Survey not great what now?

[Ohcrapbags]

House was for sale for £175k, we offered £170 as it needs cosmetic work (just very tired looking), but settled on 172k.

Mortgage lender agreed value at 172k, but didn't actually see the property due to covid.

We had our homebuyers report back. The independent surveyor has put the value at 160k.

There are some issues with the roof, flat roof extension, electrics are old, the drainage under the house is old. There were a lot of "3" s basically.

So what next?

I know we need to get some quotes to see if it's worth it.

I know they won't come down to 160k, but how does this homebuyers report effect our mortgage? (We are borrowing 145k towards the 172k).

Any advice would be great.

This was the only house by far in the area which was okay and it's not for long term. We want to be out of here in 7 years max (we hate this area but for lots of circumstances we had to move here as it was cheaper last year and we are stuck here for a bit) but we are sick of renting. Rental prices are crazy here and only going up. That mortgage was going to be nearly £300 a month cheaper than our rent.

I'm just at such a loss over what to do and any advice would be appreciated.

Very expensive idea area

Does any of that report strike you as absolutely essential? Surveys often go for the ideal rather than essential

@bilbodog

Can you post a link to the house so we can see what it looks like? From what youve said it is a complete doer upper and because of that i wouldnt bother asking for electrical certificates (it obviously needs re-doing) nor woukd i bother about building regs for the garage - was probably built when these things weren't required.

If you can afford to do work to the house over the next few years i would buy it. Just get roof fixed first IF it is leaking.

It's not a total dooer upper. I know I've made it sound like a hole, but you could move in and not do anything.

The paint work is a bit tired etc, but it's nothing awful. It's better than any house we have rented.

Kitchen and bathroom were redone the year before these people bought it in 2017.

In that case if you love the house, can see it’s potential and you know you have to stay in the area I wouldn’t be put off by any of those. A rewire is costly though so unless you can afford to do that I’d probably walk. All of the other stuff I’d be happy to address at a later time. Your nose is well attuned to damp (as is mine) if it were a major issue surely you could smell it? As for the mortgage thought that might be an issue. I’m sure a more knowledgeable person will be along to advise on that.

@Egghead81

Is the choice either Very downside ideal area OR Shit area you can’t stand but you can afford?

Is there nothing at all in the middle?

I don't want to go into it but we have to be near this area for the next few years. It also means I can do more hours at work as we have family here to help. This area is also as far as we can really push it for work. There are still meetings to attend once/twice a month and it's a doable drive from here. Makes sense to keep the SE wages. Same jobs here pay less.

If its not a long-term home I think I'd walk away.
My experience was similar flat roof and side extension had to be replaced, electrics, new boiler etc needed replacing but everytime we've done a job, we've found another issue and therefore more money because we're anticipating living here long-term /for good the extra cost are OK to absorb over time however if we were to sell in 5-7 years after purchase we wouldn't make our money back.
I did re-negotiate price slightly following survey but not enough to cover the 3s.

Truthfully, the work wouldn’t put me off as long as you can get a reduction in the price. As a previous poster said, you can work your way through your list.

That sounds like more than £15k worth of work before you even get to the cosmetic stuff.

@Goodtohear

If its not a long-term home I think I'd walk away. My experience was similar flat roof and side extension had to be replaced, electrics, new boiler etc needed replacing but everytime we've done a job, we've found another issue and therefore more money because we're anticipating living here long-term /for good the extra cost are OK to absorb over time however if we were to sell in 5-7 years after purchase we wouldn't make our money back. I did re-negotiate price slightly following survey but not enough to cover the 3s.

This is what we are thinking.

Dh is worried it will trap us here.

It's just the waiting for something else suitable to come on and worrying about prices increasing.

But then there is another part of me that thinks I should just get the fuck over myself.

Other people live here and think it's great so why can't I? Part of it is mourning our old life but we should have made better career choices and not had a child so young.

So then I think, sod it, I'll buy this house and make it amazing and have a great time living in it.

To be clear though - no reduction In price or if they don't get some of the work done and meet us half way then we will be walking away.

@55BrilliantColours please don't link to it though I had a bad experience on here once years ago (it was a smaller place then though!)

But yes it could be amazing.

That's what I thought was mould - it wasn't there when I viewed. It hadn't been repainted, so I assume mould cleaned off as we rent an almost identical house and the mould appears in that exact place.

Honestly though you would think Dh would be the one wanting to stay as he grew up here. But he says he tried so hard to get out, now twenty odd years later he feels like he's failed coming back.

I think I'v found the house. I think it's got great potential to add the 'box room' back in and open up the downstairs too.

I personally don't think there's anything too scary in your survey apart from the lack of building regs for the garage - I'd push the vendors on this issue.
They need to do another EICR if they can't find any paperwork - many houses aren't conforming to current regulations which isn't a problem as long as it is safe.
I'd send the estate agent a screen shot of the valuation and issues and see whether the vendors will come down in price.

@endoftherow

I think I'v found the house. I think it's got great potential to add the 'box room' back in and open up the downstairs too.

I personally don't think there's anything too scary in your survey apart from the lack of building regs for the garage - I'd push the vendors on this issue.
They need to do another EICR if they can't find any paperwork - many houses aren't conforming to current regulations which isn't a problem as long as it is safe.
I'd send the estate agent a screen shot of the valuation and issues and see whether the vendors will come down in price.

It has. If it was a long term home, I'd close off the front sitting room and then square off and open up the whole back of the house to make a huge kitchen/dining/living area. A house a few doors down has done that (after having a quick nosey from the garden).

But that would only work as a long term investment, obviously.

I've just spoken to a friend who basically said well you are going to be trapped there anyway. She's right. We will never be able to afford to move back to the SE. If the price of this house rises in a few years, so will everything else anyway.

Maybe it's worth accepting that we just live here now. It's not the worst part of town to live in.

It all sounds do-able to me I must say and I have bought several old houses needing work, including my current house.

I agree with a PP: get your own electrician in to look at the wiring, it should not cost you much and he can tell you how much of it is elderly but you can live with. Make sure you impress upon him that money is tight and you want to know how little work you can get away with rather than what he recommends to bring it up to code.

Also get in a roofer who will probably tell you they can patch the roof and can give you a quote for that. You need to be proactive as it sounds as if the sellers won't be. Quite normal for buyers to organise both these things.

Get the seller to give you a building regs indemnity policy though even that won't be required if the garage conversion was done more than four years ago.

Glass internal doors: changing glass is cheap, applying security film is even cheaper.

I'd live with everything else.

In your shoes I think I'd buy it. It has potential to increase in value with the fourth bedroom, it gets you on the ladder and away from renting, which is only going to get more expensive.

And BTW you are under no obligation to show your mortgage lender your survey or even tell them about it. They have done their valuation and they are happy with it. Your survey is separate and yours alone.

You asked whom to speak to first. I’d speak to the surveyor first. They have to cover all bases in their report, a phone call will help you gauge more.

Have a look on the checkmynotification website to see if there is anything on the electrics.

I think the house sounds lovely! Light, spacious, and has potential!

I agree 100% with @Bonariensis - just find out what absolutely has to be done (electrics, roof, flat roof) and what is not totally necessary.

I am a great believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I had to buy my current house on a tight budget, and could only afford it because it wasn't perfect. The survey threw up many, many things that "needed doing". He said it was a good house as long as I was willing/able to spend £1000s on it. I couldn't and I haven't. We have single-glazed UPVC windows, a flat roof that is "nearing the end of its life" (it doesn't leak), tatty many-paint-layered woodwork, walls papered and painted over uneven plaster, etc. I'm able to live with all of it. Like you, this wasn't a forever home, just for a few years.

Of course, it anything major happened I would fix it, but everything else, like new windows, can be done by a future owner with more money than I have. A roof tile blew off after we'd been here only a couple of weeks, but cost me just over £100 to get fixed. The house is watertight, solid, no damp or mould issues.

Most importantly, it felt really "homely" when we came to view and we are all happy here.

I think you really like this house, and if you're not seeking perfection, as I wasn't/aren't, go for it! I also totally get where you're coming from about the financial side of things, and buying this house sounds absolutely sensible, as long as any real and urgent problems are addressed, and all the rest left for now.

Doesn't sound that bad doors and windows old and no fensa certs is common .
roof with no feet common just poor isolation any roof of the age will need a patch up.

Breathable render is ideal but many houses don't have it .

Drains the main thing with them is labour so you could dig trenches yourself lay plastic pipe and get plumber to finish off

Electric just need to be safe could of been done before you had to have certificates with them doesn't mean they need replacing

Extension insulation depends what you want to use it for could upgrade it or just define it as storage if you sell again

Nothing jumps out as major

@LimeJellyforBrains

"Most importantly, it felt really "homely" when we came to view and we are all happy here."

That's exactly how I felt when I walked in the house. As soon as I walked in the front door I got a good feeling. Dh and I had to view separately due to covid, I went to see it at lunchtime and we agreed we wouldn't speak about it until he'd seen it after work. He called me as soon as he walked out the door to say he didn't know why, but he got a really warm feeling from the place.

It's just the town/area in general.

Middle Dd is primary age and she's happy at school here. She's slotted in well. Teen is ok at a local college. They have their grandparents round the corner.

It's not all bad. And we just can't afford the SE.

Like I said, if it was where I was from I'd jump at it and live in it forever, gut the place and make it amazing. But it would be 600k plus and I'd have no hope in hell of buying it.

Aw, that's lovely how you both felt about the house.

Well the town/area is what it is, you don't intend to stay long term, and you have already been living there for some time, right?

So just be pragmatic about it. Don't spend any more on this house than you have to (ie on things that aren't absolutely vital, and/or that you wouldn't recoup when you sell), and save up all that lovely money that you would have been spending on rent to spend on moving to a location that pleases you more in the future.

I remember going through my survey line by line, highlighting in different colours all the things that needed doing "urgently" or "in the medium term", intending to tackle at least some of the urgent ones. I've been here five years, haven't done anything major, the house is fine, and the survey report that worried me so much is mouldering away in a file somewhere .