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 can stick it on gumtree and try and get 20 grand 😂 as if!!

they are taking the piss,they are laughing they don't need any of it! BUT why did the agent tell you they were doing you a favour & are upset ,they should of kept that quiet, they are just trying to cause trouble.Not met one decent estate agents after 3 house moves!

Daughter has just moved out and bought a 5 bedroomed house (loft conversion) as she wants it to be her forever house. They decided to do it up slowly and furnished it with items either free or bought for minimal amounts from Facebook for less than £500. Some stuff is REALLY good. The only thing they bought new is the matress for their bed

No way would I pay that sum especially if the furniture is a stop gap until you can afford to buy furniture to your own taste.

I guess it depends on the furniture.

I spend a lot of time looking at furniture on a website where a desirable second hand sofa might go for £5k plus. This is from known furniture makers/designers though.

How can you judge whether £20k for that list is a good deal unless you know what actual furniture is on it?

If it included stuff by Hans Wegner, Borge Morgensen, Poul Kjaerholm i’d be all over it!

Has there been a typo and someone accidentally added an extra zero?

Oh my!!!! £20,000 is way too much for second hand furniture. My advice is to move I. With what you have and decorate to your own taste when you are ready. Do not feel pressured. They are being crazy x

When my fil died we tried to sell some of his furniture (really lovely quality stuff) we mistakenly thought that as my pil had paid too price it would be easy to sell. We ended up having to pay someone to take it away. We kept some items for ourselves but most of it was too big for our house. Things like sofas & beds have to have fire labels & theirs didn't. I think your vendors have massively overestimated the value of their unwanted cast offs.

Have fun planning & buying what suits your needs. It will be nice having empty rooms to plan.

LKnope, tell them to poke it!! That’s an outrageous price, tell the EA unless they have anything constructive to say, to shut the front door too!

Hope you’ll be very happy in your new home x

Me to, I had to pay someone to take stuff away from my dads, I could bear that the sofa, 3 years old and cost £3,000 didn’t sell, I had it myself and reupholstered it.

They can be disappointed all they like. But to pretend they went to a lot of trouble is laughable - they walked round their 4 bed house (not a capacious mansion) and made a list then put a total price on it (the whole lot, not per item) that was plucked out of thin air. Definitely CFs and the EA should know better.

The vendors are upset?! This is a rather childish message you received. £20k is a massive amount for furniture, esp. 2and hand.

They are taking the piss. My OH is like that. Always thinking you can get secondhand what you paid for something 🙄
Let them be offended.

Let them get 20k on ebay, all the hassle that goes with it. I wouldn't give them more that 5k and that's being generous.

I get that to about nine grand in my head. Assuming everything is in good nick and decent quality. It's a shame they are affronted but they were being silly.

I downsized and you'd be doing them a favour taking on that much of their stuff. I have had to try and sell mine, give some away and use odd bits until I could replace. Just say no again and wait for them to come right down because if they can't clear it or use it storage will cost them a fortune. Also it's nothing to do with the agent as usually the saleof any separate items is between vendor and buyer.

@LKnope

I bought new furniture for my sitting room and dining room a few month ago. A mix of Dwell, DFs, Atkin & Thyme and then a customs made 6 seater dining table with leather chairs from Woods furniture. And some side tables - all cost me £3,200.

Breaking it down that is
4 seater sofa
Big love seat type chair with footstool
Two side tables
Coffee table
Dining table with seat
Dining table chairs x4
Another comfy chair
Hope that gives you an idea of you could get.

Do not buy. Cheeky fuckers. They will pay a fortune to get rid of the old stuff. Go to empty house and buy as and when you wish. Believe me - you will pay another round to get rid of those stuff if you keep them in and decide to buy new things.

Hi OP, I have read your updates, glad you know they are being complete CF. £3k max and ONLY if you actually like the furniture

The one thing I would add, if you can, to your contract is to make sure they take all their stuff with them or they have to pay for the disposal. We bought a probate property, loads of stuff that they needed to get rid of, they left a lot of stuff - 8 skips worth - which the vendors had to pay for.

Yanbu it's also sounds like it's quite full of stuff so far better to go in with your few things and as you live there decide what you're going to spend the money on.

They are treating you let me fools. Second hand furniture is very cheap. You only have to look on eBay at sofas and arm chairs. I would always buy new beds, mattresses and washing machines. I am in process if buying a 2 seater sofa and 2 armchairs to match a 2 seater sofa I already have and it only cost me £60 + van hire to collect it. I have cats that scratch so my £3.5k suite is ruined all except one 2 seater sofa they have not scratched for unknown teason. I can afford new but with scratching cats it is not worth it as I have to replace suite every 3 years.

Ridiculous! They are being CFs! Why do they think they can make a pile of money getting rid of their unwanted furniture AND save money by not having to pay for removal! They're living in cloud cuckoo land!

Very different set of circumstances but when I moved in with my OH and so didn't need the furniture we had double of and our purchaser was moving in post split from STBXH, I sold all of the furniture other than the sofa I wanted to take with me for £1000. Did us both a favour, I didn't have to flog my stuff on Facebook or skip it and she got a house that she could move straight into other than getting a sofa. Your vendors are crazy (but I didn't have nice stuff really - it was the standard stuff e.g mid range white goods, table and chairs, IKEA wardrobes etc

I would definately not go for their offer of £20,000 they are taking the p_.
Let them keep their stuff. It’s second hand and not worth what they quoted. Far better to buy your own furniture and it wouldn’t cost more than £5000 to £10,000.
The previous owner of our house tried to sell us some ceilings lights for £250 +. Just as well we retracted as we knocked a few walls down and would have changed them anyway.

Our 3 bed house 2nd hand items
King size bed base £150
(New mattress £600)
2 x Single beds £40 each
Wardrobes (top end Ikea) got left behind for free
Bedside tables free off gumtree
Massive leather sofa £60
Nest of tables £40
Chests of draws £50 x 3
Lounge chairs free from friend
Dining table and chairs £50 Facebook
Ikea desk £80
Office chairs free on marketplace
Solid wood office cupboard £30 marketplace

Mattresses, bedding and white goods we bought new because we are fussy. Curtains were all old ones from relatives.

We are replacing and upgrading but by bit, but still mostly with secondhand because you save so much money.

Easy to do furniture for £2000, you might not cover all bedding and mattresses for that little unless you don’t mind Ikea stuff.