How is best for us to proceed to get this property?

[hugsandpugs]

We currently rent but DH will be getting some inheritance soon so is looking to use it towards buying a house for us. We would be looking to just get a small mortgage.

We have seen a house online on an estate agents social media which says it’s coming soon. It’s absolutely everything we are looking for. 4 bedroom, big kitchen, decent sized garden etc and it’s an absolute steal at £119,995.

I know there’s going to be a lot of interest in it so is there any way to make our chances of getting it higher? We are first time buyers so are not in a chain. Should be getting a mortgage in principle from our financial advisor at some point today.

thanks in advance for any advice

That's fair. I misread it as having cash by end of this month...

You really aren't going g to be blacklisted by EAs though...

A chain free mortgaged sale takes about 3 months with no issue so I dont 6 weeks makes you a bad buyer.

Agreed. We bought a house after the previous owners (who’d lived here decades) passed away. They hadn’t modernised it - the carpets, decor, kitchen and bathrooms were old. But everything was in perfect condition and beautifully maintained. They just didn’t care about updating for the sake of things looking modern. But the boiler/electrics/heating etc was all up to date. No reason to think that just because the owners are old, they’ll live in damp!

Although I agree the price is low for a reason. We got ours cheaper than most in the area due to the decor and kitchen updates needed. So it depends how low £119k is for your area.

Yes this is what I’m thinking it’s probably an older persons place that has either passed away or gone to live in a nursing home

Around 180k the cheaper end of the market

Absolutely, having a mortgage means they are NOT a cash buyer!

If it were an absolute bargain the ea would already have a buyer to snap it up and it probably would/will never make the market.

It might be a bit under what it is worth to the market, but probably not much. And if it is a lot cheaper then it will have issues that might prevent anyone with a mortgage getting it, eg subsidence or major structural issues.

If someone wanted to sell quickly at a cheap price auction would be a better bet to get market value.

if you are looking at a property which is being sold because someone has died make sure that probate has been granted. Also that all of the executors are in agreement about the sort of price that they want.

They still aren’t a cash buyer at the end of next month! They need a mortgage!

Are you sure its not one of those 'being sold by the modern method of auction'

Which I wouldnt touch with a bargepole

The estate agent will want proof of funds, if it’s an inheritance you’ll need to get something in writing from the solicitor dealing with it to confirm the amount and when you’ll receive it.

You really need to go view it. It won't be a steal if you then need to spend thousands doing it up.

Can your DH get a letter from the probate solicitor stating when he should receive his inheritance money? Otherwise you've no proof of the deposit to go with your MIP.

It’s “coming soon”?

So no location and no photos

Op, they are trying to ramp up a bit of interest.

This won’t be a “steal”

Come back and let us know what you think when the EA actually provides some detail!

There is location and photos. You can see from the photos it needs modernising. New flooring potientally new kitchen tiles etc. Cosmetic kinda things but structurally we won’t know til we view it. It was a coming soon post on their social media with some details abiut the property and photos of all the rooms garden etc. Just hasn’t gone live on their website for viewings yet.

The main reason we want a property in this area is so I can be closer to my dad who is currently really unwell with advanced liver cirrhosis

He’s got one at the moment to say the value of mother in laws estate and that it will be split four ways between her children. Not sure if this will suffice or if he will need to get a seperate letter detailing how much exactly he will have and when. I’ll check with the estate agents. Now we have a MIP they have accepted us for a viewing next week…

Yes I agree. We are happy to buy somewhere that needs a bit of cosmetic work but not something we are going to have to spend thousands on just so it’s liveable etc!

Definitely not an auction. I’m assuming it’s just someone trying to sell their deceased parent/parents properly but I could be wrong

We would have potientally had enough to buy it cash but then would have nothing left essentially so the small mortgage is so we have money for any issues that arise with owning your own home like repairs etc along the way

It's quite normal where we live for people to post like this on social media as well.

Send them a private message via Facebook to say you are interested. You have little to lose. They might be testing before they go ahead with an estate agent to avoid the commission.

Get your offer in principle sorted so everything is ready to go.

Conveyancing is normally 6-8 weeks so it sounds like you'd be as likely as anyone else to be ready.

I don't know why people are being quite so negative. If it's what you want where you want then you need to try.

I live in a cheap part of Scotland. This type of house is hanging around because young people starting out would rather take a slightly smaller house in better condition. Relative to the rise in minimum wage, houses in these areas have essentially become more affordable and people are skipping a rung as the moving costs are expensive.

The families that do need them are stuck in a renting trap and can't save the deposit.

Small landlords who may previously have snapped them up are getting out as the margins don't stack up.

So there may be competition but equally it could be one that fails to suit the wider market and the sellers know this and have priced it to shift.

You're probaby right given the lack of furniture but probate (or care home) sales need to get the best price, so no one is going to let that go for a song.

Without the money actually in your husband’s account, you are not a cash buyer

has further details been revealed

op it won’t be a steal

Update : finally viewed the property yesterday and we’ve decided to put an offer in. Looks like it just needs a bit of time and money spent on it to update it a bit.

However I noticed there’s no attic hatch on the landing or in any of the bedrooms.

I’ve queried this with the estate agent and they’ve asked the seller. Their response was that they’re parents never used the attic so when they had some work done to one of the from bedrooms the attic hatch was plaster boarded over when a new ceiling was done.

They said there is the potiental for a hatch to be created if we needed the loft space which we would for things like Xmas decs, sentimental things and also camping gear etc.

Does this sound plausible? The reason for why there is no access to the attic I mean? Or do you think it’s suspicious?

I believe a more accurate phrase would be…’This isn’t NECESSARILY true’.

We bought a 1984 bungalow.
Underneath the heavily wallpapered walls, every bit of plaster was blown - we had to chip it back to brick. I say ‘chip’ it was so bad in places that it had practically crumbled
to dust! Totally re-plaster needed (not just skimming), which is the worst we had expected and budgeted for, so a very expensive extra bill.
Every ceiling was covered in heavy artex, which proved to include asbestos and had to be overboarded not skimmed.

Between your experience and mine, there is a happier middle ground, but to not price in extra non-visible work into your budget would be naive at best.
I sympathise with the huge fire place…we had one to remove too, (surprised that they were still about in 1984, but perhaps my memory has drawn a veil over such hideousness!

Check to see if there is a history of flooding in the last 30 years, or getting insurance will be fun......

We looked at a probate house like that and we got gazumped on it before the survey but I remember thinking how weird it was to not have a loft hatch and how we would deal with it as the roof was leaking so needed to be accessed.

Creating a hatch probably isn't that hard but they won't let you do it until after you buy. The biggest problem is you will be buying blind on the state of the attic and thats the place where most issues are (every house I nearly bought had roof issues, some are much easier fixes than others though).