House buying advice

[Matt..]

Craikeybaby said:

Seriously, if at all possible get them in the post tomorrow, each time someone leaves the paperwork to the weekend it delays the whole process!

I want time to read it. I will more than likely post on Saturday rather than Monday.

I'm hoping the process will be a little faster as its my bank, so I don't need to prove who I am!

[Matt..]

The documents went off on Friday, so hopefully i'll hear back mid next week.

The people the vendors are purchasing from are going into rented accommodation, so that should help with the chain! They want 3-4 weeks between exchange and completion though. This seems normal though, so i shouldn't worry about that should i?

[Craikeybaby]

That is a bit longer than normal, but it is safer, as movers etc wont need to be booked/paid for until after you have exchanged.

[Matt..]

The valuation has come back and is 4% lower, if I want to borrow more it takes me outside of my 60% mortgage. The reasons given are that it's poorly maintained and needs damp, electrics and rendering. I know this aready and that part of the renovation budget.

What do I do now? I'm fairly sure the vendor won't accept less, so it appears increasing the deposit is the only way forward.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Craikeybaby]

I'm not overly experienced in these things, but is it worth talking to the estate agent and seeing if reducing the price is possible? You've got some paperwork stating reasons why, so it could work.

[Matt..]

Craikeybaby said:

I'm not overly experienced in these things, but is it worth talking to the estate agent and seeing if reducing the price is possible? You've got some paperwork stating reasons why, so it could work.

At point of the offer being accepted they said they wouldn't do this. I already knew these things needed to be done, and i have the cash for them. But having to increase the deposit is an annoyance (or changing the mortgage product). They will only lend me £4k less than i wanted... They can't tell me whether i need to pay that £4k extra on the deposit, or whether it's more than that (i think it will be more). I need to speak to someone else who's only in 9-5!

If anyone can give more thoughts and advice it would be very helpful.

[IanCormac]

If the house has been valued at 4k less than you're paying for it, then you're not getting a good deal. I'd tell the vendors that you'll only pay what it's been valued for and if they don't accept that then buy a different house.

[Matt..]

IanCormac said:

If the house has been valued at 4k less than you're paying for it, then you're not getting a good deal. I'd tell the vendors that you'll only pay what it's been valued for and if they don't accept that then buy a different house.

It's 8k. If I don't go for it, then I'm going to have to wait 6 months+ to find another, and spend thousands more on rent, so paying slightly over the odds isn't actually that bad for me in my situation. Annoying yes, but somewhat acceptable. There have been less than 5 houses come up for sale this year that are even vaguely at this price range where i'm looking :/

Edited by Matt.. on Friday 27th September 07:48

[Matt..]

I have finally received the survey report. It highlights a number of things that i hadn't considered, and pushes this to potentially being not worthwhile pursuing. I am going to need to get a builder to look at it and give better cost estimates which is going to delay things further.

House buying is no fun is it (especially when its the first one, and knowing what to do is a big challenge!).

[ukwill]

It's your first house purchase and from reading your earlier posts, requires quite a lot of renovation. What were you expecting?

What has the survey stated that concerns you?

[TA14]

ukwill said:

It's your first house purchase and from reading your earlier posts, requires quite a lot of renovation. What were you expecting?

What has the survey stated that concerns you?

+1

Survey reports are usually frightening to those not familiar with reading them. "It needs how much work?"

[Matt..]

ukwill said:

It's your first house purchase and from reading your earlier posts, requires quite a lot of renovation. What were you expecting?

What has the survey stated that concerns you?

I do think i'm being unnecessarily scared by it all, but hopefully that's vaguely understandable. I know this is a really good thing for me to do, if only to get some experience in it all and to have a little fun with it. I just have horrendous problem parting with my money!

It's basically a case of gutting the house, the list of jobs is something like this:
- Re-render rear wall (probably need to insulate the rear wall if i do this, so maybe insulated plasterboard)
- New kitchen
- New bathroom
- Open kitchen to dining room
- New windows in kitchen
- Maybe move rear door from kitchen to dining room
- Fix damp (this is visible under the front bay, and the survey mentions it's detectable throughout the ground floor, though this is likely somewhat down to condensation from the lack of insulation/solid walls)
- Rewire
- Fix floor joists where required
- Replaster most of the rooms
- New flooring throughout (laminate in most, with some carpet)
- Decorate
- Repoint chimney
- Fix some of the roof slates
- Possibly fix the living/dining room opening which has been done to a poor standard
- Remove the old gas fire

I'm phoning a builder to give some costs on this, but have put together some estimates myself. The house is less than 75sqm, and so very small. My estimates are from 25-35k (25k not having some of the work done). It breaks down something like this:

Walls (inc plastering and rendering (but not structural)) 5500-8000
Floors (inc fixing joists, flooring, and fitting flooring) 3000-4400
Structural (eg. Kitchen wall/windows/roof/dining opening) 2250-5200
Kitchen (cabinets/worktops/appliances) 3750-4000
Bathroom (exc floor/walls) 2150-3000
Damp 2000-3000
Electrics 2000-2500
Decoration 1000-2000
Contingency 2500

Do let me know if this seems totally wrong!


I do have an incredibly helpful family who will help with a lot of the work (eg. fitting the kitchen), so that will massively help me.

[Adam B]

TA14 said:

+1

Survey reports are usually frightening to those not familiar with reading them. "It needs how much work?"

Surveys are primarily an arse-covering exercise for the surveyor IMHO, get a builder to quote although some may be reluctant if you haven't exchanged as they know how often these things fall through