Home Buyers' Support Thread, Part 4

[BeaufortBelle]

Here we go.

Good luck everybody x

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/2139089-Home-Buyers-Support-Thread-Part-3?pg=40

So the EA managed to track down our mustardy brown vendor and speak to her. Apparently, she's in no hurry to sell (despite her entire family having emmigrated without her) but would be willing to take an offer of £350k. The house is on at £365k so she feels that's as much of a compromise as she's willing to make.

We can actually afford £350k. My reservations about offering that are that the vendor or weird, flakey and hard to communicate with and I suspect the mortgage valuation will come in quite a bit below this. We do have a lot of equity in our house though so we can overcome that (we will not be letting the EA or vendor know this though).

So DH and I are thinking we should just say 'sod it' and offer the £350k making it clear that's the absolute maximum and more than we think it's actually worth and see if she actually says 'yes'. At last then we can move on and not keep our buyers hanging around.

There is so little else on the market and the only other possibility is much more expensive and also overpriced. And we don't think the vendors of that one are willing to be at all flexible on price. Or, I guess, there's renting but there's almost nothing suitable on the rental market and it's all seriously and stupidly expensive. And we'd have to move twice, and keep up the dismal pastime that is looking for a house to buy, which we are not enjoying at all.

I'm glad you still love the house, golden. It's such a shame the tenant has caused so much damage, but I'm sure you can make it even more beautiful than it was to start with.

So... DH put in our higher offer (in quite a grumpy tone) but then we decided that we should have another quick look at the house (from the outside) and speak to the NDN. The NDN was very nice but also very honest. They hate living there because of two enormous issues. They're basically waiting for the house next door to sell so that they can put there's on the market and leave.

One thing is that there is an ongoing legs, dispute between the house owners and the developer over the build quality of the homes. There's an issue with crumbling brickwork because the builder used the wrong type of bricks. The build quality is generally bad and they've had to replace a whole central heating system (boilers and all the radiators) and there are other issues. These are recently build houses, so the boiler should not have needed replacing. So we'd be inheriting a legal dispute (the issue also affects the house we were looking at, and once it was pointed out we could see it) and may have dodgy heating (the house was absolutely freezing both times we viewed so we're wondering if it's already broken).

The other issue is worse because it's about ongoing neighbour disputes and the position of the house. It's a pair houses close to each other next to a grassy area. Local kids use the grassy area as a play area (we were aware of this and its kind of why DH wanted to speak to the neighbours). The area is used all the time and the children are very, very noisy. They play football and there have been issues with balls hitting the houses. The kids (up to 15 a time) play there unsupervised any time it's not raining and are out until 8-10pm (depending on the time of year). You can hear them inside the house (we went after school when they were playing, and it's not quiet). The parents are apparently of the middle class 'benign neglect' school of parenting, and their parents have no interest in not sending them out to play loudly outside other people's houses. The NDN seemed at the end of his tether about it all.

We figure that even if he's exaggerating this (since you tend to build up ongoing issues in your head over time), it is still genuinely a bit of a problem. And it's exactly the sort of thing DH would get worked up about. The NDN said that the estate itself is lovely, it's just the position of these two houses that's the problem and that he's dreading trying to sell his.

So, yeah, we decided that we had to withdraw the offer and keep looking. There's nothing vaguely suitable to buy though. We are very despondent indeed and have decided to do a bit of a personal letter drop to see if anyone is interested in selling but hadn't realised there might be interested buyers, which will probably be ineffective but we can't think what else to do.

Oh no Step- that is really disappointing but better to find out now before going further down the house buying process.

Yes, absolutely. Or, worse, to find out after you've bought the place and moved in. That would be a nightmare!

It is so hard to find the right house though.

Hi, I'm joining this thread as well as the other thread, although might just have to lurk for a while as we have not even really started the process yet
So, DH has decided after 12 years in this one that he is prepared to move, after I have been nagging for the best part of 8 years We had the house valued last week which was really positive and gives us more hope for selling (we live in an area which is not especially desirable but in the middle of lots of desirable areas, that is reflected in the prices though).
Our problem will be buying though as we want to buy in just one small village (it's where DC go to school and where most of our/their friends live), it is more desirable so about double the price of houses in our village for not much more space, so it's quite a psychological barrier to get through! We want a bit more space (not massive by any means, but three double bedrooms instead of 2.5 bedrooms and an extra reception room).
We've looked at two houses, one was completely overlooked, a lot smaller looking outside than in the photos, possible structural issues and needed new Windows (despite having been recently renovated ) The other one needed absolutely everything doing to it, there is nothing we wouldn't change and we didn't feel that the amount of work that needed doing justified the price. That one shocked me, the house was full of clutter and so dirty, they had to move stuff so that we could go in some of the rooms One benefit was that our house seemed lovely and clean and bright when we got back
So, we have one more house to view that is the right size and within budget and then we have exhausted the possibilities and will have to stay until something else comes up

Step - it's odd that the neighbour told you about the issues if he is so desperate to sell, you'd have thought that he would want to keep quiet about it so the houses sell quicker! Great for you that he was so honest though

Yeah. It's quite odd that he was so honest. We started off by explaining that we were interested in the house next door and it was like he's just incapable of not telling the truth.

I suspect if he does come to sell his house (and it will be hard because he'll have to declare the ongoing legal action and the neighbour disputes, since he has involved the management company to try to have the area landscaped in such a way that playing football there is no longer a possibility), he'll have to get an agent to do the viewings. He was positive about some things: the estate overall (just not his house and the one next door), the layout of the house, etc.

This whole trying to find a house thing is making me ill. I do have a chronic condition anyway and the stress has absolutely floored me (well, on top of quite a lot if existing stress at work). I've had to take the day off work because I'm in so much pain.

sorry to hear that step. i hope you feel better soon. Still havent got an answer from my sellers on when we can get access for our specialist damp survey I'm not going to simply forget about it and not do it.

I am starting to suspect the seller is a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic. even the estate agent I think is having real difficulties dealing with him. maybe this is why the previous sale fell through...

At least we are not in a hurry, happily in our rented place which is cheap and convenient.

Hopefully your seller will stop being weird soon, bumble.

We've managed to dig up another house to view. The sellers have accepted an offer but there have been problems of some kind and they're now accepting viewings. The layout of this house and the position seem workable, but we'd need to get to the bottom of what's going on with it. (We are super proceedable, as our buyers have had their survey done and have no chain).

Step - hope you feel better soon, sorry to hear you are in pain
I can identify with your neighbour, I am almost chronically honest, I might have to let DH deal with the house selling/buying if it actually comes to that

DH is like that too. Although, actually he's worse as he'd invent and magnify problems to tell them about.

He'd be going round pointing out all the tiny hairline cracks in the plaster (just your standard ones, not Things To Worry About). He has anxiety and ocd which partly manifests as an obsession with checking for hairline cracks or scuffed paintwork or other things that really don't matter and no one else would notice.

So we haven't let him anywhere near viewers.

Arggh, seller nightmare here. When we first went to view Dream House OH and I were told that the vendors were ready to move in to their new house. We've had the EA pushing us to hurry along, the vendor concerned we were pulling out and us having to convince them we had no intention to do so...

Today it has come to exchange and the solicitor has called us saying the vendor's solicitor has just emailed to say they are unable to exchange today due to needing to find another property. I think I might be slightly miffed and being unreasonable but having constantly had to deal with pressure to get things quickly moving am very upset. It looks like it might be another month now! Neither one of us want to lose the property but it's now another month of renting and waiting to get on the property ladder.

That's very weird. Did they have a propert lined up that's fallen through, or had they not thought through the whole exchange thing at all?

They apparently are now moving to rental property although we had been misled into thinking they had bought. Oh well. I hope you feel better soon Step, it is stressful and your letter dropping brings up something soon for you.

How strange, Bracknell, that reminds me a bit of that thread recently where somebody completed, collected their keys and the vendors were still living there and hadn't started packing yet

Step - I'm probably not that bad, I just always seem to have a guilty look on my face (I always get pulled over and searched by customs/security in airports ) and am completely unable to stop myself getting flustered and guilty looking if I am in a situation where it's not a good idea for me to be 100% honest

Viewing booked today of the last suitable property on the market, it's on Saturday, fingers crossed for third time lucky Then it will be a waiting game to see if anything else comes onto the market

so we finally got our specialist damp survey and in good news, it looks like there are no problems. I'm really relieved tbh. I think my other half is annoyed we cannot negotiate any money off, but frankly i dont need the stress.

very bizarrely though - we can see from the pictures the vendors are all packed up and ready to move? I'm so confused? if they are so keen, why havent they responded to any enquiries? and still no fixtures and fittings?

I'm so confused . i think its good news?!

That is odd, but good that the survey came back fine.

We are doing the house buyers' version of the pick me dance at the moment. We found a house we like and have offered on it. They already had another offer but told us what it is. It was a pretty low offer, so we've just offered the asking price on the condition that it comes off the market immediately. The vendors want to sell quickly so we've been stressing how good our position is (I.e. Our buyers have completed on their house sale and are staying with friends, so they're super keen to move quickly and have already had their survey done). There's no upper chain either, so realistically it could go through very quickly.

But first they have to accept our offer. This waiting bit is hideous.

agreed re the waiting for your offer to be accepted Step. I literally had to go home and have a shower i sweated so much negotiating our offer with the EA. bloody hideous.

I guess I can start to be more optimistic about how long this will take now. we were expecting june at this rate?! my vendors are just bonkers. worst case scenario, what happens if they just do not respond to any of our questions? and provide the fixtures and fittings?

I'm quite relaxed about it, but should I not be?

I assume they will eventually realise that they need to do these things. It sounds very frustrating though.

I get DH to do the negotiations. I had to do the viewings, so he can deal with that part. The waiting is hideous though. Just say, 'yes', vendors. Pleeeeeaaaaasssssseeee. There's nothing else on the market and we're willing to overpay if necessary.

Waiting is horrendous! We waited four days, including a week end, we couldn't think of anything else!
We did second visit, yesterday, the owners are lovely. ( I hope I am right on this perception !) Time will tell!

Survey done, now just waiting for the solicitors to get their act together.

Hope your completion is a bit quicker than June, bumble.

I hope our vendors decide quickly, not least because they want it to be quick (so should hurry up so we can get down to the bank and really get the ball rolling).

so do I JT05! but given it took our vendors 5 weeks to instruct solicitors and 8 weeks in they have not responded to any questions asked at all, I have no idea. quite why having the house packed already was more important than giving us any idea of the fixtures and fittings, I just couldnt say...

Finally the tenant has removed what will be our new address from his illegal business activities. He can't understand why the house sale is being held up by his dodgy activities in the house. Do you think we should change all the locks?

We are probably going to get the removal company to pack for us. I just can't get my head round how that will work. The move will take 3 days if they pack. Do you empty the cupboards or do they do this? Do you really just live as normal in the house until 3 days before you move?

Golden we always change the locks, as have DSs when they bought their houses. Keep the locks and keys to re cycle on other houses, within the family, or friends.

We are having packers, as we have had in the past. They are like locusts! They are experts and have a routine and all the stuff to pack with! Make sure you put essential documents etc in a bag and lock in your car boot. Anything staying, put a post it note on. They usually pack the beds last.
You will be so pleased you had a packing service.