Anyone ever bought a house from someone they know?

[Fizzylemonade]

My friend has just told me that she is putting her house on the market in the next few weeks as they need somewhere bigger.

I know what it has been valued at and I know how much they want for it which would all be fine and we were looking to move ourselves over summer - we have a few jobs to do on ours first but all very do-able by May.

So has anyone ever done it, what are the pitfalls apart from the obvious that you might kill the friendship!

I thought DH would topple the idea but he is very calmly considering it and was a more than positive.

considering it and was more than positive am just too excited

Friends of mine did it very smoothly. They came to an agreement on price (based on the fact there were not estate agent fees etc.) and it has never been a problem.

Two sets of friends did this and both overpaid.

What I suggest is tell your friends to put their house on the market and say that you are happy to consider making a bid if they get other offers that they are willing to show you when they get them in writing.

That way, your friends get the fair market price and you can quite reasonablly say that you had a fair chance to beat the best bid they got.

I fear that your friends may be hoping you will just immediatley pay the asking price suggested to them by their estate agent. Most estate agents are still telling clients they can get far more for their house than in reality the market will give them.

Most serious data I have seen includng RICs now suggest the few transactions that are actually taking place are being struck at 25% or more under the what was the peak asking price in August 2007.

Thanks, it never occured to me that she would move but her father has been very ill and he will be coming to live with them when he is discharged from hospital so long term they need somewhere with a little annexe bit for him.

I think if you do agree a price you have to be very realistic about what you are buying: are your friends the sort of people who have kept on top of all the maintenance issues or are you likely to find a list of dodgy plumbing, leaking drains etc. If you make an offer that they accept, are they willing to sit around waiting for you to sell? I think you have to be prepared to fall out over this.

ABetaDad, the thing is their house is a rarity where we live, I have been following the housing market for 3 years here so am aware of what houses were on for, all their internal details ie room sizes, condition of the property, what is backs onto, sides onto and all the local knowledge of where the teenage kids hang out and what the properties actually sold for.

The deal with this is it is worth just over the stamp duty threshold so they would sell at the threshold but want some extra cash for "fixtures and fittings" but that is all very reasonable considering the size of the house. I believe they are being very realistic in the price they would put it on at and the price they want for it.

I would want to avoid anyone else getting a look in because it has a double garage and there are very few houses with a double garage here so I feel it would spark a lot of interest.

lalalonglegs - they are just like us, very anal diligent about maintaining the property!

We will sit and do some number crunching and then I think I will have to tell my friend I may be interested. We will see where it goes from there [hopeful emoticon]

Fizzylemonade - do not even go there on the fixtures and fitting for a bit of extra cash idea.

You are defrauding the tax man if you do not pay the stamp duty on ALL of the price including fixtures andd fittings. HMRC are very hot on this. Your solicitor will not convey the contract if you ask him/her to miss off the price you paid for fixtures nd fittings in order to push it below the stamp duty threshold.

You will be breaking the law and HMRC have extraordinary investigative powers.

In current market conditions I do not believe the friend would actually get any offer for more than the stamp duty threshold for the house (including fixtures and fittings) and they are just trying to squeeze you for a bit extra and an isntant sale without payng an agent fee.

As I say, just tell them you want an above board deal and will consider beating their best offer if they get one in writing.

Thanks ABetaDad, I didn't know about the fixtures and fittings bit being classed as tax fraud and I am indeed a very good person so would not want to do this.

Our maximum budget would be the £250k because above that and it starts getting ridiculous re stamp duty etc, maybe I could argue the estate agents fees as they wanted £5k fixtures and fittings so it would be £250k and nothing more.

When she first spoke about it and her Dad needing to live with them once he was out of hospital (they won't discharge him back to his flat as he needs care) I didn't even think about buying her house. It was just general chit chat last night over a glass of wine Estate agents had been round last week so I know what the house has been valued at and what they want.

Today in the cold light of day I have had time to think about it. There aren't many comparable properties, only one that sold last year but that was on a corner plot with a huge garden. That, according to Nationwide property price calculator, would be worth £260k today.

Fizzylemonade - £250k does sound correct (including fixtures and fititngs) if you think £260k is about right for a corner plot.

Thanks, we relocated here years ago and we felt that we paid over the odds for our current house so I have been feverishly watching the market ever since!

I think the market here is misleading people as there are properties that have been on the market for a year or more so their asking price is not reflecting the true value.

If they were at the right price they would have sold but people are still so willing to believe that their property is somehow in a bubble.

We bought from a family friend who owned our now house and the one next door.We agreed the whole thing between ourselves,shook hands on it and that was that.We were in in 11 weeks,with a 3 wk old dd2 in tow.We still live next door to them now.

Because no agents were involved,they reduced the price,even though we offered the full price,as we knew other people were after the house.Luckily friend wanted people she knew living next to her,rather than an unknown quantity.Although when dd2 is screeching,my poor neighbour probably regrets it..

Goodluck!

Thanks for that FuriousGeorge, it gives me hope!

All seems to be going well so far, no eyes being scratched out and we are still speaking

Think they haven't realised what they will be saving in agents fees, think people are always thinking about the asking price and not the actual amount they will walk away with and I always forget to add the VAT to it

I remember selling one of my previous houses for a 1% fee then getting the bill showing the VAT on that 1% I'd paid. Felt like I'd been winded.

I would kill for someone to tell me they would buy my house with no agents involved, no viewings, no time wasters who are just there to nosey at your house rather than any intention of buying, no excessive cleaning and keeping the house tidy, fitting viewings in around sleep times for the kids, no no-shows from people who have appointment but then don't show up.

not bought but sold to someone we knew. got three valuations from agents, picked the middle one, calculated what i would save in estate agent's commission by not selling on open market and split this in half between us (ie knocked half of it off the price). shook hands on this as a price, handed whole thing over to solicitors. in the end i think they got a very good deal as we took ages to move out (house we bought fell through) and it was worth about ten per cent more when they bought it! (as you can tell this wasnt in todays market). amicable, easy, suited both of us and removed a large part of the stress of moving.
however it was easier then as prices were rising, now prices are so unstable and so volatile i think its much harder to be sure you are paying fair price.