Springbok - £2,500 + £396 contract fees for buyers?

[EarthSight]

What would you make of this?

Sales can be secured with a reservation deposit of £2,500. This forms part of the final purchase price and is NOT an extra cost

This deposit ensures that the property is taken off the market as soon as a sale is agreed. It is then exclusively reserved for you, eliminating gazumping, time wasting and financial loss

An administration fee of £396 is required in order to draw up an exclusive legally binding contract between the buyer and seller. This gives the buyer exclusive rights to purchase within a pre-agreed timeframe

The seller tried selling the house I'm interested in a while ago. It was then taken off the market, and months onwards it's been relisted with Springbok. It likely has damp issues and is in need of modernising. I know for sure that Japanese knotweed is spreading in this town. There's no way I'd pay that fee before the surveyor's even been there to do a level 3 survey (it's older than 1900).

Then, what's this administration fee? I've never got to that stage before with an estate agent as I'm a first time buyer. The first thing I'd want to do is arrange the surveyor to come round and then the conveyor....so if I'm already employing a solicitor, why would I have to pay that fee as well on top? Is that normal with other estate agents?

No, its not normal, but its not that unusual either for certain type of properties. Most sales are done with no costs to the selling agent, but for new builds its usual to have to pay a reservation fee and additional admin fees.

It entirely depends on the seller and the property type. I've seen some non-new builds being sold like this, and I've always assumed the property is going for a quick sale, a modern method auction, which is perfectly normal.

Its completely unsuitable for a first time buyer if I'm being honest, if you've never heard of it, walk away. I say this as someone who has sold and purchased over 10 properties.

Also a word , you never send a surveyor round before putting in an offer!!!

You 1) like a property 2) Put an offer in, its accepted ( most sellers wont touch you unless you have either cash or mortgage agreed in principle at least 3) you can back and forth from anything for 3 to 12 months doing surveys, pouring over details of contracts , before exchanging contracts at the end, during this time either of you can walk away at any point with NO OBLIGATIONS.

I suggest you clue yourself up about the buying process before jumping in, I don't mean to patronise , but you will save yourself a MASSIVE amount of stress going in with your eyes open

@silentwallflower

To clarify - I'd put in an offer first, then send a surveyor round. I already have a mortgage in principle, but might be able to pay in cash (although they'd have to accept 15k less than the asking price).

The survey would be the most important thing for me, and personally, I'd only want to instruct a solicitor after that point (in case there would be such bad things in the report that I'd pull out, so no point to waste over a grand on a solicitor before that point). However, I know many sellers and estate agents don't like that and want you to get going with they conveying asap regardless.

Also, I've seen all sorts at the bottom of the market! Houses being sold with tenants in-situ is one that comes up every now and again (the details of which keep changing every time you ring the estate agent). I saw one block of flats (previous hotel) where the owner had not received the proper planning permission to turn them into residential flats).

Recently offered on a house that had been in probate for months already, with multiple parties involved, and no end in sight. Normally would back away but it was in a fairly good, stable location and there's slim pickings at the bottom.

It doesn't work like that @EarthSight , you won't have an offer accepted if you have no solicitor, its unheard of.

How can you have a sales memo with no solicitor? I wouldn't sell to anyone who didn't have a solicitor in place, at the least I wouldn't take it off the market, no-one would.

You do know solicitors only ask for a few hundred quid deposit to get the ball rolling, the total costs are done on completion.

Seriously solicitor fees are the least of your worries.

We had a structural survey done on 2 Victorian properties we purchased in the past and each one came back with a huge list of potential problems, my brother (a surveyor) took one look and said its fine. And we sold each one with no problems.

A survey can still be blind to all sorts of issues with a house, that can cost thousands. Our full strucutural survey on a Victorian place did not forsee the boiler breaking down on the day we moved in, or one of the joists breaking as the removal men were taking furniture in, their foot went through the floor while he was carrying a heavy sofa!! Leaks, all these things cost us many many thousands. And if you read any survey report, it will err on the side of caution to cover their asses and say everything needs further investigation and the place should be condemmed! You wont get a glowing report re-assuring you everything will be fine. Just a warning what to expect.

I would advise having someone experienced going through this process with you, I did (many moons ago) especially if you're looking at modern auction, probabte , tenants in situ types, this is the realm of property investors looking for a bargain with decades of experience. BUT its a great idea to get a bargain.

Our first property was an ex council flat in London which made a huge profit but was certainly a non-traditional type of buy.

Ok thank you. I haven't spoken to many, and I wasn't aware of that some offer that deposit option. I just thought you had to pay the full fee upfront from the get-go.

You wont get a glowing report re-assuring you everything will be fine. Just a warning what to expect - actually this is what I would expect at my price range in particular.

Sorry to hear about the joists situation - I've been to a few houses that had very squishy, uneven floors that got me wondering about that.

I think this is one of those 'we buy any house for cash' companies? Perhaps you should check out their reviews etc before doing anything further.