & the money is transferred. Until then either party can pull out, ergo the house is not sold.

Must admit if I was a seller, have accepted an already reduced offer from a buyer, and then the buyer starts asking for additional viewings and builder visits, I might feel a a) bit suspicious that they're not actually all that committed to their offer, and b) annoyed at the prevarication and additional uncertainty.

When we bought our house, it was on the strength of a single 10 minute viewing and a survey. The survey highlighted a couple of issues typical of the kind of house and it's age, but we did not feel a second visit was necessary since bottom line is we wanted the property, price was reasonable, and were confident that any issues were not deal-breaking.

Yes it is massive sum of money, but it's also a very competitive market - if you don't genuinely want the place then let the seller find someone who is. If you are committed, just get on with it.

Having said that, if this is the case the seller should say so too instead of messing around.

@Marchitectmummy

"In my experience all properties that are not brand new attract these sorts of comments on a survey."

Agreed. Our house survey scared the be-jeezus out of us. 4 or 5 pages of basically saying "Could not examine x, might require significant work and cause y,z issues. Recommend getting a and b specialists to verify".

Phone call to the surveyor and he just says "oh yes well that's all standards stuff for a property of this age. Only thing you really need to check out is y".

The written report was basically just an exercise in covering-his-a*se, and consequently terrifying for us.

RSAcre

RSAcre the vendor has already sold the house. To the OP

@Passthecherrycoke - not so.
The vendor has not sold the house until all completion documentation is done & the money is transferred. Until then either party can pull out, ergo the house is not sold.

Yes, and that is an obvious point (also made by the “inexperienced OP on page 1) however the actual point I was making is that she doesn’t need to accommodate viewings. You stated that she wouldn’t sell the house unless she allowed OP back to view. No, she’s already past that. OP has expressed her intention to buy. No more viewings until she puts it back on the market to sell to someone else