Diary of a house purchase

[Sasquatch]

31 minutes ago, Democorruptcy said:

I can't believe you are viewing again, instead of letting them stew a bit. You are justifying their price.

We will move up £25,000 if we think we can reduce the refurb cost by the same sum. Otherwise we will stick to our original price. We only got 30 minutes inside when we viewed last week.

Interesting agent this one. It is an accompanied viewing house as the owner is abroad. The earliest date we could view again was next Wednesday so 9 days from now. I think they are trying to limit viewings or at least to tie up with nearby ones, presumably to keep down costs.

I may have a bit of a poke at a couple of windows to see if I can hasten along the decay...

 

[leonardratso]

7 minutes ago, Sasquatch said:

We will move up £25,000 if we think we can reduce the refurb cost by the same sum. Otherwise we will stick to our original price. We only got 30 minutes inside when we viewed last week.

Interesting agent this one. It is an accompanied viewing house as the owner is abroad. The earliest date we could view again was next Wednesday so 9 days from now. I think they are trying to limit viewings or at least to tie up with nearby ones, presumably to keep down costs.

I may have a bit of a poke at a couple of windows to see if I can hasten along the decay...

 

looks fine to me.

I usually fill rotten wood with cement and shutter it up to set, lasts about a year, unless gravity can help maybe not in this case, dunno though, ive mixed wood glue, super glue and cement together before (no water) and that worked great.

As you can tell, i don really give FF about the cosmetics or even the structure, just slap paint over it and sell to to some moron.

[Sasquatch]

4 minutes ago, leonardratso said:

looks fine to me.

I usually fill rotten wood with cement and shutter it up to set, lasts about a year, unless gravity can help maybe not in this case, dunno though, ive mixed wood glue, super glue and cement together before (no water) and that worked great.

As you can tell, i don really give FF about the cosmetics or even the structure, just slap paint over it and sell to to some moron.

I think they did do that when they moved out but the good old British weather has got stuck in since.

I have seen a lot worse though....

[Sasquatch]

Another house we viewed had a bit of a Blair Witch Project kind of vibe.

In one room there appeared to be an Egyptian mummy crawling out of the fireplace and a small pan full of neatly arranged billiard balls in one corner. I'm sure it meant something to the occultist at the time.

[leonardratso]

21 minutes ago, Sasquatch said:

Another house we viewed had a bit of a Blair Witch Project kind of vibe.

In one room there appeared to be an Egyptian mummy crawling out of the fireplace and a small pan full of neatly arranged billiard balls in one corner. I'm sure it meant something to the occultist at the time.

damn it, ive been looking for those balls, thats where i left them. No need to look up the chimney or under the plaster or floorboards. The patio is sound as well, so dont go lifting those flags.

[leonardratso]

you're checking out some finely fettled joints. Ive seen abandoned roofless houses in better nick.

[Sasquatch]

8 minutes ago, leonardratso said:

you're checking out some finely fettled joints. Ive seen abandoned roofless houses in better nick.

What, like this one?

 

[leonardratso]

1 minute ago, Sasquatch said:

What, like this one?

 

still standing, bit of spit and polish and some pointing - be good as new.

[Shamone]

36 minutes ago, Sasquatch said:

Another house we viewed had a bit of a Blair Witch Project kind of vibe.

In one room there appeared to be an Egyptian mummy crawling out of the fireplace and a small pan full of neatly arranged billiard balls in one corner. I'm sure it meant something to the occultist at the time.

 

[MrXxxx]

10 hours ago, Sasquatch said:

We will move up £25,000 if we think we can reduce the refurb cost by the same sum. Otherwise we will stick to our original price. We only got 30 minutes inside when we viewed last week.

Interesting agent this one. It is an accompanied viewing house as the owner is abroad. The earliest date we could view again was next Wednesday so 9 days from now. I think they are trying to limit viewings or at least to tie up with nearby ones, presumably to keep down costs.

I may have a bit of a poke at a couple of windows to see if I can hasten along the decay...

 

You appear to be going against all the logic you have proposed before...and if you were sure of your original figures why are you talking about readjusting the refurb costs by £25k?...

......at the moment if I was the EA I would be thinking "Either he doesn't know his business or he doesn't know his own mind"

[wherebee]

2 hours ago, MrXxxx said:

You appear to be going against all the logic you have proposed before...and if you were sure of your original figures why are you talking about readjusting the refurb costs by £25k?...

......at the moment if I was the EA I would be thinking "Either he doesn't know his business or he doesn't know his own mind"

Yup.

 

Unless it's a dream house, I'd be saying to the EA that you've run the numbers again with your builder and you can't save any more - plus there is always unexpected bills once you start a reno.  Tell him to tell the vendor you're at the top of your budget and nothing can be done.

[Sasquatch]

12 minutes ago, wherebee said:

Yup.

 

Unless it's a dream house, I'd be saying to the EA that you've run the numbers again with your builder and you can't save any more - plus there is always unexpected bills once you start a reno.  Tell him to tell the vendor you're at the top of your budget and nothing can be done.

We know what we are doing with refurb costs (this would be our 7th or 8th I think) and have access to all the trades through our job. We have built in a 10% contingency. 

Being realistic I was never expecting the seller to accept our offer. Despite how mad they might be or how high their original figure was, we have to let them move us up a bit. That's just the way it usually has to work. 

The house ticks nearly every box. We need to decide whether we are prepared to spend another £25K or hope something else comes along this year. We don't want to rent indefinitely.

[Sasquatch]

2 hours ago, MrXxxx said:

You appear to be going against all the logic you have proposed before...and if you were sure of your original figures why are you talking about readjusting the refurb costs by £25k?...

......at the moment if I was the EA I would be thinking "Either he doesn't know his business or he doesn't know his own mind"

We only got 30 minutes inside the house so it was a bit of rushed affair. We will have an hour next week so we can spend more time looking at electrics, plumbing etc.

[Green Devil]

13 hours ago, Sasquatch said:

Another house we viewed had a bit of a Blair Witch Project kind of vibe.

In one room there appeared to be an Egyptian mummy crawling out of the fireplace and a small pan full of neatly arranged billiard balls in one corner. I'm sure it meant something to the occultist at the time.

You are looking at some real dogs. Are you planning on knocking down and rebuilding. If thats an option, then id say thats the best option in that case!

[wherebee]

53 minutes ago, Sasquatch said:

We know what we are doing with refurb costs (this would be our 7th or 8th I think) and have access to all the trades through our job. We have built in a 10% contingency. 

Being realistic I was never expecting the seller to accept our offer. Despite how mad they might be or how high their original figure was, we have to let them move us up a bit. That's just the way it usually has to work. 

The house ticks nearly every box. We need to decide whether we are prepared to spend another £25K or hope something else comes along this year. We don't want to rent indefinitely.

yeah, I get that.  I feel you re the renting.

but every house where I held steady on a lowball offer, I feel good about - whether I got it or not.  The one I paid extra for (as another buyer appeared from nowhere according to the EA) I still feel shit about 25 years later.

[Sasquatch]

6 minutes ago, wherebee said:

yeah, I get that.  I feel you re the renting.

but every house where I held steady on a lowball offer, I feel good about - whether I got it or not.  The one I paid extra for (as another buyer appeared from nowhere according to the EA) I still feel shit about 25 years later.

It's a balancing act. We can afford another £25,000 and I knew we would need to move up a bit. It will definitely be a problem if we are being asked to move up £50,000. We won't do that and it will then sit and sell to someone else or they will come back to us later. 

The other potential buyer mentioned to us (the ones with the hesitant mum) seems to have disappeared. I don't think there is anyone else in the frame at the moment.

[wherebee]

1 minute ago, Sasquatch said:

It's a balancing act. We can afford another £25,000 and I knew we would need to move up a bit. It will definitely be a problem if we are being asked to move up £50,000. We won't do that and it will then sit and sell to someone else or they will come back to us later. 

The other potential buyer mentioned to us (the ones with the hesitant mum) seems to have disappeared. I don't think there is anyone else in the frame at the moment.

I would say that any other buyer that the EA tells you about is imaginary unless you see them in person.  I've had it done to me once (successfully), and tried twice (where I walked away and suddenly the other buyer disappeared).

I hate EAs.  They lie faster than breathing.

[Sasquatch]

18 minutes ago, Green Devil said:

You are looking at some real dogs. Are you planning on knocking down and rebuilding. If thats an option, then id say thats the best option in that case!

We passed on the Blair Witch house. Utter money pit but someone seems to have gone for it as it's up as SSTC.

The Yorkshire house I mentioned a few weeks ago (the one with the photo of the missing floor and leaking roof) is still on the market. We went in £250,000 below asking on that one! I contacted the agent yesterday and they said they had received a number of offers, all had been rejected by the insane owner. That house is beautiful but will be farked soon if the rain keeps on pouring in. My gut feeling is that the owner will be bankrupt before too long and then it will be a re-possession sale, possibly via auction.

Quite enjoying the viewing process. Allows us to get out and about during lockdown and we're not in a rush. We have a couple more lined up for viewing soon.

 

[MrXxxx]

1 hour ago, Sasquatch said:

The other potential buyer mentioned to us (the ones with the hesitant mum) seems to have disappeared.

Shock me!.....must have died of Covid! :-) :-) :-)....or was a figment of an EA imagination.

[Wight Flight]

5 hours ago, Sasquatch said:

It's a balancing act. We can afford another £25,000 and I knew we would need to move up a bit. It will definitely be a problem if we are being asked to move up £50,000. We won't do that and it will then sit and sell to someone else or they will come back to us later. 

The other potential buyer mentioned to us (the ones with the hesitant mum) seems to have disappeared. I don't think there is anyone else in the frame at the moment.

I told you to offer full asking at the start but would you listen?

Only yourself to blame. Sellers market don'tcher know.

 

[Guest]

On 18/01/2021 at 17:15, Sasquatch said:

Apparently they will not consider any offers unless there is a 4 at the front. 

Go back to them with £44,444

[Sasquatch]

10 minutes ago, Darude said:

Go back to them with £44,444

You might have something there. Perhaps best presented on dosbods headed notepaper with some choice words of encouragement.

[Sasquatch]

We've gone and done diddly done it.

We've bought the house. Had to pay £400K to secure it. The seller wasn't budging. However we've trimmed our budget by £20K and can definitely (and easily) create two rooms in the roof. Will be a super house when finished. Earliest part is early/mid 18th C. Still has some of the original features and we will get rid of the 70's rubbish and reinstate reclaimed fireplaces etc. 

Hopefully it will go through in about 8 weeks. Shortest possible chain. 

Assuming it happens and we don't have WW3 or a Planet X event in the next two months, I might start up a new 'diary of a house restoration' thread. Could be an interesting one. Fingers crossed we find a stash of gold doubloons under the floorboards.

 

[TMM]

Well done Sasquatch. Best of luck with the purchase, that Barclays 7 year fixed rate mortgage from 1.62% to 1.49% + £999 fees looks very appealing!

[sleepwello'nights]

41 minutes ago, Sasquatch said:

We've gone and done diddly done it.

We've bought the house. Had to pay £400K to secure it. The seller wasn't budging. However we've trimmed our budget by £20K and can definitely (and easily) create two rooms in the roof. Will be a super house when finished. Earliest part is early/mid 18th C. Still has some of the original features and we will get rid of the 70's rubbish and reinstate reclaimed fireplaces etc. 

Hopefully it will go through in about 8 weeks. Shortest possible chain. 

Assuming it happens and we don't have WW3 or a Planet X event in the next two months, I might start up a new 'diary of a house restoration' thread. Could be an interesting one. Fingers crossed we find a stash of gold doubloons under the floorboards.

 

Congrats. You may be a bit optimistic about completion in 8 weeks though. We accepted an offer on our house mid September, the purchaser wanted exchange early November with completion by end November. It was a very short chain, we were moving into a new build that was pretty much complete, and he had nothing to sell. 10 weeks was what he wanted us to work to.

In the end he faffed around and we didn't exchange till mid Dec, we were ready and waiting for exchange from mid November and our solicitor had our signed contracts ready to exchange from then. We were unsettled by his delays and sort of expected him to pull out or demand a reduction to the agree price. He didn't and we sold at the price agreed at the time of offer.

After exchange we couldn't complete as removal companies were all booked and wouldn't take a tentative date. We had to confirm dates and pay there and then and if the date couldn't be met would have to pay a penalty. In the end we completed mid-Jan. 12 weeks in all, which is quite speedy as house sales go.