The safe and boring house I was interested in buying has had 2 offers on it. I'm not in a position to offer yet so I fear it's gone. Leaving me with nothing else available to even view *sighs* I'm seriously concerned I'll sell my house but there will be nothing to buy for me or my son.
My house is market ready and due to go 'live' online on Thursday. Home report is done and approved although I had to query a few things. The surveyor was extremely charming and nice while he was here but then wrote comments such as 'unable to check the floored eaves as it was full of belongings.' I offered to move the belongings so he could check but he said it was fine, he didn't 'need to see.' He couldn't inspect the loft area as it was "full of insulation." Isn't being properly insulated a good thing? And he wrote that there was "suspected vehicle damage to the wall on the left hand side." As my driveway is the right hand side and it's just a path on the left, I don't know what that was about🙎
The report is mostly 1s and a few 2s for some outside work that needs done. But the way it's worded makes it sound like it's in a state of dilapidation! It's very disheartening. I'm so fed up of this process already. And very soon I'll have viewers looking at everything with a critical eye.
I really hope I never have to do this ever again!
I really feel for you, Ali. We were working full time when we sold our last house 36 years ago and I swore never again. We were lucky to get a cash buyer in the end who had also bought the local mini market. We were offered slightly more two days later by a really dismissive couple who asked why every house in the street had a burglar alarm!! (My Dad was a retired cop and had got us all a deal) i’m still decluttering just in case we need to move for health reasons but I’m finding that really cathartic. We are both suffering from the dreaded coughing virus so I may need to take a break for a few days. Catriona
ReplyDeleteWatch out, that nasty cough is doing the rounds. I think it's being completely responsible for everything myself without having anyone 'sensible' to help that's getting to me. Most of the 'belongings' in the eaves are not mine although there are some boxes still unpacked from the last move! :-) xxx
DeleteSorry to hear your concerns Ali, house selling in Scotland is way more difficult than England although we had hiccups on one property we bought, the surveyor (for the mortgage provider) noted wet rot, dry rot, wood worm, insect infestation and on it went - in the end we appointed a specialist surveyor of old heritage houses and he found none of them!! The supposed woodworm was from darts hitting the floor as he found a circle of the same on the wall, at least we had a laugh😂. It worked out alright in the end and we enjoyed twenty eight years in the house so do not despair as it will fall into place KARMA. Jan in Castle Gresley
ReplyDeleteSelling in Scotland is fairly straight forward with the owner getting the home report survey. It's just stressful. Buying a house is even more stressful as it's an offers over system. So if a house is for sale at offers over £100K then you have to work out how much over the asking price you want to pay. If it's in a 'good' area then a £100K house might sell for £110K. Estate agents work on getting 10 to 15% over the asking price. Even more if it's a really desirable property! And if it goes to a closing date then it's a sealed bid auction with the highest bid buying the house. That's good for the seller! My estate agent is well known for that so I'm hoping that might happen. But it's not so good when you are the buyer especially if you're buying 2 houses!! :-) xxx
DeleteI've sold two houses on my own but the worst experience was sitting with the buyer's agent while raccoons could be heard prancing around in my attic overhead! Needless to say that deal didn't go through but I did sell eventually and soon after found my "forever" home.
ReplyDeleteLol @ the raccoons!! I've gone round the house removing all the sonic mice plug ins! Never seen one but heard them in the cavity walls when we first moved in. I'll be glad when this is all over :-) xxx
DeleteI feel for you, having been involved in selling Mum and Dad's home a few years ago. It's not an easy process in England and I am sure Scotland has its own difficulties, if not gazumping worries.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the whole thing. xx
Thankfully no gazumping issues, that must be awful! I've sold 2 properties in the last 3 years (my uncle's house and the flat) but this is much more stressful as I'm buying as well. I just need to keep going until the end :-) xxx
DeleteIt's so much harder when you are selling and buying a property on your own, there's no one to talk over the reports and letters as they come in. We are finding that as we are buying the house next door, of a now divorced man he is having a lot of trouble understanding the terminology and we are actually helping him as we have bought and sold a few times now. He comes rushing round regularly looking terrified when a new letter lands on his doormat to do with his flat purchase, why things can't be in simple English I have no idea.
ReplyDeleteHopefully we have good news, the first person to view our Welsh flat has asked for a second viewing on Friday and she has asked a lot of questions that make it look as though she is serious. :-)
That's good news on the flat front. Fingers crossed for you! A lot of the legal stuff could be simplified when buying and selling houses but then how else will the lawyers and estate agents make money?? :-) xxx
DeleteI remember the disheartening comments in our home report when we moved from Scotland. I think everyone gets them 😒 it's like they feel the need to say something critical so it looks like they are doing a proper job. Luckily it didn't put our buyers off, they were the first to see it and offered the asking price straight away - we weren't in an area where we were likely to get more than one offer at a time so we were very happy.
ReplyDeleteI've read a lot of home reports recently and they all have the exact same wording in places. Clearly they just copy and paste certain comments and change a bit to make pertinent to the individual house. The surveyor did remove the wording on my 'suspected vehicle damage' comment. He was just guessing my neighbour hit the wall on his side (not at all true!) but changed it to the wall would "need attention in the future." I wouldn't have signed off on it if he didn't change it :-) xxx
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