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?

If the OP is considering buying their second hand stuff, then their budget is not likely to be John Lewis etc 🤷‍♀️

You absolutely could get all that for MUCH less.
People are giving away stuff left right and centre. I have an immaculate 3 and 2 seater leather sofa that someone local was giving away.

My local British Red Cross shop has a perfect dining table and chairs plus a soft touch cabinet for £400 the lot because it’s a Scandi designer - the lady showed me the website -over £4,000 new!

Also factor in you are saving them the time and energy of dusposing of it themselves. They are CF who are too attached to their stuff and don’t realise how much second hand stuff is available.

People are being quick to judge the vendors, but don't forget it is the agent who has said they are "very upset" and bla bla disappointed, whatever. Why would an agent tell you that? It's not their job to convey the emotions of the vendors, but they made a decision to do so.
Because they get a cut in the sale, and if the £20,000 is included then they get a bigger cut.
Nob agents.

As for the actual furniture, you could request an itemized price list and a further viewing to specifically look at the furniture.
There may be one or two pieces of interes,t but don't reveal this before getting the list, because they can value it according to your interest.

Second hand furniture goes for peanuts unless it is good antiques or designer eg Eames, Ercol. They will not get five grand for their stuff AND they'll have all the hassle of selling it.

If you don't buy their stuff I suspect it will go to an auctioneer, and unless it's valuable antiques in pristine condition, they will be lucky to get £5k for all of it. In my opinion.

FangsForTheMemory Great minds…!

When we over there was a delay with the removal company (covid), so we ended up using storage. I was very happy to have an empty house to clean properly (it wasn’t bad, but they’d lived there for 40 years).

Buying used furniture that they’ve left in place means that you never really get to see the state of the house hidden behind it all.

For that price unless it's all from Heals there's absolutely no way I'd buy their second hand shit. Let them deal with the removal. What idiots.

Our previous owners tried to get us to buy the curtains and white goods. Very average white goods, curtains not particularly well made. We said no. They got shirty. Dragged the white goods across the wooden floor gouging deep tracks, I guess to teach us a 'lesson'. This has absolutely nothing to do with your situation. I figure no one will actually read this post anyway.

I admire the sellers' courage but think that they are being very, very greedy.

As a counter-offer, tell them they're welcome to leave behind items of furniture when they leave. This will save them the pain in the arse of having to move it and then the next pain in the arse of trying to sell it for peanuts or having to pay people to take it away.

Yanbu regardless of how much they paid originally.

@Eddielzzard that's appalling, were you able to get any recompense for the vandalism?

As others have said it's far too much - I'll bet they're thinking they'd buy loads of lovely brand new stuff by palming their old tat onto you and you also never know if they got things second hand so probably making a profit from it all
For me it's a no

As someone said, you're doing them the favour of them not having to get rid of their furniture and they should be selling it at a low price or throwing it in with the cost of the house.

When my dad died, the lady who bought his flat was downsizing but didn't want to bring any of her house furniture with her. She asked if I would leave the furniture in situ if I didn't want it and she'd get rid of the stuff she didn't want. I was delighted as it saved me a house clearance. I just cleared all the rubbish and left her the furniture - and some books - and for free. She did me a favour.

I think £5K would be enough for you to pay OP.

I furnished my 2 bed house when I moved in for less than £1k through charity shops, freecycle/gumtree. And a lot of it has been vintage furniture items.

I have a keen eye for this sort of thing and have picked up some absolute bargains.

People are so weird when it comes to house moves. Our buyers pestered us to sell them our fridge and freezer. They were 18 months old so we asked for half their original cost (£150) - bearing in mind we would have had to buy new ourselves when we moved. They came back shocked offering £50 total and saying we were ridiculous. And then even more shocked when our response was that we had originally stated the fridge and freezer were not included with the sale and we would therefore be sticking to that and not negotiating further.

@Flev

People are so weird when it comes to house moves. Our buyers pestered us to sell them our fridge and freezer. They were 18 months old so we asked for half their original cost (£150) - bearing in mind we would have had to buy new ourselves when we moved. They came back shocked offering £50 total and saying we were ridiculous. And then even more shocked when our response was that we had originally stated the fridge and freezer were not included with the sale and we would therefore be sticking to that and not negotiating further.

Yes people are weird

@GnomeDePlume you read my post!

No. We decided not to fight that fight.

And they didn't bother to redirect their post either, so for a while I duly forwarded it to them with no acknowledgement from them for the effort. They got the message when I sent their contact lenses back to the manufacturer. That was a happy day. Funnily enough they managed to set up the redirection then.

They are trying it on and basing it in what they paid probably. We bought an ex show house and it was £5000 more than other plots because it came fully furnished. Unused but probably a few viewers had sat on the sofas, that’s all !

You are buying a house. You are not furniture dealers. Neither is the vendor.

Focus on that.

Why would you have £20 k worth of furniture on your mortgage . Say thanks but no thanks

I had a friend selling and the buyers wanted the house totally stripped.
All carpets removed which had only been laid 3 months prior and were immaculate and cost 2k.
All lamp shades, curtain poles , fittings everything.

Basically wanted a blank canvas.

Fair enough. However then got upset when they discovered the 10year old washing machine and fridge freezer were going too.
People are just strange.

Far too much.

3 x kingside beds with headboards - 3x £500 and 3x £100
1 x single bed with headboard 1x £300
8 x bedside lockers 8 x £250
2 x chest of drawers 2x £350
2 x wardrobes 2 x £300
1 x 32” Samsung TV 1x £300
1 x fabric corner sofa 1 x £1000
2 x fabric two-seater sofas 2x £1000
2 x armchairs (fabric) 2x £300
2 x coffee tables 2x£250
1 x dining table 2x £200
6 x dining chairs 6x£100
1 x hall console table 1x £500
1 x tv cabinet 1x £400
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 mac £300

Total = £12000 (approx)

Just been shopping for you in Next and PC Currys. Chose mid-range or average prices. Price came to £12000, almost half the price quoted!

Obviously you could spend more or less, but that’s easily replacing the furniture for £20000, new and in your taste.

Good grief we got ours free from friends and family, fine as you say whilst you decide how to furnish it yourself.
Save 20k and ask around.