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?

Yanbu. Ridiculous. Say a very polite no thank you. Either rheybhave no idea, or are taking the piss.
Either way, let them.deal with it and use fb marketplace to tide you over or to find some great stuff cheaply.
Maybe they donr know how ridicukous that price/ expectation is, but let them.find out.
Enjoy making it with furniture you choose, not furniture they dont want.

* 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. *

Really?

Either an inexperienced and / shit estate agent there.
Why on earth would he jeopardise good relations between vendor and buyer at this late stage by telling the buyer this so directly.

I wonder whether this was your “interpretation” of what was said OP?!

The idea that the estate agent relayed their displeasure tell you the estate agent is as big a twat as the vendors are.

@Nightbear

YANBU to say £20,000 is too much but, equally, they not necessarily being unreasonable to ask for £20k.

You asked the question about furniture - ’I asked if they’d be interested in maybe selling some furniture’ - they gave you a price for what they were willing to leave. They might be taking the piss but it’s equally possible that the furniture is worth that second hand or that they wrongly believe it’s worth that second hand. It’s also possible that they’re looking at it from a ‘what we’d have to spend to replace it’ point of view. Selling you the stuff so you don’t have the inconvenience of waiting weeks for beds and sofas to be delivered leaves them without. They were presumably going to be using at least one of the beds, the sofa and chairs, the washing machine, the wardrobes, the tv etc.

They were downsizing, they weren't offering to 'go without'. I wonder if you have been 'that vendor' yourself?

Love a CF.

You’d be doing them a favour, 100%. It’ll be grief getting rid of all of that for them. They either need to sell, store or move it. Don’t be surprised if they leave some. Our vendor left a massive wardrobe it took weeks to get rid of as no one wanted it.

No. I have seen how much furniture ‘downsizing’ 70 somethings can pack into a house though.

Please please please ask for a detailed list of each item and it's price individually! I want to know how they came to that insane amount 🤣

100% they'll be taking all the lightbulbs with them when they move out.

The estate agent's reaction seems a bit odd tbh.

I wonder if, when he passed your enquiry regarding the furniture onto them, he told them that you were really keen to have all their stuff and he could get them £20,000 for it; it would have been quite a feather in his cap if you had accepted their price.

Can't imagine why he would be so put out by your refusal otherwise.

20k for old second hand furniture?! They're having a laugh surely...

We moved from a tiny terrace to a huge dorma bungalow. We had some stuff but not everything needed to furnish a much bigger house. Ok, the sellers left a beautiful gas range, carpets, curtains and rugs. But we bought the entirety of other stuff required, including appliances, for just under £5k. We are now divorced, (he bought me out of the house) but 16 years later (we’re still good friends) most of that stuff is still going strong. A lot was new from IKEA, but there were some excellent secondhand bargain buys.

I have to add to this - I'm a landlord and have got the most amazing modern, fashionable furniture from David Phillips Furniture - check it out - you'd be hard pushed to spend 10k - let alone 20k - and they also offer interior design advice - so you could have it all done - hassle free and get quite a unique look. I've also sold some second hand furniture in the past and anything above £200 just won't sell - so I've donated to charity instead. They're pulling a fast one and just don't want to have the hassle of removing it...... I live in London and £20k is a big budget even by London standards - have also used Dwell in the past and they're amazing - even at Heal's which is UBER expensive £20k would go a long way. Tell them thanks but no thanks - you're under no obligation to buy their tat!

OP,
If you think there is ANY possibility of hard feelings, insist on a quick walk around the house BEFORE the final transfer of money is made.

In a situation where things were a little fraught during a transfer and my friend got tough with a difficult seller, she was advised to do this.

She found that in the final 24 hours they had absolutely decimated the garden removing plants.

The garden had been a selling point.

Fortunately she had a good solicitor who went ballistic, contacted their solicitor, who was mortified and she insisted her client make good the garden completely.

Unbelievably this was in a small enough area and the vendors truly made a show of themselves.

My friend filmed the garden they found and it did the rounds on WhatsAp.🤣

People can be batshit.

I would be having a word with the estate agent. It's not their place to be telling you off, fgs. If the vendors are offended, it shouldn't be passed on to you.

You surely have everything you currently NEED from your existing property? OK, so you might have a couple of empty rooms moving from a flat to a four bedroom house but you have got what you need to get started on.

If appliances aren't integrated then I do think it's a good idea just to try and get those included but they are honestly trying to just get rid of their stuff in the quickest and easiest way by leaving it there. Unless you particularly like the stuff they are offering then just take your own things and then wait a bit to work out exactly what you want and need. You can also do it piecemeal and you don't need to fork out for everything at once.

They are asking to much.

I’d respond to the estate agent that you are concerned with their attitude and want assurances that they will go through with the sale in an ethical manner.

Why did the estate agent even pass that message back to you?! You: how much. Them: £20k. You: no thank you. End

What a strange arse world of weirdos we live in!

I buy and sell a lot of second hand furniture. My estimate for your full list would be £1900.

£20, 000 is a complete piss take. Ask the vendors/agent to pop the list on a selling site for £20,000 I can imagine the replies they would get.

Also the agent appears very manipulative.

17 listings (some multiples) at £1k each some more expensive than others (3 beds @£333 each = £1k) IYSWIM
Tot it up that way and see if you think it's worth it.

I'd be questioning whether the estate agent has bumped up the price to put extra ££ in their pocket.
You could easily buy new for less than £20,000.
Don't feel pressured into agreeing something you're not happy with.
Good luck with the new house!

Look on the app NextDoor in your area and surrounds. They often have people downsizing or refurbishing and often giving really good stuff away. You can post a request for items too.

Yes, £20K is ridiculous. They obviously don't want to take it with them or have the hassle of disposing of it, so are trying it on.
However, I think you gave a bit too much explanation by saying the price was 'above what you'd expect for second hand items' - I would be a little bit offended if someone said that to me, because it suggests either their stuff is a bit shite, or they are rip-off merchants, or both. You could have been a bit more tactful and simply said; 'No thank you' or even 'It's an expensive time, moving house, and I'm afraid we don't have that kind of money.' That would have given them a way of reducing the price whilst not losing face or feeling they were admitting to having been mercenary in the first place! Their reply escalated matters as they obviously felt insulted (or a bit guilty at being caught out). This has all got a bit too emotional and personal all-round. I doubt a deal can be done for the furniture now which is a bit of a shame as a sensible price could have meant both you and them benefited. A test case in how not to negotiate. It's about both coming out as winners, not winner take all.

20000 us to much buy your own even if its second hand .
We had the same nonsense when we moved here the only thing I decided to buy in the end was the cooker which was a bosch halogen wipe easily relatively new all, this was over 20 years ago, the other stuff they got a house clearance person to deal.with .
They didn't need most of it they had made a good tidy sum and wanted new.

They are not doing you a favour. Their taste may not be yours anyway.
Perhaps odd pieces but not the whole lot and certainly not for £20,000. Arrogant people.

I've heard similar stories over curtains.

You may not even live in the house in the way they do. Nice to start over with your basics and add to them. Good luck.

Lots of thing to take into consideration. How old is the stuff, any quality items, what damage is there... And sooooo much more. Also is it your style?? Most second hand items are 1/4 - 1/2 original price. They are trying to get as much out of you as possible, you've already paid over the asking price, also they don't want to move/store their stuff and think they can get an extra 20k for it. Lol. See what's some items are going for on eBay/Facebook... Then sit back and relax with your new items. Do you even need that many king sized beds.. Perhaps a bedroom is going to be an office, playroom, gym, dungeon ..??