I could cry, I spent an hour typing on my tablet in bed and its all gone. Anyway, this is very long but I'd appreciate an outsiders point of view.
In summer 2011 I persuaded husband to put house on market as I didn't like living by busy road (buses every 5mins), opp school, house and garden too big. I also had bad memories as we bought the house when were expecting 3rd child and she was incompatible with life and died at 22 weeks pregnancy 7 days after we got keys.
After 3 months we got a buyer (most viewers complained about road) and steps to house. We completed in Dec 2011 but there was nowhere to buy so we had rent. As there was no choice in area to rent (had to stay in catchment due to applying for school place) we had to rent an unsuitable house and put half our stuff into storage.
We have been looking for the last year and still not found anything suitable. It is my fault as I get concerned about paying too much (cash buyers due to hard work and frugalness) as most houses seem to be over priced to me and also I get completely paranoid about the condition of the house.
Anyway, out of the blue in Sept we received a section 21 notice asking us to leave by Dec. We had been good tenants paying our rent on time, looking after house and notifying them of any issues. This of course led me into a blind panic about finding a house to buy. We ended up looking at a house privately 3 doors from the house we sold above as there was nothing else on market (they put theirs on market Oct 2011 to try and get our buyer when we sold).
We made an offer of 325k (it was on for guide price of 350-370) and they said they would think about it. A few days later they said they had an offer via estate agents and we would have to match or better 340k as they had to pay estate agents fees even if we bought direct. We said no we wouldn't increase. They moved away into rented and the sale proceeded.
Just over a week ago we had an email saying they had been gazundered, had taken it off with estate agent and were we still interested. We have seen a house we like but it has a tiny garden and no garage (so big problem) and it is on for 285 and I think 250 is what it's worth. So we said we would like to see house we offered on again to compare. They emailed and said they wanted to clear 335 but would take 330 from us. They dropped keys off to us to go round when we wanted and said that their buyer had dropped their off by 10k on the day they were due to exchange due to wall ties even though this would cost around 2k.
We went round and had another look. It needs a lot of work even though it has been done up e.g wall ties, repairs to render, new downpipes and soil stacks, new garage door, redecorate through, re tile bathroom, garden, un block chimneys as they have been concreted at both ends. We offered 325 again and wouldn't go up and they accepted but said they wanted to exchange by christmas!
Now my dad came down on Sunday to give it once over. He knows a lot about buildings. He saw some things that he wasn't very happy about e.g. leadwork on attic conversion, corner of garage subsiding slightly ( - at end of garden not by house), the attic has been converted so it is a room but there is a sealed entrance (board with screws) into some of roof space that my dad brought tools to access. He found that some of the wood was soft and wet around the ridge/hip tiles so there is a problem with roof. There was also a little bit of woodworm.
These extra things are making me have massive doubts now but my husband doesn't want to know as I am one of these people who gets stressed all the time. I'm concerned about the roof as I think it will be a big job and what about the areas of the roof we cant see due to attic conversion. I'm concerned about the fact that I don't think they've been honest with us e.g if they were offered 340k then the person dropped it to330k even when fees were taken out they would still have around 324/5 so why come back to us especially when they have found a house? They have converted attic, removed a wall and put in an ensuite into another room. I checked with council and they only have regs for the attic and wall removal not ensuite. I guess indemnity is not an option as I have alerted council.
I don't know what to do and I need to decide ASAP. We moved away from the road only 1 year ago as I didnt like the noise (although this house has newer double glazing so quieter). I;m worrying about the wood in the roof, lack regs ensuite and the attic conversion (done to regs) but it has a dormer that comes out very close to chimney and I don't how we;d do any repairs to chimney. We've told children we are buying it and if we don't am concerned about how to find somewhere else at right price and buy before we have to be out of rented Also, school that is opposite this house (daughter will attend in Sept) is going to be refurbished. Council are about to put in for planning permission any day for work (£3.8m over 2 years). I only know as I am governor.
Help! Can anyone give me some sensible advice as when I panic I don't know what to do.