To think I can furnish a house for £20,000?

[LKnope]

We’ve bought a house. It has four bedrooms and two receptions rooms.

The owners are downsizing and moving to a two bedroom cottage so don’t require all the furniture they have in the house.

We’re moving from a two bedroom flat so don’t have an awful lot of furniture to bring with us.

As part of the sale, the estate agent mentioned that they’re downsizing and I asked if they’d be interested in maybe selling some furniture. They do have some nice items and it’d mean that we would be able to move in and not have to think about buying stuff for a while: we wanted to live in the house and figure out how we want to decorate and style it before buying all that much. Plus wait time for new furniture at the moment seems very long.

They came back to say yes, they’d sell us the following:
3 x kingside beds with headboards
1 x single bed with headboard
8 x bedside lockers
2 x chest of drawers
2 x wardrobes
1 x 32” Samsung TV
1 x fabric corner sofa
2 x fabric two-seater sofas
2 x armchairs (fabric)
2 x coffee tables
1 x dining table
6 x dining chairs
1 x hall console table
1 x tv cabinet
2 x IKEA storage sets (in kids’ rooms- we already have the same ones so I know they’re IKEA)
2 x children’s desks with chairs (I think these are IKEA too)
1 x washing machine

All for a non-negotiable price of £20,000.

Now, it’s very objective because we have no idea of where most of the furniture came from and how much it cost new but, at the end of the day, it’s secondhand furniture. It’s perfectly nice but clearly used.

I sent back a nice, I thought, note to the estate agent to say thanks but no thanks and that the price is above what I would expect for secondhand items and it’d make more sense to buy new given the price.

I’ve received a call from the agent now to tell me that the vendors are very upset and went to a lot of trouble to do me a “favour” to even consider letting me buy their furnishings, and they think I’m kidding myself if I think I could buy furniture new for the amount they quoted.

For context, if it matters, I have budget to decorate with new furniture. We just considered this for convenience until we figure out what we want to do in terms of decorating long-term.

For further context, we paid above asking price.

AIBU to think that £20,000 would buy a significant amount of new furniture, and that their response was shitty?

They are really taking the piss, we buy very decent and well made but not 'posh,' stuff and I could buy that whole list for around 10k easily, new, not second hand!!! So cheeky to kick off because you don't think it's the sale of the century.

They are trying it on. When I moved to my house, the seller wanted £2k for the blinds, we said no, they left them anyway🤣

They will have to just pay to put it into storage

They'd have to pay someone to take most of it away, so they are very much taking the pxxx. Second-hand furniture, especially beds, and storage of the IKEA etc variety has very little resale value these days.

@Kinneddar

Hmmm - a nice king size bed with headboard new would be around 2.5k - you have 3 of those there so 7.5k

A nice king size bed with a new headboard would be damn sight cheaper than £2.5k

I just bought a king size bed with a really good quality mattress, a headboard and it’s one of those storage beds where the whole mattress lifts up.....£1400.

No way is second hand stuff worth 20k.

I tried to sell a DFS sofa recently second hand. It had cost me something like £2500, it was immaculate. Advertised it for £200 and no interest....ended up giving it away.

People always over estimate what their stuff is worth. We have ended up with loads of good quality antique furniture from pils house all with original receipts of £1000s bought in the 80s and 90s, yet we got about £20-40 quid for most of it as no one wanted secondhand victorian style stuff. Mil was convinced shed left us £100k of furniture as an inheritance, but it cost us £6k to clear their house and £4k in storage for stuff that we now can't give away.

When I first rented 20 years ago the flat had a really knackered old sofa, it had cost £800 new but was very worn. When we left only 6 months later the owners said we had to pay £800 for a replacement as the cat had scratched it. We tried to argue that we shouldn't pay what it was new, but they couldn't get past what they had paid for it and therefore it would always be that value.

I’ve received a call from the agent now to tell me that the vendors are very upset and went to a lot of trouble to do me a “favour” to even consider letting me buy their furnishings, and they think I’m kidding myself if I think I could buy furniture new for the amount they quoted

I do wonder what the purpose or value was in passing this information on to you. It's not like you needed to know to proceed with the purchase. you've told the agent you don't want the furniture so that's the end of the conversation, they've passed the info on and the vendors have told them they are offended. Their response should be to nod and sympathise a bit and then just leave it there. They sound shit at being diplomatic and often in house sales discretion is definitely a skill an agent needs.

And remember you can likely get sofas on a 0% interest deal.

That is ridiculous. You can definitely furnish it, and probably a lot nicer and more to your taste, for much less.

No way

We are downsizing and it’s a massive hassle to get rid of anything second hand . We are leaving a lot of items for free.

If they think they will sell that furniture for that price they are delusional.

Just say it’s not to your taste .

Run.
Like.
Fuck.

You could easily buy that second hand for £8k. I imagine if you say no they will leave a lot anyway. They’re chancers and you don’t want people’s cast offs. £20k ffs?! Catch themselves on.

Sounds like someone accidentally added a zero ... 😉

also if you pay for it then you will be stuck with it even if you don't like it or it doesn't fit in with your lifestyle.

Definitely don't pay for it

I tallied that to £11,500 new.

@Redwinestillfine

The estate agent should not be using such emotive language and should just be relaying facts. The vendor phones up crying about how disappointed s/he is the estate agent should handle it. No need for any message back other than ok. The drama around negotiations is not good for busy and just creates bad feeling and possibilities for things going wrong.

That is a very good point.

erm... people furnish their first homes for next to nothing, our parents helped buy our first bed, washer and fridge/freezer that came to under 1k and I picked the rest of the furniture we needed up off ebay and car boot sale and just kept adding over the years for next to nothing.

I have been living with my own furnishings for 13 years in a decent sized 3 bed and 2 reception room house and would say ALL of my belongings together are unlikely to reach 20k.

Don't have their stuff. Get it out so u can clean properly and wash carpets. 20k is loads. A king-size bed in oak furniture land is 800 ish that's new. If u want second hand go on market place

You could easily get all that new for 20,000, and you will have chosen it yourself! It's an extortionate amount to pay for second hand. I would be telling them where to go!

@RedRiverShore

I wonder who the 1% are who think it is OK, or maybe they are just being contrary

The sellers?

I’ll have £10 on a lot of it still being in situ when you move in.

I think I’ve been lucky with vendors. White goods included, asked I wanted for free various bits that were serviceable but no longer wanted by the vendors. My view is that if it can’t easily be sold or reused, the decent thing is to leave it for free or a token sum if the buyers don’t want it removed. It’s how vendors have treated me and how I behave as a vendor.

Only difficulty was our buyer was put out when I wouldn’t include a bathroom mirror, which was clearly indicated as not included on the f&f list. Didn’t offer to pay for it, just thought I should give it. Said no, and she was a bit funny and uncooperative after that.

@Eddielzzard - I read your post, and hope karma bit your vendors in the form of unpleasant surprises in their new place. What a thing to do. Hope you managed to fix the damage.

Vendors upset?

Bonkers. They wouldn't get a fraction of that if they sold all the stuff on FB etc.

When my MIL died we had to clear out her house. She had naice, expensive furniture. We had a few bits but not only couldn’t we sell anything else, we couldn’t give it away. It was very sad really but we filled three large skips.

CFs asking £20,000!

OK, maybe you could buy all that stuff yourself. But, there's also the hassle/convenience to take into account.

I'm completing on June 1st, asked seller if she wanted to sell stuff, was pleased she did, and was happy to pay the (very reasonable) price asked (ok, not 20k !). A great help to me, as I can move straight in, without the hassle of shopping for items, arranging delivery, assembling stuff etc. etc.. Once in, I can get rid/buy items, as suits.

Hahahahha they are having an actual laugh

Get your own stuff - good luck to them trying to empty the place now - they’ll get fuck all selling the stuff - each item individually 🙈😂 will take forever too