I did the thing you should never do…

[NotNowCantYouSeeImBusy]

Went back on Rightmove whilst we’re in the middle of a purchase.

We had an offer accepted on a beautiful semi-detached house, top end of our budget, in the middle of March. Everything is proceeding as it should, as far as I know. Searches done, enquiries have just been sent. However, our survey flagged some fairly serious problems (damp, various rots, woodworm, chimney problems) which we’re waiting on costings for before we negotiate. It looked like a turnkey house when we viewed, but there’s actually a fair bit that needs doing.

We haven’t actually seen the house since we offered as we live so far away (looking to move for work) and it all feels very distant, and a massive commitment for something with issues. It would be a massive commitment if it didn’t have issues!

I was worried the cost to fix everything will break our budget, so I went back on Rightmove. There’s a beautiful house just come on for less, but detached and seemingly has a lot more going for it, but in a slightly less nice road. It was stupid of me to look because now I want that one.

I know it’s not daft to pull out of a sale because of a survey, and it’s a lot of money we’d be spending so I need to be sure, but I do feel like an idiot. If we go and see this other house and love it, we’d be right back at the beginning again and it’s a fucking awful process. And what’s to say this other house won’t need all the million hidden fixes needed?

Thanks for reading. This whole house buying thing is a proper headfuck. The idea of starting everything again from scratch is awful.

Has anyone had anything similar happen?

I would always go for a detached house, because you never know who your neighbours will be for the foreseeable future. I once had a noisy neighbour, he was an alcoholic. I felt terrible for feeling happy when he passed away, because it became peaceful again! We were looking into moving to a detached when he suddenly died. We're still looking to move, but there's no urgency.

I agree that damp is so often overstated, and DPC people are desperate to sell your their product. I had some damp walls once after living in my flat for a few years and of the men with little meters who came round quoted me 10k for his company’s DPC - better than all others, worth every penny etc. Shortly afterwards I was looking through the conveyancing paperwork for some reason, and noticed I actually a DPC still within guarantee, with his company.

We were buying a house we knew needed some work, at the top of our budget, but I have a serious RM habit so was still looking, and a house I adored appeared. We were committed to buy though but when we found serious legal problems with the purchase we had to pull out, and I cried for days about upsetting the vendor. An agent then said they had the perfect house for us to view, it turned out to be my RM crush, and we live there now. It was cheaper than the other and needed no work doing. I’m so pleased we ended up here.

In the beginning when we moved in I was finding that material furniture was growing mould. Then the clothes in the wardrobes, then the bed mattresses had a damp smell, everything smelt damp and mouldy. It was spots of green at first.

We used every single spray on the market and cleaned but it grew back after a week. (We did this for months) We couldn't store anything, like duvets or bed clothes as they grew these green furry spots. Even material shoes has the dusty green mould on them if not worn regularly.

At the time it was before the internet so we were calling people up getting advice. We had so many people out checking things, they all kept saying heat on full windows opened fully every day, sure that pushed our bills up a crazy amount. We got a dehumidifier and ran that daily. Between cleaning every day, heat on full, dehumidifier going the damp didn't stop, in fact the masonry walls started growing it from the skirting boards up. More people out, more money, more tests done. No one seemed to be able to fix it, everyone kept selling us their products, it would calm for a while but grow back much worse. I came home from work one day and thought there had been a leak as the carpets downstairs were wet, not soaking just damp but enough to feel it under your feet.

Again more people out, carpets all up, stuff poured on the concrete floors, new carpets, hard flooring wasn't common then, wooden floors were only starting but we were told wood with a home that gets damp is not a good idea.

We ended up contacting the original builder because this shouldn't have been happening the building wasn't that old, he came out, then brought different people for about a week, obviously kept saying it wasn't the building and that we weren't ventilating enough, he did put us in contact with a specialist who painted something on the walls then we had to paint using damp proof paint, more money more waste as a couple of months later it was back .

We ended up getting a damp proof specialist out and they recommended injecting the walls but the cost, time was just too much for us so we ended up selling at a big loss as we had to declare the damp problem.

Oh my god @Livingthebestlife that’s incredible 😟 I can’t imagine how stressful that must have been. The carpets! What the hell happened there? That sounds so extreme it couldn’t be put down to condensation and stuff like that!

are you sure the woodworm is current? my neighbour's buyers did a survey which showed woodworm, which was just laughable and historic, they're probably just covering their arses.

Have you been to see the second one yet???

Yup. It’s beautiful. The area isn’t so much. DH didn’t think it was too bad. Mad what a difference half a mile down the road can make. I think we’ll book a second viewing 😬

Ooh exciting!!!

yes, 1/2 can make a surprising difference! Lots to consider.... how soon can you get back there?

Keep us updated!