Buyer pulled out, now what? Auction?

[AhBiscuits]

Selling my dad's old house. It was built in the 60s and requires extensive renovation. Buyer has pulled out following a very thorough survey. They have stated it identified the following issues:-
-damp
-roofing and structural issues
-asbestos issues
-electrics, plumbing, and heating are outdated and may pose safety risks
-signs of movement and floor instability

They said it's too much work for them.

I have reached out to their solicitor with an offer to buy a copy of the survey from them. They don't need it now and they might be happy to get some of the money back.

What do we do now? Just try again? I don't know anything about auctions, is it worth considering?

'I would expect that you'll have buyers falling over themselves to buy your property once the market picks up again, the best of luck to you.'

Why do you expect the housing market to pick up again soon? The opposite is more likely.
Apart from that, @AhBiscuits may have been unlucky with these particular buyers but, in general, houses needing a lot of work have become far less desirable in the last few years because of the costs of work. The cost of borrowing has also risen dramatically. Most buyers simply can't afford renovation jobs unless the asking price is low enough that the figures add up with a good margin too.

I think I panicked a bit when they gave their reasons for pulling out but am a bit more chill now. DH thinks we should spend some money on it but I'm really not keen to do that. We have of course emptied it and given it a good clean, but that's it. In two minds about whether to paint it white throughout to make it a bit easier on the eye than the garish colours it is now, but I don't want it to seem like I'm trying to hide something.

It has a lot of character and an interesting history so I hope that someone will see it's potential soon. Having just had a small extension added to our house, i am well aware of the crazy cost of any work atm.

There are people wanting/waiting to buy renovation projects who are cash rich due to downsizing or because they have always taken on projects. We've always bought projects and have tradesmen that we use.

So long as the property is habitable, people like us would live in it until the time was right to renovate, i.e. tradesmen are available at reasonable cost. We're not so bothered about "a good margin" as we don't do it to make a profit by selling on immediately, but to make the property exactly what we want to live in ourselves. I'd agree that professional developers would look for a good margin, but you don't often get a good price from them in any case as they're also paying tax on their margin.

There may well be some people who are don't have to take ££ into consideration at all when buying but they are a tiny minority. Historically, a renovation project has been a good way to make some £. That is no longer the case. As a result, the number of people overall that are looking for projects has fallen dramatically as the cost of work has doubled. I have seen so many projects being marketed at totally unrealistic prices since 2022 and they are not selling. I am not saying that this is the case with @AhBiscuits's house but it is useful to be aware of if you are trying to sell this type of home.

It sounds as if you have your eyes wide open @AhBiscuits which makes it more likely that you will sell again soon.

I haven’t read all the replies, so apologies if this has been mentioned.

Take control of the situation by commissioning a chartered structural engineer to complete a full structural survey, identifying issues arising and recommending required works going forward.

This can be shared upfront with potential buyers who, if interested, would have their own survey done, but probably not one that would carry the same clout as yours.

It might be smart to get some work done before selling the house., think about that.

Regarding any damp issues, avoid at all costs those ‘free damp survey cowboys’ who will almost certainly tell you the house is riddled with rising damp and the only solution is hacking off plaster a metre high, injecting chemicals and replastering with water repellent render ……utterly useless!

There is no need to go to auction or let the house go to we buy any house muppets, that’s daylight robbery.

Feel free to PM me if you need to ask further questions.

I think investigating the causes of damp might be wise.. if it's a cracked pipe, leaking gutter, roof slate.. maybe you could fix it and heat the house to allow the damp to dry out?

That goes without saying - the structural engineer would identify the causes and recommend appropriate remedial work - it is very likely to be no more than condensation and/or simple structural defects, like leaking gutters or downpipes.

Hello, appreciate this thread is a few months old but wondered how you got on? We're selling our house and sounds like a similar situation.

Still looking for a buyer unfortunately. We've dropped the price a couple of times and swapped agent. We've had a steady trickle of viewings but no real interest. I think we are seriously considering going to auction now

Thanks for replying. It's a brutal business, and a horrible market right now too.

Agree with this

You may find the ‘movement’ issue is just down to a few cracks

Have a look around the property as cracks can be for many reasons. We had a survey done on a house we were buying and they said the same. When we looked further at it the surveyor put it down to cracks around a new pipe. Nothing to do with movement at all. Just cracks in mortar because of localised work.

If you’re in no rush, I’d sit tight. The property market is full of ups and downs. It took me 16 months to sell, but I was in no rush, kept the price steady and a buyer came along. Good luck.

Sorry to hear that, it's definitely not easy to sell at the moment. Hardly anything has sold around here in the last few months. I think you said before that you were in no hurry to sell, do you really need to sell now?

Have you spoken to an auctioneer, they'll probably have a good idea of what your chances are at the moment.

The market is definitely difficult here too.

We're not in a hurry but I worry about the property deteriorating, sitting empty. I think talking to an auctioneer would be a good move.

It must be frustrating for you.

A friend is having problems selling their home at the moment, they've built a new house and are about to have to start paying double council tax on one or the other of them.

The market is particularly slow as people are waiting to see the outcome of the upcoming budget. Might it be worth waiting until after that?

I sold my parents house through auction. The auction team were really helpful and professional and It was a quick and easy deal. Perhaps we could have held out for more but the relief and removal of responsibility (at a time when were were all on the back foot emotionally) was immense.

That's disappointing. This time of your tends to be slower anyway and now we have a lot of pre budget anxiety so some buyers have decided to wait what that brings first. Maybe speak to the auction house for information but wait until a month or so after the budget before you go ahead. In general, you should still get more on the open market than via auction so perhaps review the price post budget, depending on the outcome. Personally, as I have said already, I think prices are only going in one direction so wouldn't be waiting around as if you were in a rising market.