FTB-wanna help on survey [victorian cottage] [west london]

Q:Hi Guys,

Really glad to find this forum. Wish that I could have found it earlier :-D

I am FTB, offer on a 2-bed in was accepted 5k lower than asking price. We' just had our survey back. Bit worried about the amount of work that needs to be done in the house.

Like any other , lots of maintanence work needed, and it's valued at exact our offer price. I start to question about survyor, how come? our last offer fell through, and again valued at EXACT our offer price !!! How does the valuation work ? Do those people know the offer price beforehand (they must be). !!!

Back to the topic. worried bits on the home buyer report are:
1. damp penetration is noted on the front bedroom front wall, due to leakage from gutter, also plaster is damp as well. Again, we were told it's a
small issue to fix, and have taken into account in the valuation. My parents have damp problem in their house, and it's difficult to fully get rid of it. I am worried that it will cost a lot of work, to re-plaster the whole wall, and re-paint it ?

Luckily, there's no rising damp noted in the house, however, there's no damp course proof in the kitchen, we'll need to do it when refitting the kitchen(which we've budget for already).

2. There's no firewall, no even partition wall in the loft, also ceiling in the master bedroom sinks coz of all the extra weight in the loft.

Well. There are some other numerous small bits to fix, like fixing gutter, rotten sash window, guard to the fuse, … bal bla bla …

I am just confused, EA keeps telling me those are small issues, and taken into account of valuation, and our mortgage offer's been issued., and I understand, they are fixable, however, at what price ? We're first time buyer, DIY freak, we did budget for kitchen, however, didn't expect to get rid of damp problem, redo the whole room(probably all other rooms wall paper), firewall, etc. And really bit sick of this continuous battle with EA and builders (none of them is honest, and all trying to rip us off :-( ).

…….. we are paying 320k for this cottage, and budget 15k to do kitchen, loft and conservatory, which will give us enough space as 3 bedroom, plus this extra cost for maintenance from survey, scared that maybe, we might be better off just buying a 3-bed house to save all hassle and DIY night mare. ???

Any suggestion ?
We were told that vendor is unlikely to drop the price according to survey as it's taken into account in the valuation….. we'll just need to swallow it. … is this cottage, after wall, worth that money any more ?

Also, another question. Vendor's replaced all windows, and put a dulex window in the loft a few years ago without getting any permissions, are they needed at all ?

Thanks.. any suggestion/advice welcome..

miserable FTBs.


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A:thanks for your reminding.. however, we decided to go ahead. We're FTB, it's true 320k is a huge amount of money(in fact, it's nothing in , you can only get 2-bed flat in good area, or 2-bed little house in a less good area).. luckily. we get some help from parents. around 100k as deposit, besides, we've got some savings ourselves… we are taking mortage of a 228k, including budget for all the work we want to do in the house… My hubby and I both have stable jobs, and earn up totally 65k + bonus.. We only been working for 2 yrs, lots of pay rise, promotion opportunities in future, and we can afford it, and no plans to have babies for recent 3-5 yrs…..it's stable time for us, might not be stable time for the whole market…. future nobody knows, however, we can foresee us living happily there for the next 3-5 years…

Reason we are so determined to buy at this stage, partly coz we wanted to buy 2 yrs ago, and was waiting for crash, and realised that u never know what's going to happen.. it will never be 'the time' unless you decide to for it.. Even there's gonna be a crash, with Olympic games in 2012, and British stable economic, it's not gonna last long..

We're not opportunities, we want a lovely home/nest for ourselves, and at this time, we have the thoughts, and have the money, and need to take risk sometime in our life. and work/pray hard for the best.

Cheers,
Gemma


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A:Gemma , I wish you all the luck however consider this ……………

1) Average UK house 200k , average salary 23.5k , which means the average borrowing is over 8 times salary . Never in the last 70 years has there been such a ratio , and it normly runs at 3.5 times
2) BTL which makes up a much greater percentage than FTB'ers does not make fiancial sense . There is no city or town in the UK where you can make a decent yield (or one that can beat a savings account at the bank)
3) FTB'ers traditionally make up 41 % of the market but today it is under 10%. Please ask yourself why
4) We have as the UK 1.35 trillion of debt which is bigger than the GDP of the UK for 1 year
5) Most importantly open the FT and take a look at shares in Persimmon , Wimpy , Barretts etc , even before the last few weeks finacial crisis there shares were getting pasted . Why is this …. its because the city guys who don't think of the house market with their hearts (as most of us do) but are using their head , the shares tell you the house market is at the top. Also take a look at Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley who both have a lot of the BTL market. There shares are being used as wall paper (i'm exagerrating a tad but you get where i'm coming from)
6) I was in negative equity when I was 20 back in the late 80's and early 90's and I can tell you if your house is worth 30% less than you paid you are in deep trouble especially as you are spending over 300K. Consider that you may not want children today but in 6 months well .. you never know , what if you need to move jobs and you have negative equity
7) Take a look at repossesions , they are rising by an amazing amount , ask your self why
8) The Hedge Funds and carry trades are all unwinding this will cause huge stress in the money markets. The cheap money (mortgages) is fast disappearing and this will effect our housing market
Nearly lastly , I would say I am not trying to scare you but I truly believe house prices will fall 40 – 50% . I have sold my house and put the money in the bank and now rent a beautiful house in the country. Am I mad .. well time will tell but please be careful

Go to www.housepricecrash.co.uk (http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk) and have half an hour looking at comments and articles from the FT , Telgraph and Independant . It may just be the best half hour you spend in your life

Good luck


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A:Hi. guys.. just got a reply from EA….. They talked to the vendor, and they have agreed to drop by 2k, however, they said, if we don't accept it, they will put it back onto the market. .

Strange that.. we didn't ask the vendor to drop price, or negotiate yet, as we haven't got a chance to get a builder in to get the quote, and no idea how much it costs to fix those problems… Are they just genius really nice people, want to save hassle of fixing it for us, or they knew it's gonna be big quote once we've got builders in ?. I

Assume 2k shall be enough to fix all those things.???

Bit surprise good news on Friday morning..
fingers crossed, and pray for the best.


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A:thanks for your reply… We didn't plan to buy a property to do up, however, this property comes along at our affordable price range, although it needs a bit work, we could see it's got really good potential, and properties similar on the same street are sold/asking for 20k more at the least. We didn't forsee to fix damp, re-plaster the wall, and all those things mentioned in the survey before, as not experient, young couple, when we viewed it, just didn't spot out those problems, sinking roof…etc..

As for the loft. it hasn't been converted fully… kind of half done. They got velax window done in 2000 by professional, and not sure about the floor… (there's problem in the roof floor, as bedroom ceiling below is sinking due to the extra weight)…… electricity is there in the loft. They currently use it as a storage room..

hmmm……. we'll see what the vendor says…. waiting for their reply now.. and see if they can fix gutter, and firewall… and will get a builder in sometime next week.. wwwwgggggggosssssssssh.. too hard.. just too much hassle to buy a house.. ..


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A:If you are buying a house to do up, then I think you need to allow for unforseen expenses in the future. Presumably the house was valued based on the fact that work needed doing, and then you have negotiated £5k off of that so I don't imagine that the vendors will make much allowance for your costs in the future.
If you are, as you say, a DIY freak then fixing the gutter won't cost much as you can do it. You can patch plaster the wall, or pay a plasterer for half a day to do it properly.
I'd be more concerned abou the loft. Has it been converted or is it original? Have they got a Building Inspectors certificate for it, has the floor been strengthened? The velux may or may not need planning permission. Mine didn't. But if they fitted the windows withing the last couple of years they should have a compliance with Part L of the Building Regs, so you need a certificate for them too.

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A:I needed planning for a velux in my house, and its not listed.

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A:Thank you for your reply !!! It does sound very encouraging.. We'll try then. .. at this stage, we don't know the exact cost of reparing all those stuffs.. try to arrange some time next week to go back with a builder, and do a quote on those reparing things. Once we've got it, do you think we shall ask vendor for full price, and start from there then ? or halfen with the vendor. We don't want to sound greedy, however, we are worried with the extra price which we didn't expect/budget…..

hmm it's just not easy.. I suppose nothing is easy then. … do you know if they need permission to replace all windows ? They replace double glazed with sash window to match the property..


‘uk Information’
A:First of all it is standard pratice for surveyors to value a house at exactly the purchase price. This is because they are just confirming that the house is worth the purchase price. Yes they do need to know the offer price beforehand so they can evaluate whether the house is worth what you are going to pay for it.

Generally the only time purchase/value price differs is when essential works need to be done on house & perhaps monies retained by lender untill such works are done. In such cases value is listed twice, first in existing condition, then price (purchase) of house if essential works completed.

The points noted on your survey are relatively minor, as the estate agent says. However, you have nothing to lose in trying to negotiate at least a small further reduction because of firewall & damp proof course.

Guttering is a very common cause of penetrating damp & once guttering is sorted out you should have no further problem. On older houses cast iron guttering needs regular maintainance to stop it leaking. If guttering is clogged with leaves & debri it will leak, even the pvc type.

Speak to estate agent & bullet point the area's of concern about the house & ask him to try to at least get the vendor to meet you half way on cost of damp course & firewall. Point out that these issues will show up in anybody elses survey should you decide not to proceed with the house, so in vendor's interest really.

I recently offered £5k less on a cottage, which was accepted & survey picked up on some roof work needing doing. I wasn't confident that sellers would renegotiate with me, but they did & I am happy.

Velux windows don't need planning permission, so don't worry about that.


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