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?

When we relocated due to DH's job, the buyers of our property asked to buy some furniture - mainly beds and wardrobes. We needed the beds but gave them the wardrobes for free as we didn't need them in the new house and it would be more hassle to try to sell them and get them out of the house - they were ikea Pax about £400, less than 5 years old.

The more I think about their 'non-negotiable offer' the more I think they are just being ridiculous. They just need to spend 3 minute on ebay, facebook or gumtree.

Definitely make sure they take all their crap with them.

@MintyMabel

British Heart charity shop have nice furniture in most areas

Why on earth would you get rid of a load of second hand furniture just to go to all the hassle of replacing it with second hand furniture. How long would it take to find exactly the furniture you need, then buy it and kit your entire house out?

Absolutely would not spend 20k on someone else's taste furniture to trawl charity and antique shops (and auctions) for the things I like.

We're moving (hopefully, sellers need to fix a title issue) from a 3 bed to what is technically a 6 bed and will start with what we need before picking up we want as we make the house ours, over a period of time.

We know we need an extra bed for a spare room and a kitchen table but the table with be under £50 from an auction or similar. Bed will be new though.

When we sold we left a corner wardrobe (fit awkward spot) free of charge because it was effectively built in - would have had to hack to pieces to remove...

What? They are nuts. Don’t deal with the agent any longer, that’s really wrong that he tried to guilt trip you. Get everything through the solicitor from now on, you don’t need added stress to the house buying process.

I’ve just included some 2nd hand furniture in a house sale. The vendor paid an extra £2k for 1 double bed, 2 single beds, sofa matching chair, dining table and 4 chairs, few storage cupboards, 2 bedside tables, kids table and chairs, toy kitchen. It’s a holiday cottage so everything is only lightly used and I’d would prefer them to have the use of it than me to have to put it in storage / sell things individually. They seemed very happy. I’d suggest you go back with counteroffer say £5k?

Absolutely no way would I be paying that- it’s all to their advantage, they don’t have to advertise/move/store it, not a chance they will get £20k for it, they are trying their luck.
Depends what you like, but I could easily furnish a house for a fraction of that money, and it would be my taste.

I've had to furnish recently , got a double bed of my choice and mattress from get laid beds, made to order, delivered in a fortnight, can't remember exact price but much less than 1k, spare beds Ikea, good quality white goods and oven etc plus second hand stuff. Nowhere near even 10k. Plan to replace sofa when but as it was free ill not be upset when I find a nicer one

I buy most furniture from John Lewis and I've totted up the items I have in the house. Mine comes to around 8k. I am angry on your behalf at how rude they were. I also assumed they were an older couple.

Err nope I wouldn’t pay 20k for a load of clearly used furniture. They are delusional if they think it’s worth £20k!!

Too much.

I have never paid anything for furnishings for a house I have bought.
However, I have not insisted on buying a house completely cleared and have used anything left in the house, if I can.
My last purchase was a shock as the place was left fully furnished really, all soft furnishings, furniture, crockery, bedding and all appliances. Five dble beds, Bosch washer and seperate drier, double width Samsung fridge freezer + separate fridge, dish washer, Britannia 90cm cooker range and most especialy the John Deere siton diesel tractor mower.
All were better than mine, really, and I really did not want it all but we use it anyway. Secondhand stuff is usually only worth about 10% of new price as a guide. Second hand matresses and carpets are worthless anyway, I would turn your stupid vendors down flat as everything else can be bought second hand very reasonably, or new.

The point is, you are already living in a 2 bed flat, so you presumably have all the essentials to be able to continue to live normally for a few months - enough beds, something to sit on, etc. - so if you still have the same amount of furniture, as you have in your flat, you will be fine until you are gradually able to furnish your new home as you wish.
It's not like you are moving from your parents' houses and have no furniture.
Moving costs a lot of money - from solicitors, to estate agents to moving costs. It is perfectly reasonable to just say 'no thanks', but if you prefer, you just say you've spent everything you have on the purchase price and moving costs so you'll have to do without.

I sold a 5 year old £3000 dining room set. The best offer I got for it was £250. Second hand furniture is worth next to nothing. £20000 would buy a lot of new furniture. They are taking the mickey.

Out of interest I just put a value against all the furniture you listed mid price range not tatty furniture and it came to £15,000 brand new.

It sounds rather as though they fancy not having to pack up the house, saving money and huge stress on the removal, and buy all new for their smaller home. If alll the furniture is in good condition, it may be good value but you have no obligation to pay them so don't feel guilty about it.

Are you purchasing 10 Downing Street by any chance? Like Jesus Christ, is their furniture diamond encrusted? They’re pisstakers.

@Acupofcamus

Are you purchasing 10 Downing Street by any chance? Like Jesus Christ, is their furniture diamond encrusted? They’re pisstakers.

but obviously not- the hire/purchase/rightful owners/debt collectors/CSA will be collecting all the furniture when Boz and Caz move out.

Just say no. We had this and the seller ended up leaving half the stuff anyway. Useful as we were FTB but it was all not to our taste and no way would I have paid for it.

For £20k you can buy stuff that suits you and your family. You dont need to do it all at once, in fact its often better to wait a bit so you really know what you need.

They’ve come back to re-offer at £18k.

I’ve said no, we’re not interested. EA didn’t comment and just said she’d let them know.

The sooner I can get the keys and be several hundred miles away from these people, the better.

Funnily enough, I was browsing on the website of a local furniture shop last night and happened to find the exact bed they have in one of the rooms. Brand new, king size with headboard is £900 and then decent mattresses are around £500-800. So between that and the IKEA, I think it’s fair to say that their furniture is firmly in the (perfectly nice) economy-to-mid-range range, rather than anything spectacular that commands serious money.

@LKnope

They’ve come back to re-offer at £18k.

I’ve said no, we’re not interested. EA didn’t comment and just said she’d let them know.

The sooner I can get the keys and be several hundred miles away from these people, the better.

Funnily enough, I was browsing on the website of a local furniture shop last night and happened to find the exact bed they have in one of the rooms. Brand new, king size with headboard is £900 and then decent mattresses are around £500-800. So between that and the IKEA, I think it’s fair to say that their furniture is firmly in the (perfectly nice) economy-to-mid-range range, rather than anything spectacular that commands serious money.

Good for you. If they come back again (& I bet they will once they realise what a faff getting Riis of their stuff will be...) I would just say that you have decided to wait to furnish the house so that you can plan what to buy while you have a blank canvas to work with. Polite & final.

Enjoy your new home.

They are basing it on what they are paid for it. I had a really expensive bed, it was £6,000 and I sold it for £450. It’s upsetting, but it’s second hand.

OP please make sure that you stipulate in the contracts that they must take all their stuff with them or pay for the disposal. There are red flags all over these 'offers.'

The penny is slowly dropping what a hassle it will be for them to get rid of this furniture.

Is the estate agent embarrassed with these quite frankly bizarre proposals on 2nd hand furniture?

So the "non negotiable" price has already dropped.

As PPs said, they are beginning to realise how much it is going to cost them to get rid of all their stuff.

Offer them £10,000, if you want the stuff. Otherwise, as a PP said, make sure they have committed to getting it out of the house.

We had an opposite issue recently. The vendors were elderly and moving into sheltered accommodation, so the sale included all contents excepting personal items. We understood that as white goods and furniture and curtains/blinds, garden furniture etc. Most of it perfectly serviceable, meant we could use the property straight away and replace to our taste over time.

Trouble is, they left everything for us. The only thing they did is empty the fridge and freezer and most of the wardrobes. Beds were still made up with PJs under the pillow, soap and flannel by the sink. Lots and lots of tat ornaments and trinkets, pictures, pots, pans & plates, cupboards full of bedding and old paint tins, old hoovers... It took a week to empty, clean the place and sort into piles for charity shop or the dump, then hours of back and forth ferrying it about. Then cleaning from top to bottom. Two sheds rammed so full we just hired a skip as we didn’t have the energy to sort them after dealing with the house.

They genuinely thought they were doing us a favour selling us a property we could use on Day 1 but we ended up doing all the hard work of house clearance. Oh and they left £70 debt on the electric meter just to rub it in, even though we’d specifically asked about that before exchanging.

@funnelfanjo

Omg they saw you coming. Tell then you are not interested and ask them to remove every single item BEFORE you move in - see what they say then . They are taking the "P" big time