We finally had an offer for the house last week. Initially rather low but the guy upped it to an acceptable level which we have accepted in principal but the chances of it coming to anything are slim. The guy has only just put his house on the market and he lives in a part of town where people want to move from not to. It will likely be months and months before he is able to sell and since the prices on that side of town are some £25k below the offer he may well need to stick out for his asking price. Added to that he bought the house with his girlfriend and they have now split up so presumably she’s going to want half. It’s a very slim lifeline and we hold out little hope.
A couple of days afterwards we had a viewing that was much more promising. A young couple, first time buyers, complete with her mum and dad and his mum traipsed all around the house and were suitably impressed especially considering that ours is the cheapest 3 bedroom house on this side of town. The following day we had a call from the Estate Agent to say they were very interested and could they come back for a second viewing? That was arranged for this evening. We had assumed that mummy and daddy and mummy were going to help them out with the finances, otherwise why would they all come round? So it was looking good. This afternoon we had a call saying that they would not be coming as they had discovered that they didn’t have a big enough deposit and were therefore not in a position to buy. What? Five of them and not one bright enough to work out beforehand how much money they had? Good grief. Surely you have some idea of what you can afford before you go looking? Otherwise why not traipse round the million pound mansions as well?
Now for an annoyance. About three weeks ago I met one the the first couples who came round over two months ago down at the storage depot where I was renewing our storage and they were renting a new unit. Turned out that they had only just put their house on the market (some five weeks after viewing ours). They had made excuses that our house was not much bigger than theirs but strangely theirs went on the market at £20k below ours. Rather odd for the same size house? Actually it is considerably smaller. Anyway I keep looking at all the boards now as I drive past and, guess what? The buggers have only gone and sold it in less than three weeks! Here we are two and half months down the line with just the one tiny nibble.
At least mum-in-law’s house has been sold. Or has it? The offer was made six weeks ago and we assumed it was progressing but we had a call from the agent today to say that the buyer’s surveyor had thrown up lots of scary remarks about various cracks in the plasterwork which has sent the buyer into a panic. She hasn’t quite pulled out yet but, just in case, the agent has now put the house back on the market. There are various cracks in the plaster but they are nothing serious. I had a good look at them while I was there and they are nothing that can’t be sorted with a quick application of Polyfilla and a coat of paint. I was tempted to do it while I was there as I anticipated this kind of problem but mum-in-law put the kybosh on it by bursting into tears whenever I mentioned all the things wrong with her house! Now she is depressed. Should have bloody listened to me shouldn’t she? I would have filled all the cracks, painted everything, ripped up the tatty carpets and it would probably have sold a lot earlier. She’s got double glazing and central heating you know!! As we have discovered to our cost that’s what everybody wants!
The buyer is, as far as we can gather, a woman on her own and some bloody-minded surveyor has probably frightened the life out of her with a scaremongering report designed to cover his back by including the minutest details in the most overblown fashion. She most likely knows nothing about building work and, understandably, is having a panic attack. It really annoys me how these ‘professionals’ put the frighteners on people. He’s probably got a mate in the building trade who can ‘do a good job for you’. I know damned well that if I had filled those cracks and painted over them the bugger would never even have noticed that anything had been done.
So it all looks like back to square one. There is still some hope though. I’ve found a one bedroom house on Lewis for just £40,000! I could buy that and move in on my own and let Sandy and her mum sort out the house selling! That wouldn’t work though as, although mum-in-law, would be more than happy not to move to that ‘cold back of beyond’ Sandy would probably commit suicide and then I’d be left with mum-in-law to look after on my own. Christ almighty!!
Tags: house for sale, still
April 12th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Oh dear, your trials and tribulations continue! At least you’re getting some interest in your place though. surveyors are experts at pouring cold water on things, as we well know.. do you have to have a Home Report on properties down south? I can’t say I found them any more clear about which were “not very serious, but you’ll need to attend to this” problems and which were ” don’t touch this with a barge pole” ! It’s a fraught time to be a buyer, but worse to be a seller.
just you and Sandy go and put mum in law in the byre- she’ll soon adapt!!!
i’d go with the £40,000 option, personally