House buying - sale fallen through

[Jem1603]

Hi - I'm new to this but live alone - single parent son gone to do his MA so would be nice to chat sometime.

I've just had a second house sale fall through due to issues come up on Survey. The problem with getting tradesmen and builders gave me cold feet - and as I am a woman on my own I need reliable people, and it seems everyone is struggling to get building works done at the moment.

Anyway long story short - after nearly a year of house hunting paying for second lot of searches and survey (lost one for same reason earlier in the year) I am back to square one.

Does anyone have any good positive advice to give me - I feel down about this right now and wondering if it is a good time to move at all. Mine was sold in January and gone up a lot in value in the meantime, but I stuck to the original offer as I felt it was not this girls fault but mine. However, finally realised that I have been priced out of my own area and anything I have any luck with, seems to have underlying problems.
I have packed so much stuff as I was ready to complete on Friday and move in two weeks so pretty heartbreaking. Does anyone think the housing market will calm down next year when builders are less pulled out and people feel more confident to sell?

Nobody can make any predictions about the housing market with any certainty. There’s all types of theories from all types of qualified people; and it boils down to that nobody knows. Just as an example; you’ll have people saying the anticipated interest rate rise means prices will dip, and people saying that it’ll stop people from moving and therefore prices will rise. Nobody knows.

Generally, it’s a rubbish time of the year to try and move now - people tend to want to be in for Christmas, which is unlikely to happen; and the market is quieter now.

There is a backlog of demand for trade in a lot of areas, because of Covid & Brexit & new tax rules. Hopefully that will ease over time. Some areas can get things done quickly but for higher prices than normal; others have longer wait times. We’re due to move imminently and we’ve had to accept that we’re unlikely to be able to get everything done that we’d planned, because of availability. We’ll have to make do for a bit until it calms down.

If you want to avoid that entirely, you might be best to pull out, unless you could consider a new build which doesn’t require any work.

Does your buyer know that your transaction has failed again? They might have already decided how long they’re willing to wait, so that could help with your decision making, if a part of it is feeling bad for them.

But you wont ever know enough about the future of the property market to make a solid decision, so you have to decide based on things you can know. Do you still want to move? Does your budget cover something that’s in good condition, or realistically, will it need some work to get it to where you want it? If it’ll need work, are you happy to wait for that?

You’ll find people who lost thousands waiting for a better time to invest and people who made loads of money because they timed it right. It’s all luck of the draw, really. Nobody can predict the future.

I agree. No one had been able to predict the market recently. I'm a single mother too, and though I used to renovate properties for a living, I know about the bias towards women I've come up against.
All you can do is persevere. I do think the market will stabilise - not go down but not increase in the way it has in the last 18 months. People always need to sell - not everyone can afford to wait for the ideal time. Death, divorce etc. I planned my recent move well over two years ago- it's unfortunate the pandemic had the effect it did, forcing me to buy an 'it will do' house. But I'm not unhappy - just wish I could have had more options and not feel so much pressure to decide instantly.
Im amazed your buyers haven't pulled out - I would have about six months ago! But get back out there and expend your horizons or adjust your criteria.

I think the market is going to bump or go back to reasonable levels. I've been looking for a year and very ordinary homes have increased by £60k.

Might you move into rented to just keep your buyer? You can then decompress over Christmas and then look again. I moved into rented to decompress and whilst I havent found anything to buy during this time it has given me some saniety and distance.

Thank you.

My buyer hasn't pulled out because the value of properties has gone up quiet a lot where I live - so she knows she has made a lot of money before I've even moved out. But to be honest, I didn't mind that - I just thought - good luck to her. Single young woman, ftb and teacher. I was hoping she would be happy here. But I have taken it off the market now because the stress of looking for 10 months is taking it's toll.

I live in Sheffield - in an area with good catchment for schools and a very busy active area bars/cafes young people. It's very popular. However I live in a small terraced and wanted a bit more space.

The house I was going to buy needed a new roof a very expensive damp proof course (8,500) pointing etc. So the longer I wait the more the property will deteriorate. The roofer said he has a two year waiting list. Some roofers haven't called me back or said they can do it in 6 months for more money.
I just feel because I am now 60 I don't want to spend the next few years just waiting for jobs to be done. And buying what could be a 'money pit'. I wanted to kick off my shoes and relax in my new home - not take on an expensive project that requires the kitchen to be removed to have the damp proof course undertaken.

Sheffield is a really popular city - it has always been notoriously difficult to buy in the popular areas - but hardly anything has come on the market this summer and when it has , it has sold for well over the asking price.

Are you sure you want to move?

If you like the area you are in and your house, it seems a shame to add in all this extra stress for more space, especially as your ds is likely to move away after his MA.

Could you put money into your current house and build a garden room, go into the loft or just re jig the layout?

Hi - that's what I'm thinking now. I'm thinking of getting new kitchen and the loft converted. It will probably mean trying to find a builder and waiting quite a while - which is a bit depressing - but I cant make extra room downstairs, but could convert the loft, it seems my best option.

I wish I had a crystal ball re: housing market but this seriously affected my mental health and wellbeing and don't think I can do it again.

"The house I was going to buy needed a new roof a very expensive damp proof course (8,500) pointing etc. So the longer I wait the more the property will deteriorate. "
We were told ours needed over 11,000 worth of that stuff. We didn't believe it, and bought regardless. When we got a proper independent damp surveyor in, who even drilled samples from walls to check for damp (which is the only accurate way), not only did it need NONE of the work, it would have been bad structurally and for damp had we done any of it.

If you're thinking of moving and come up against damp again (in old houses you usually will) then get a genuinely independent surveyor to assess it. One with no connections to damp-proofing companies. We used Heritage House. Their website is well worth a read.

(of course, a new roof is a different matter to a damp proof course, but unless you need new roof timbers, it's often less expensive than you might think just to retile and put new underfelt on)

Are the suggested repairs as urgent as you think?

We had a long list of things we should get fixed or repaired in our house and garden . DH's uncle is a builder and reassured us that the survey was nothing unusual for a house from the 60s and there were no red flags. He travelled up after we moved in to see what really needed doing. The flashing on the porch was urgent because it was leaking and the render inside the porch wasn't fit for purpose so was soaking up rainwater (£1,500). The other big concern we had was a patch of damp on an external kitchen wall. It turned out to be a problem with the guttering, water was overflowing just in front of the kitchen because the vertical downpipe was higher than the horizontal guttering. We replaced the down pipe (£100), it dried out and we haven't had a damp problem since. The rest of the list was more the surveyor covering every possible issue. The only other thing we've needed to do since moving in is replacing the fence but it lasted 4 years whereas the survey suggested it needed immediate replacing.

Don't move. You would be crazy to sell now at below the market value when you cannot find anything to buy. House a few doors down sold back in May for 325k and one just up the road sold last week for 360k that is a heck of a lot of gain if those selling at 325k havent found anywhere yet and this is your situation. I would take it off the market leave it until new year and see how you feel then. Shit for your buyer but shit happens sadly.

Thanks Tango

I think the general advice from friends and family is 'don't move now'

I would imagine a lot of the repairs are not urgent and the roof could wait most definitely, but the damp was quiet extensive and all across the internal party walls. The whole kitchen had to be removed to carry out the treatment so that would mean a new kitchen straight away. I think damp can cause a lot of problems to the timbers so leaving that job wasn't an option for me.
I don't know, maybe because I'm on my own I would be worried about finding people to do the jobs and the cost in the long run.

The estate agent tried to keep the damp proof report from me, I had to really hassle them to get the quote sent, they kept it for 10 days. I was really surprised, because the vendor said she had a 30yr guarantee for the damp proof course and I didn't need a quote.

My friend bought a house for 950,000 a year ago and just sold making 100,00 in profit. I'm no where near as rich, I cant afford to rent or spend any more money on solicitors fees/searches/surveys etc. I've been through it twice this year. My friends bought the house because they were under pressure to move quickly, and immediately hated it. It's worked out well for them but they are in a good position with a lot of contacts. Maybe I'm paranoid but builders seem to like rich people because they get the bigger jobs ;).

They also told me to 'stay put' for now. And this was before I withdrew from the sale - I just didn't understand why they thought I was making a mistake because the house seemed to be everything I wanted and they knew I had been looking for a long time - then I found out about the damp. That's why I came on here to see if anyone is experiencing the same problems or had any advice.

On another note I've just been looking at new doors and windows from a local company and everything seems to be out of stock.