House Buying Saga - Am I Making a Huge Mistake?

[motorbiking]

Thanks for the replies.

I am an anxious person by nature and the unknowns here are going to put me in an early grave.

At the same time I didn't pull out earlier in the process when it would have been more acceptable to do so i.e. as soon as the survey came in.

Haven't signed anything yet so can still theoretically pull out though will no doubt be blacklisted by the EA.

You should never feel bad about pulling out or renegotiating up until you have exchanged.

The seller may well do the same should a better offer come in.

 

[johnny2007]

First of all, do not feel obliged to go ahead buying this house.
People pull out at last minute and nothing happens to them.
I know of 3 house sales where buyers pulled out on the day of exchange.
It is within your right to do so.
Just consider that you're not buying a pair of jeans, you're spending almost quarter of a million on this "product".

Secondly, you talk about bidding but as far as i understand this is not an auction, so my twisted brain tells me that the "bidding" is just an invention of the estate agent trying to squeeze more money out of you.
To confirm this, send an email to the estate agent with this line: "Due to a change in circumstances, I am lowering my offer to £215k".
Then don't answer the phone, they're very good at bullshytting people.
Initially they'll email you saying that you've lost the best opportunity of your life; ignore this.
A week or so later they'll email you again (after trying your phone a million times) and make up some stupid stories that other buyers died or went bankrupt so your offer (or a slight higher one) would win the house.
They'll even tell you that there are other buyers waiting to buy at £240k but the landlord likes you more: total boll@x.

Thirdly, damp at loft level could be a small roof leak into the cavity wall; something to investigate but, you can't investigate until you buy the house.

Garage conversion with planning permission but without completion certificate: most likely a bodge.

As many have said, if you are not sure walk away.
This is probably the most expensive thing you'd buy in your lifetime.

 

[motorbiking]

Unfortunately I am in a part of the UK that was traiditonally cheaper than other parts which means that prices are still shooting up as people escape the expensive parts to move here.

They typically fall later in the cycle.

 

[IT Minion]

Both houses I've bought has been massively stressful and I've been worried about it being a massive mistake, one worked out brilliantly, the second is going well so far. It's supposed to be one of the most stressful things that happens to people in normal life (1st world problem).

While the process can and will get you down, don't be hard on yourself for it, that's normal, everyone hates it, you're in good company.

 

[martygturner]

We all need a roof over our heads... finding a perfect house in perfect condition is v expensive as in getting it built to a very high spec then ensuring that the spec is adhered too. All house come with issues, wall ties pah... if its been up since the 1930's , what are you fafing about.... all old houses come with problems, any house you buy will come with problems new builds included. If you want no issues then rent and the issues are not yours.

And that's the moral of house buying - either pay rent and receive nothing other than shelter or buy and take a risk that your investment may go up or down.

Consider this.... what premium is a new build with a "warranty" in your area, compare that to the buying second hand and that to rental.

Eg : old https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/d...36259dfa3f248ca89f8de4ae5917f142dd&featured=1

New : https://www.zoopla.co.uk/new-homes/details/68653069/

now work out the sq ft and see which one has the better value...

Or you could rent for circa 1k per month....

 

[Notch7]

House listed at £215K and bid up to £235K

When you say “bid up to….” Do you mean that you kept increasing your offer as the EA were ringing you saying “there’s been a higher offer”

I presume it’s not an auction purchase?


You say the garage conversion doesn’t have a b/regs completion certificate, but was it built with a full plans application, on a building notice or just built and the specification left to the builder? -

If you have any images of the property that you took, you could post them on here for people to provide advice

 

[blup]

Never heard of a solicitor advising on wall ties but it sounds like the house had damp problems and experienced a major upgrade which wasn't to the highest standard

 

[motorbiking]

The solicitor will most likely see the valuation from the mortgage “surveyor”. It very much sounds like the OP is overpaying.

House prices are falling have fallen or will fall. He’s a chain free first time buyer - he should be in control of the deal.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

I think he's convinced himself he wants the house and just wants everybody to say it will all be ok.

Pull out and walk away if you don't feel right about it. Or carry on and take the responsibility are the 2 choices I see.

 

[Ihavenojob]

Is there much difference between wall ties and hoop iron? An estate near us had houses with hoop iron and they had loads of issues when it started to corrode.

 

[gas112]

follow your gut take the couple of grand hit just now and walk away

 

[securespark]

Is the hoose in Scortlund?

 

[securespark]

I have to say, I have some sympathy. As Phil and Kirstles always say, it's all about location. The reason we bought our house was all about the location.

We had a high level survey done, which highlighted a few bigger issues.

A felt and gravel flat roof that would need eventual replacement.
We always said we would avoid flat roofs like the plague, but there were two houses available on this estate when we were looking in 1999 and both had one. The house we ended up choosing was bigger and had a bigger garden.

Missing lintels where timber window frames had been replaced with PVC and nothing had been put in place.

Rafters in the loft space that would need bracing to prevent roof spread.

Cracking to render at the front, to be filled and decorated.

These issues were dealt with, excepting the roof (or so we thought) soon after purchase.

Over the years, however, I was convinced that further cracks were appearing. It started when we began stripping a front bedroom in preparation for decorating. We found cracks in the plaster. When I investigated, I found these cracks went right through the blocks. Mrs S thought I was paranoid and we called out a structural surveyor a couple of times who said there wasn't an issue, that the cracks were historic.

Then recently, large cracks appeared where there were none before and I called a different structural engineer. He concluded that the rafters needed further bracing and the timbers already used needed more fixings. Further, he said the purlins were undersized (surely they met with standards when the house was built in 1960? The whole estate was built the same) and needed sistering. This would address the roof spread issue and was the reason for the new large cracks.

He also identified a lack of insulation in the loft and flashing that needing replacing round the breast.

As for the historic cracks in the block work, when the plasterwork was stripped off the affected walls, it could be seen that some of the cracked blocks were under windows that needed proper lintels installing above and others were under a picture window.

There was render on the outside that was removed in order to replace cracked brick and block work, then it was rendered with Krend.

This picture window had a concrete "boot" lintel above it, designed to carry a single similar window above it. Instead, before we bought the house, some builders had split the large master bedroom above the lounge into two smaller bedrooms, put two small windows in and filled in with dense concrete blocks. Over the decades, the extra weight right in the centre cracked the lintel. They could not get the lounge window out without smashing the sealed unit because the lintel was leaning heavily on it.

The roof has been our biggest pain in the arse.

The original flat roof lasted far longer than the installer guaranteed it for, then we asked him to patch it when it leaked.

We got a new company in to to a rubber roof, but years later, it was discovered to be full of condensation and mould inside and the deck was ruined.

So, new roof. Mrs S was fretting to get the job done quick. As you know, I am prone to procrastination..

But I knew he was a shyster. Part of the job was to tie on the roof timbers of the flat roof to the walls.

He did it with one inch screws and no wall plugs.
I was ready to sack the guy and told him I knew he was a shyster.
Mrs S knows I'm a perfectionist, but she was getting desperate.

So he went ahead. And it was a shoite job. GRP and looked like a toddler with a stick had done it. When the wind blew hard, you could hear it catch under the bits folded over the side (OK, I'm a spark, not a roofer!). After much complaint, he came back with a barrow of bullshoite....

"I've got some Thingamyjizzle screws here. They cost £30 each. That'll hold it tight."

We've since had it covered over with rubber because he left it in an atrocious state with regard to water run off.

The other shyster aspect was that right from the off I insisted that LABC be involved.

"No worries, my daughter works for them, I'll let them know."

Of course she didn't.

But I made sure they inspected it. And it passed? Despite the water run off issue ....

Anyway, that was basically a very long way of saying we bought a house that needed work doing in a great area for a good price. To be fair, if we had budgeted X pounds a year and done maintenance every year over 27 years instead of doing only minimal cosmetic stuff, we would not be in this position now.

But we're still happy that we bought the house and it's still a great area and the houses are in super great demand. Every year we get several cards through the door from EAs saying "WE WANT YOUR HOUSE!"

I'm sure we will get a return on our investment.

 

[fillyboy]

I have to say, I have some sympathy. As Phil and Kirstles always say, it's all about location. The reason we bought our house was all about the location.

We had a high level survey done, which highlighted a few bigger issues.

A felt and gravel flat roof that would need eventual replacement.
We always said we would avoid flat roofs like the plague, but there were two houses available on this estate when we were looking in 1999 and both had one. The house we ended up choosing was bigger and had a bigger garden.

Missing lintels where timber window frames had been replaced with PVC and nothing had been put in place.

Rafters in the loft space that would need bracing to prevent roof spread.

Cracking to render at the front, to be filled and decorated.

These issues were dealt with, excepting the roof (or so we thought) soon after purchase.

Over the years, however, I was convinced that further cracks were appearing. It started when we began stripping a front bedroom in preparation for decorating. We found cracks in the plaster. When I investigated, I found these cracks went right through the blocks. Mrs S thought I was paranoid and we called out a structural surveyor a couple of times who said there wasn't an issue, that the cracks were historic.

Then recently, large cracks appeared where there were none before and I called a different structural engineer. He concluded that the rafters needed further bracing and the timbers already used needed more fixings. Further, he said the purlins were undersized (surely they met with standards when the house was built in 1960? The whole estate was built the same) and needed sistering. This would address the roof spread issue and was the reason for the new large cracks.

He also identified a lack of insulation in the loft and flashing that needing replacing round the breast.

As for the historic cracks in the block work, when the plasterwork was stripped off the affected walls, it could be seen that some of the cracked blocks were under windows that needed proper lintels installing above and others were under a picture window.

There was render on the outside that was removed in order to replace cracked brick and block work, then it was rendered with Krend.

This picture window had a concrete "boot" lintel above it, designed to carry a single similar window above it. Instead, before we bought the house, some builders had split the large master bedroom above the lounge into two smaller bedrooms, put two small windows in and filled in with dense concrete blocks. Over the decades, the extra weight right in the centre cracked the lintel. They could not get the lounge window out without smashing the sealed unit because the lintel was leaning heavily on it.

The roof has been our biggest pain in the arse.

The original flat roof lasted far longer than the installer guaranteed it for, then we asked him to patch it when it leaked.

We got a new company in to to a rubber roof, but years later, it was discovered to be full of condensation and mould inside and the deck was ruined.

So, new roof. Mrs S was fretting to get the job done quick. As you know, I am prone to procrastination..

But I knew he was a shyster. Part of the job was to tie on the roof timbers of the flat roof to the walls.

He did it with one inch screws and no wall plugs.
I was ready to sack the guy and told him I knew he was a shyster.
Mrs S knows I'm a perfectionist. She basically said to me if you send this guy away, I'll divorce you.......

So he went ahead. And it was a shoite job. GRP and looked like a toddler with a stick had done it. When the wind blew hard, you could hear it catch under the bits folded over the side (OK, I'm a spark, not a roofer!). After much complaint, he came back with a barrow of bullshoite....

"I've got some Thingamyjizzle screws here. They cost £30 each. That'll hold it tight."

We've since had it covered over with rubber because he left it in an atrocious state with regard to water run off.

The other shyster aspect was that right from the off I insisted that LABC be involved.

"No worries, my daughter works for them, I'll let them know."

Of course she didn't.

But I made sure they inspected it. And it passed? Despite the water run off issue ....

Anyway, that was basically a very long way of saying we bought a house that needed work doing in a great area for a good price. To be fair, if we had budgeted X pounds a year and done maintenance every year over 27 years instead of doing only minimal cosmetic stuff, we would not be in this position now.

But we're still happy that we bought the house and it's still a great area and the houses are in super great demand. Every year we get several cards through the door from EAs saying "WE WANT YOUR HOUSE!"

I'm sure we will get a return on our investment.

That's a lot of problems for a 60's house, BUT, sounds like you've got it all sorted pretty much and you've got the house you want in the area you want. Win win.

 

[securespark]

As a spark, I've visited thousands of houses. I've seen countless "smiling" PVC windows put after timber windows were removed.