Am scared that trying to sell our house for the second time is starting to turn out exactly like it did the first time

[lecce]

About 2 years ago we put our 2-bed semi on the market. The first people to view it a couple of days later, ftb, clearly loved it. They were exactly the sort of people this area is full of. They were here 40 minutes and booked a second viewing the next day. They made an offer (a good one) a couple of days later. We accepted, made an offer ourselves on a lovely house. Started surveys, searches etc.

A few weeks later they got their survey back and panicked. It is a Victorian house, we haven't spent a fortune on it but have maintained it well and done cosmetic stuff. The survey was packed full of the sort of arse-covering stuff it would be when the house is an old one. It terrified them. shit like, 'the ceilings are lath and plaster and will need replacing,' 9, wtf; "you need to check for damp and possible infestations" (there is none of either); "the cellar isn't sound-proofed" (why the fuck would it be??! - it's not been converted to a room); "the wooden windows will need regular work or they will rot" (no mention that they are rotting - surely the buyers knew that about wooden windows anyway). And my personal favourite - "the house has a number of original features which give it a dated feel..." The features are its main selling point and the buyers clearly loved them when they saw them - I can feel myself boiling over as I type this..

We were willing to renegotiate, do work ourselves but they just dropped out. We lost about £400 and were so stung by it we took the house off.

We really do need more space so are back on again with a different agent. first viewing on Thursday night. A young woman typical of the sort who live here - she loved the house, it is so right for her, she'd fit right in. She was here 40 minutes, told us she's want a second viewing - can you see a pattern emerging? Agent has just rung and she's coming back tomorrow night.

Only positive is she is single but had brought a slightly older bloke with her who told us he'd worked on the house when the owners before us renovated it, so if he is a practical type, and knows something of the structure of the house, maybe he will go through the survey with her and help put it in perspective.

I. Am. So. Scared. I can't go through this shit again. We have looked after the house well, as we had before, but I am sure the survey will be simiar and most of it can't really be addressed.

I'm too scared to look at any houses but can't stay off Rightmove...

I hate this .

I hate moving, it's horrid!

I've had a sale fall through in the past, and lost the house I really wanted.
But I did find another buyer and another house.

We're in the middle of moving and i've been upset so many times.
It's so stressful.

But... it should all be over in a few more weeks and we'll be in a lovely house.

What we did was view a few to get an idea of what we wanted.
And then just kept watching rightmove.

So many houses sold that we liked, but there was nothing we could do.
Our house was on the market for a year before we got an offer.

When we finally got an offer, we had a list of houses to view, and we'd viewed the house and had an offer accepted within 24 hours of getting the offer on our house.

The survey on the house we're buying has raised a load of bollocks various things that need attention.
But dh used to be a builder, so that's not an issue for us.

There will be someone out there who loves your house and who isn't bothered by the daft things the surveyor says.

Good luck anyway :)

not necessarily.

when we bought our victorian house we chatted to the surveyor who said surveys on old houses are always doom and gloom, because they have to warn you of potential problems. those are the building standards of the time, and are prone to failure 150 years on. just the way it is.

we got a shock but soon realised that this is normal for this age of house, and now we've just put an offer on another victorian house that is in far worse condition than ours was.

good luck.

Yes, good luck. Sharing your pain about the survey first time round - how very, very annoying. You just need someone who is sensible about reading them and realises that quite a lot of what goes in is just back-covering guff. Also that owning a period house does sometimes mean a bit more maintenance, but that it's worth it. Your potential buyer sounds quite hopeful in that respect.

Why don't you give her a copy of the original survey to take away with her - if she's then not interested you won't waste any time IYSWIM.

Surveyors are an annoying breed arent they?
I dont agree about giving her a copy of the original survey as the comments sound unnecessarily negative, ie the comments about the windows and "dated" features, which are rather silly IMO.

Hopefully she will be more grounded and realise that old houses do require regular maintenance, but this is a general issue, and not one relating to your house in particular.

I have only bought and sold Victorian houses and I have found myself explaining to buyers that we would decorate the windows/doors every 3-4 years or so to keep then in good condition. And that the roof and gutters were checked/cleared every year etc etc.

Good luck and try not to pre-empt problems where none may arise....

Hmmm but you could get out the original report and counter with what you do to prevent these things being a problem?

Get someone in to check for timbers and damp, get a quote for painting the Windows.

Thank you for the replies.

Since then she has been back and viewed for a second time - clearly loved it - and has now made a fairly low offer. I guess she feels she is in a good position (no chain, mortage in place etc) but that doesn't really help us with buying a bigger (more expensive) place.

I do understand that ftbers are not there to fund our need to expand but we are being realistic with the price and are only trying to get back what we paid, despite the money we have spent on it. We would take less but it seems people up the ladder aren't lowering prices so it makes it hard for us to do so.

We are now waiting to see whether she will go up a bit. She told me herself that she has been looking for ages and seen nothing to compare...

So - good news and bad .

Sorry was meant to be not - looks like I don't trust myself - maybe it's Freudian .