All back on with our buyers! :) Now torn between 2 houses. Advice please?

[SparklePrincess]

I couldn't believe my ears when our agent called today to say its all back on with the original buyers! :) We are now needing to find somewhere asap in the hope to exchange prior to the secondary school admissions deadline for my year 6 dd at the end of October so we can use the Surrey address. Could really use some advice please! :)

House 1,

Plus points: Immaculate, recently had lots of money spent on it, new drive, decking, nice bathroom. There will be no chain whatsoever with this property & the vendors can move fast.

Minus points: A tiny kitchen, which im not sure I could live with long term. Im used to having a decent Kitchen & a Utility room too. Nowhere to put my tumble dryer even. :( Unsure of the age of the wiring. They have a reasonably modern consumer unit, but some very old sockets & wall light switches. This is a concern, as re wiring isn't cheap. The price. We offered 270k, which considering they'll save 6k on EA fee's (private sale) is worth an offer of 276k through an agent. They want somewhere between 275 & 285k in order to sell to us, & are going to market the house at 285k with an agent if we cant agree terms. (They are unaware as yet that our buyers are back on board) I think they're being greedy & 270k is a good offer. At 275k we would pretty much have to live with the house as it is & not be able to afford to put a conservatory on it. By paying 275k we are literally paying for what they have done. (As I see it) Recent sales in street are at 250k, although we saw one house & know it has a much smaller garden, & smaller still kitchen, so this house is worth more. This is why I feel 270k is a more than generous offer, especially with no agents fee's to pay.

House 2,

Plus points, Nice condition, bathroom with its own separate shower, kitchen & dining room knocked into one alleviating my issues somewhat about the kitchen. Potential to put a conservatory outside if we get the house at the right price, unlike the other house where we wouldn't want to do that because they just had a gorgeous decking fitted. Could most likely get it for 265k, so have spare cash to pay for conservatory or extension with an extra 5-10k added on to the mortgage giving us a lovely open plan kitchen diner with conservatory or extension off of it for use as either the main living area or agames area for the kids.

Minus points: one other person in the chain as these people are buying from a friend (I think) our deadline still do able I think. Sitting room slightly smaller than the other house, making adding the conservatory/extension pretty much unavoidable in order to get the space we need. Houses in this road also generally have a selling price of 250k, but the agent says they turned down 265k in the first week of marketing & may now regret doing so.

Thoughts please? :)

Can you extend kitchen or add a utility room/space in 1st one? If they know your new position are they not more likely to mull the 270 offer? Any other offers? I wouldn't go above what you are currently prepared to pay for now. Sit tight for a week or so.

I would rent and buy in a year's time.

said, If we extended the kitchen it would mean ripping out the decking they just put in & it steps down slightly so would cost more to do I think. Its quite major too & not something we could afford at 275k with the added possibility of a re wire too. Id want it at 265k if we were to do anything else to it tbh. The work they've done is nice, but I don't feel that I should pay for it.

bibbitybobbityhat (cool name) I have no problem with renting, but there it pretty much nothing there, also I have a v destructive cat which makes things even more impossible. Getting rid isnt an option im afraid. Kids would go mad. :(

immaculate but in need of rewire sounds a bit annoying, since it certainly won't be immaculate once the rewire is done!
That makes the vendors sound a bit daft and would make me worry about how intelligently other jobs had been done. Plus it sounds like it's overpriced.

I would probably go with house 2, despite the chain thing.

The kitchen would be important to me too.

Why buy just now, especially with what's going on in the markets. Save your money and rent for a while and watch the prices come down.

Do you really think that house prices will come down at that rate though? I don't know where Funk & Bibbity live but it's very expensive to rent a family home where I live and I doubt that the house prices will come down a whole years worth of rent in this next year. But that's groundless speculation on my behalf!

Anyway, between the two B - easy decision.

B

I really like the sound of b. Lovely family area then cosy lounge for the evening. I wouldn't want to step off the property ladder in case something happened such as loss of job or illness. Also for every year you're off that's another year onto the end of the mortgage term......

Have re visited both houses today, & going to see house 1 again tonight with dp. I think im pretty much sold on house 2 though tbh. The vendors of house 1 indicated that they still want more than the 270k, & I was firm that I wont go above it. I think our aim will be to try for house 2 at initially 260, then go up to 265 if necessary. This is all v scary!! (Despite the fact ive bought & sold a fair few houses before) NEVER EVER AGAIN!!!

B - sounds the much better option all round. Good luck

Now were even more confused!! Will probably try for house B though for financial reasons & extension possibilities. :)

Anymore updates Sparkle??

Came away from the house more confused than ever!! Have since talked it over & decided that house 2 is the most sensible option. I really could not live long term with a kitchen as tiny as in house 1. After removing a cupboard to install a dishwasher we would be left with a double base unit (under the sink so restricted use) & one other single unit, & 3 upper units & some drawers. Less than half what I currently have. Its simply not workable long term without some adaptations, & factoring in a re wire too it takes it up to 280k before we even think about knocking the wall down between the kitchen & dining room & re fitting, which I assume would be about another 5k. If were spending that sort of money we can afford to put the extension on the back of house 2 & gain a much better space. :)

Our only concern now is if they accept our offer or not. We don't want to pay more than 265k for it. Its been on at 280k for 2 months now, & they turned down 265k in the first weekend, but may well be regretting it now. Not sure whether to go in at 260k to start with or a "take it or leave it" 265k. 260k is only 7% off their asking price. I accepted 8 1/2% under my original asking price so I think something within the 260-265k range is fair.

The agents marketing this property seem to be a bit s**t. After 2 months they are still marketing it without the EPC. We have indicated to the agent that we want to make an offer but would like to see the EPC first. Someone is supposed to be emailing it over first thing Monday morning. Im thinking that maybe they didn't apply for one in the hope it would sell v quickly. I hope they don't slow up the process with their incompetence as were on a tight time scale.

Still, first things first, got to get the offer accepted to start with. Everything crossed. :)

Hard isn't it.

I think I'd go in for £258,00 initially and see what the feedback is. If you don't get much feedback then I'd go in with £261,500 - if it's still a no I'd go back with a £265 full and final.

If it wasn't for the fact that the agent said they'd had an offer of 265k in first weekend which they'd turned down id be starting off at 255k I think ChippingIn. Not that you can trust the agents anyway. Could of all been bs. Still no EPC in my inbox from the agents this morning, despite them promising to forward it first thing. Ill get dp to call them in a bit, they seemed to respond better to him anyway.

I agree with ChippingIn. If your offer doesn't embarrass you - it's not low enough, as they say.

I have family looking to buy in SW London just now and they are looking at a great house, prime location. House on market at £600 and sellers refused £575 several months ago (& lived to regret it). House now being marketed at £565k.

We went in at 260k yesterday afternoon. It was refused. Said they want a figure with a 27 something. The agent said to try a counter offer at 265k. We said we'd think about it. They called back this morning. Dp spoke to them & said we thought 260k was a reasonable offer as its only 7% under asking price, but we'd have a chat & get back to them. We will go back later with most likely the 265k & take it or leave it. We wont pay more for the place. We'll go back to another option if they don't accept it.

So you are going to pay 15k over what other houses in the street are selling for? They're in a chain? Hmm. I think they'll come back to you.

Good luck SP. Hope it all works out! You're sounding very calm :)

We didn't counter offer yet.... but trouble is our options are v limited!!

Well... we offered again last Thursday, & finally heard today its accepted at 265k. :) So 4 and a half months since we first went to market we finally take our first step into really moving! :) Lets hope it doesn't all go t**s up.

Hope everyone else waiting to sell or buy has luck soon. :)

Good luck Sparkle fingers crossed it all goes to plan , I presume a survey is next ?

Thanks gettingeasier. Yeah, we see the mortgage advisor tomorrow to fill in all the papers & set the ball rolling for a survey. Hopefully the whole process is quite quick. :)

Good luck sp

Thanks Becaroooo. You too. :)