Advice please - buyer wants to carry out a 2 hour 'informal' survey!

[Sarahlouboo]

Is it weird?! We agreed a price back in January, everything seems to be falling in to place nicely, just waiting for their mortgage offer. The house is relatively new (7 years) so still covered under building regs. The estate agent called yesterday and asked if the buyer and his friend (who is a builder) could come around and inspect the property, in lieu of a full survey being carried out. They said they would need up to 2 hours to do this! I could understand if they had done this at the time of offer or immediately before but I am a bit flummoxed (and suspicious) as to why they want to do this now, just as we are getting geared up to talking about exchanging contracts. The estate agent said we have nothing to hide so not to worry. AIBU? We have agreed of course, we are not aware of any problems although I am a bit grrr at having to arrange my weekend around this/clean the house with a hangover!

is it preparing to do a last minute offer drop on you do you think?

That is my concern yes! If they do (and I really think they would be pushed to find something wrong structurally), I wonder what the best course of action would be? We have already been here once before (we had a sale that fell through) but last time it was the vendors making outrageous last minute demands and we caved because of pressure to keep the chain going. I am determined not to get into the same scenario again. Perhaps I am overthinking it (she says hopefully!)

Îm surprised you're 3 months on and they still haven't got a mortgage offer. It shouldn't take that long.

They may be planning to reduce their offer or maybe they want to get work done. I'd go ahead with the survey and wait it out, but be prepared to put it back on the market if you can't agree. Look at what your local housing market is doing now - is there much similar available? I'd also be thinking about giving them a deadline for exchange - 2 weeks?

perhaps the best you can do is to be prepared. Decide now whether you would be willing to drop the price or not, plan for all the things you think they might come up with so that you have responses ready.

are you willing to let them go if they monumentally take the piss?

I'd get in there first and tell the EA to let them know that whatever they 'find' you won't be reducing the price. I'd call their bluff and say if they want to pull out, fine, but no reducing the price. Make sure the AE passes this on before they come round.

Hmm, it does sound like they might be preparing to stitch you up. Similar thing happened to me - buyer came over with builder friend, and next thing we knew they were contacting the agents about "cracks" that didn't exist.

I take it they've already had a homebuyer's survey? And there was nothing of concern in that report?

I would tell the agent that you won't accept the opinion of the buyer's friend - impartial opinions only.

Good advice from you both, thank you. Best to be prepared for the worst case scenario. Yes totally happy to let the sale go if they take the piss. We have been here once before and we tried so desperately to hold everything together and it all fell through anyway so I promised never to end up in that situation again. A month later we sold and we have found a better house so we could do that again (after a short period of tearing hair out!) Fingers crossed they are just wanting to check out their investment. Maybe they want to extend?! But I am still baffled by the 2 hour window required. When they first put their offer in they appeared really up front "don't mess us about and we won't mess you about" bla bla.

The mortgage delay is apparently down to her employer taking 7 weeks to supply relevant docs. No reason to disbelieve that. Oh well, nothing for it but to see what happens. I am going to ask them to highlight what they see as any potential problems straight away rather than going through the solicitors. That is fair enough isn't it?

On 2nd thoughts, I'm with Reluctant. The people I bought my current house from said this when we agreed the price - no reductions later on. I would definitely have tried it but for that. That was before the survey was done too.

Sorry x posts. Oh lord. Just what I thought but didn't really want to hear. I think I will aim to have a frank chat with him when he comes around. Perhaps just say we were surprised (not to mention nervous) that they were doing this now rather than prior to putting an offer in...gah! EA has already confirmed appointment so I don't want to go back now. We have had our mortgage confirmed so there is very little wiggle room really.

They might just want a chance to look around with a builder to price out the stuff they plan on doing. I'll probably ask for similar when buying, as it let's you get the builder scheduled to start work as soon as you complete!

That is the best case scenario! But then they could have just said that. When they come around I might just ask them thru the letterbox and only let them in if I am happy with their answer!

Did they agree to pay asking price for it or have you already negotiated a bit?

You did say the builder was coming round in lieu of a survey - so has any survey been done at all? By the mortgage lender? If they cannot afford a survey by a surveyor, it sounds like they are short of funds. An employer not responding for 7 weeks is a bit odd as well. Perhaps the employer did not confirm high enough earnings for the mortgage so they have had to shop around. I would just see what happens, but a builder is not technically qualified to do a survey so what are they looking for? Odd, I think!

yes, i wouldn't accept any findings by an informal builder friend as grounds for a price reduction, frankly.

Our buyers came round with a 'builder friend' too. I was worried but it turned out ok in the end. I think they were actually trying to get away with not paying for a full structural survey but in the end they decided to get one anyway (which delayed things a bit but not by much!).

I think their builder was more likely having a look in the loft to see whether converting was an option (it was, and we told them this but I guess they wanted to check for themselves!).

I've done this before. I work in construction and although I had to have an official survey on houses we bought, I was determined to have a look round with my own eyes for peace of mind. I then had a list of things to ask the surveyor to check out.

I've also looked around a couple of houses for friends to give them a steer on whether they need a full structural survey. They are probably over-cautions and want the comfort of someone they trust to say "This is a perfectly nice, sound, properly built house, of course you don't need a full survey on it"

I agree it does sound late in the day, perhaps they got had the opportunity for this friend to do it. Or are thinking about feasibility of alterations?

Hi everyone and thanks for your advice/reassurance! They are paying about 5k under asking price. I going to be straight with them and ask as they arrive (I'll let them take their shoes off first!) what the main purpose of the visit is. I'll play dumb and say the EA didn't really explain. Hopefully it is just them wanting to touch base and make sure nothing major is amiss. I still find the timing of it odd but I do have post traumatic selling disorder from the last time around so fingers crossed I am over thinking. However, out of the blue today a colleague expressed an interest in the house so perhaps that is my plan b and a bargaining tool if they start playing silly buggers!

Oh dear! We're hoping to exchange really soon and we've got a homebuyers survey booked as pretty much the last thing before exchange although the timing was not intentional. It's definitely not our plan to reduce our offer at all, it's just for our protection (on the tiny off-chance there is something major the valuation report missed) and also mainly for information for us over the place going forward.

Basically we didn't realise we could get a homebuyers survey done with the valuation survey (it wasn't offered) or we'd have done that. When we finally did book a recommended surveyor, who we didn't contact before we had our mortgage offer as we didn't want to jinx things, he had a three week waiting list.

I hope we've not upset our vendor or made her anxious! It never occurred to me it could be interpreted as an attempt to potentially gazunder. Oops!

Anyway, something similar might apply to your buyer - no intention to reduce their offer but just want to "sanity check" things before exchange. Maybe they were going to get a proper surveyor in but couldn't find a decent one without a waiting list or something, or they've stretched themselves too far financially and this is the next best thing.

Any decent solicitor will have told them to go round again immediately prior to exchange, as our solicitor did. I really wouldn't worry unduly.

We had my dad come with us as a fresh pair of eyes - although not qualified in anythinf, he is generally dad-ish and practically minded

Our buyers did something similar and called it a 3rd viewing. It was pretty uncomfortable hearing them going around our house talking about all the things they would have to change. Took them about 2 hours too!

But there was no price reduction afterwards or even a request.

We offered on a house then realised our broker had done his sums based on me having my 2014-2015 tax return done. He hadn't expected us to find somewhere so quickly! We then had to delay everything until that was done. Could be a similar reason?

Hi everyone, I have completely talked myself around now and I am hoping that it is just a thorough pre-exchange inspection to see what needs doing and to get a real idea of what they want to change plus a 'just in case' look at structural stuff. Will soon find out as they are coming shortly! Thank you for all your comments, I now feel prepared for the worst but am feeling calmer. I think I mentioned above that my colleague expressed an interest in the house yesterday? She has now made me an offer for more than the current offer. We wouldn't contemplate gazumping our current buyers but it is very reassuring to have a back up plan. Will update later!

I reckon they assumed they could get XXX from their lender, made an offer, and lender has only agreed YYY, so now they are going to try and reduce their offer. Explaining why its taking so long to get an offer too.

I did this sort of inspection for my mum just before she moved into a new place: it was just to make sure of things like does the boiler work? do all the windows and doors open and close and lock properly? i.e. is the house safe to move into straight away or are there any problems that will need immediate attention? It was just for peace of mind, not for a renegotiation. Moving house was a massive deal for her so if she'd have moved in to find the hot water wasn't working she would have been super stressed.