Just to add a cautionary note about property prices. A report out earlier this week said that estate agents around the country were saying that the market is really slow & many had a dearth of properties on their books - I think the average was 43.
I also spoke to a client yesterday who 2 years ago moved into a new flat in Docklands, renting out the old one in Canary Wharf. Now looking to re-mortgage her agents advised her not to sell the btl as the market was stagnate & it would either take ages to sell or she would have to accept a lower offer.
Ive been reading this thread with both amusement at the suggestions and no small amount of fear and trepidation.
I've just put my house on the market this week. I've never done it before as I've lived in my house for 41 years. It was my first and only house purchase.
Just to add a cautionary note about property prices. A report out earlier this week said that estate agents around the country were saying that the market is really slow & many had a dearth of properties on their books - I think the average was 43.
I also spoke to a client yesterday who 2 years ago moved into a new flat in Docklands, renting out the old one in Canary Wharf. Now looking to re-mortgage her agents advised her not to sell the btl as the market was stagnate & it would either take ages to sell or she would have to accept a lower offer.
The property market needs to slow down to be honest, it's been unsustainable for ages for the average Joe. The signs have been there for ages, all the builders I know are happy at the moment with the sheer volume of work they are taking on with people opting to stay put rather than up sticks when they need more space.
Just to add a cautionary note about property prices. A report out earlier this week said that estate agents around the country were saying that the market is really slow & many had a dearth of properties on their books - I think the average was 43.
I also spoke to a client yesterday who 2 years ago moved into a new flat in Docklands, renting out the old one in Canary Wharf. Now looking to re-mortgage her agents advised her not to sell the btl as the market was stagnate & it would either take ages to sell or she would have to accept a lower offer.
The property market needs to slow down to be honest, it's been unsustainable for ages for the average Joe. The signs have been there for ages, all the builders I know are happy at the moment with the sheer volume of work they are taking on with people opting to stay put rather than up sticks when they need more space.
That's exactly what we're doing mate. Wife wanted to move to a bigger place (not sure why, ours is fine as is) but we decided to extend instead. Don't think I could be arsed with the ball ache of moving, especially having to deal with estate agents.
Ive been reading this thread with both amusement at the suggestions and no small amount of fear and trepidation.
I've just put my house on the market this week. I've never done it before as I've lived in my house for 41 years. It was my first and only house purchase.
Watch this space.
I wouldn't worry too much if I were you SHG.
Fairly confident you will get more than you paid for it.
Ive been reading this thread with both amusement at the suggestions and no small amount of fear and trepidation.
I've just put my house on the market this week. I've never done it before as I've lived in my house for 41 years. It was my first and only house purchase.
Watch this space.
I wouldn't worry too much if I were you SHG.
Fairly confident you will get more than you paid for it.
Lots of good advice. Make your own decision though.
On our last house move we were relocating 300 miles. On the day of exchange of money / keys we had to leave early with the removal van to ensure we moved in to the new property on the same day. The wife and kids travelled up the night before.
So I'm cramped into the front of a removal van at 6am in the morning, with 2 removal blokes, my two dogs and a van packed with all our belongings.
150 miles into the journey i get a call from the solicitor stating the buyers were threatening to withdraw from the sale unless we reduced the price by 500 pounds. We had arranged for some furniture to be collected by the council the next day and had left in a suitable place on public land (outside the boundary of the property). They were just using any excuse to knock a bit off the price. They still wanted the price lowered when we explained it wasn't an issue.
I wasn't bothered by the amount of money. It's stupid to risk a big move over a small financial amount. However I can be stupid sometimes, I instructed my solicitor to tell them where they could stick their offer. About an hour later we got a call saying monies had been exchanged.
The point is people get greedy and stupid the closer to the sale date. You just have to do what you think is right.
Ive been reading this thread with both amusement at the suggestions and no small amount of fear and trepidation.
I've just put my house on the market this week. I've never done it before as I've lived in my house for 41 years. It was my first and only house purchase.
Watch this space.
I wouldn't worry too much if I were you SHG.
Fairly confident you will get more than you paid for it.
Paid £10500 for it in 1977
I'll give you £15k and promise not to knock down the price at the last minute.
Ive been reading this thread with both amusement at the suggestions and no small amount of fear and trepidation.
I've just put my house on the market this week. I've never done it before as I've lived in my house for 41 years. It was my first and only house purchase.
Watch this space.
I wouldn't worry too much if I were you SHG.
Fairly confident you will get more than you paid for it.
Paid £10500 for it in 1977
I'm just selling my dads in Eltham that he bought for £7,700 in 1975. Looking back through the paperwork he borrowed more in 1987 to have all the windows replaced than he paid for the house!
Just to add a cautionary note about property prices. A report out earlier this week said that estate agents around the country were saying that the market is really slow & many had a dearth of properties on their books - I think the average was 43.
I also spoke to a client yesterday who 2 years ago moved into a new flat in Docklands, renting out the old one in Canary Wharf. Now looking to re-mortgage her agents advised her not to sell the btl as the market was stagnate & it would either take ages to sell or she would have to accept a lower offer.
The property market needs to slow down to be honest, it's been unsustainable for ages for the average Joe. The signs have been there for ages, all the builders I know are happy at the moment with the sheer volume of work they are taking on with people opting to stay put rather than up sticks when they need more space.
That's exactly what we're doing mate. Wife wanted to move to a bigger place (not sure why, ours is fine as is) but we decided to extend instead. Don't think I could be arsed with the ball ache of moving, especially having to deal with estate agents.
That's why I bought big last time I moved, I have no intention of lining any estate agents or conveyance solicitors pockets ever again. If we decide to extend we can, the rigmoral of moving is too much for me. I have too much expectation of people to do what they are meant to and when they don't my mind breaks
Unless she decides to go along with my suggestion of a life on the road in a mitsubishi shogun and a 5 berth caravan, we sell up pocket a fortune and live off the land (24 hour garage fare)
Shame that so many under 30's don't have the same 'problems' the more mature of us had.
A couple of grand reduction on the sale of a house that has generally given us a 20% pa return on our original 'investment ' is peanuts compared to the massive mortgages that a lot will be saddled with for the next 25 years.
All well and good with interest rates at a couple of percent you are able to get now, but imagine if that rate doubled. Or trebled. Certainly affordable when you have a £30k mortgage, perhaps not so affordable when that mortgage is £300k.
Stand firm, they will cave in and still buy it. However on the day you move out nip up in the loft and remove a few bolts from the gallows brackets, that will teach them
Update. Unfortunately it's not good news. The chimney breast removal done by the previous owner was never regulated by the council. New council building regulations bought in a couple of years ago state that gallows brackets are no longer permitted so would fail council building regulation (complete bollocks as they're perfectly safe). As our buyer is insisting on a building regulation certificate, work will have to be done to meet current building regs.
Waiting for our buyer's quote for the work he suggests needs doing. I'm fully aware the quote is going to be overpriced & he probably won't even get the work done!! My plan is to meet his quote half way, take it or leave it, as we risk losing our new house if we wait for council regulation approval!
Update. Unfortunately it's not good news. The chimney breast removal done by the previous owner was never regulated by the council. New council building regulations bought in a couple of years ago state that gallows brackets are no longer permitted so would fail council building regulation (complete bollocks as they're perfectly safe). As our buyer is insisting on a building regulation certificate, work will have to be done to meet current building regs.
Waiting for our buyer's quote for the work he suggests needs doing. I'm fully aware the quote is going to be overpriced & he probably won't even get the work done!! My plan is to meet his quote half way, take it or leave it, as we risk losing our new house if we wait for council regulation approval!
So what are they saying you've got to do then What council are you under
Gravesham council. A quick google suggests nowadays you can either take the entire stack down (costly, so probably the quote we will receive), or more usually insert a steel beam under the stack resting on the wall plate of the front and back walls. It is usual to insert a steel plate resting on the steel at one end and embedded in stack wall at other.
When we went to sell our previous house, their surveyor picked up on the fact, that the previous owners had removed the downstairs wall to create one long room, but the central beam was wooden and not an RSJ.
Fair point. We lost the buyer and I got an RSJ installed.
I got our surveyor to pay for it, plus some on top, otherwise I would have sued him for missing this when we moved in 5 years previously.
I think your buyer has a valid point. To be fair, it would make me wonder what other work had been done "under the radar". I think you should accept the fact that there was no planning consent for the stack removal and prepare to take a hit.
Should this have not been picked up on when you bought? Maybe take the hit then counter claim against your advisors?
I think your buyer has a valid point. To be fair, it would make me wonder what other work had been done "under the radar". I think you should accept the fact that there was no planning consent for the stack removal and prepare to take a hit.
I'm prepared to accept that, even though it was done before my partner moved into the property. I wIll await our buyers quote. I suspect it will be for a full knock down and rebuild. If this is the case, I will argue that a steal beam under the stack & a steal plate will be sufficient
Get your solicitor to arrange an indemnity policy. Shouldn't cost more than a couple of hundred quid and would satisfy any issues raised by your buyer.
The letter we received from his solicitor stated that indemnity insurance would be insufficient in this case. I'm going to ask our solicitor to query that as I'm unsure why that's the case.
We've been told to expect his builders quote today so we'll see what happens
The letter we received from his solicitor stated that indemnity insurance would be insufficient in this case. I'm going to ask our solicitor to query that as I'm unsure why that's the case.
We've been told to expect his builders quote today so we'll see what happens
If as you said earlier the chimney removal fails to meet building regs then my understanding is that you cannot indemnify against the consequences of a known regulatory breech.
If there are limited properties on the market, atm then the forces of supply and demand surely mean that prices will stay high/maintain
Or have I missed something?
I've been keeping a keen eye on properties in and around Kent for the past year, within our budget and requirements which are nothing out of the ordinary.
IMO most of them are severely overpriced when they come on the market, and inevitably are reduced within 12 weeks or so.
Admittedly, we have a long tick box, as it's hopefully our last move, so only a few have come up to the viewing stage, but even with some of those we have viewed, we came to the conclusion that people are taking the piss, while others failed the surveyors reports.
**Edit. Siv, if we fail to find anything in Kent by early next year, we may be joining you in Norfolk.
For the seller it's better to overprice and bring it down if not much interest. Was talking to someone the other day just had thier offer accepted on a place in leybourne he said they missed out on a place that went for way over asking price
It's always the same though. Vendors believe that they are not getting enough and buyers are horrified at the asking prices.
Somewhere in the middle a deal is one. The biggest difference with property opposed to anything else is that if one doesn't have a property (either to own or rent) then they are homeless. That kind of gives the Vendor a strong position as he/she, obviously, has somewhere to live.
Comments
I also spoke to a client yesterday who 2 years ago moved into a new flat in Docklands, renting out the old one in Canary Wharf. Now looking to re-mortgage her agents advised her not to sell the btl as the market was stagnate & it would either take ages to sell or she would have to accept a lower offer.
I've just put my house on the market this week. I've never done it before as I've lived in my house for 41 years. It was my first and only house purchase.
Watch this space.
Fairly confident you will get more than you paid for it.
Paid £10500 for it in 1977
On our last house move we were relocating 300 miles. On the day of exchange of money / keys we had to leave early with the removal van to ensure we moved in to the new property on the same day. The wife and kids travelled up the night before.
So I'm cramped into the front of a removal van at 6am in the morning, with 2 removal blokes, my two dogs and a van packed with all our belongings.
150 miles into the journey i get a call from the solicitor stating the buyers were threatening to withdraw from the sale unless we reduced the price by 500 pounds. We had arranged for some furniture to be collected by the council the next day and had left in a suitable place on public land (outside the boundary of the property). They were just using any excuse to knock a bit off the price. They still wanted the price lowered when we explained it wasn't an issue.
I wasn't bothered by the amount of money. It's stupid to risk a big move over a small financial amount. However I can be stupid sometimes, I instructed my solicitor to tell them where they could stick their offer. About an hour later we got a call saying monies had been exchanged.
The point is people get greedy and stupid the closer to the sale date. You just have to do what you think is right.
Unless she decides to go along with my suggestion of a life on the road in a mitsubishi shogun and a 5 berth caravan, we sell up pocket a fortune and live off the land (24 hour garage fare)
Some funny posts. Some very helpful suggestions too. Thanks again everyone
A couple of grand reduction on the sale of a house that has generally given us a 20% pa return on our original 'investment ' is peanuts compared to the massive mortgages that a lot will be saddled with for the next 25 years.
All well and good with interest rates at a couple of percent you are able to get now, but imagine if that rate doubled. Or trebled. Certainly affordable when you have a £30k mortgage, perhaps not so affordable when that mortgage is £300k.
Waiting for our buyer's quote for the work he suggests needs doing. I'm fully aware the quote is going to be overpriced & he probably won't even get the work done!! My plan is to meet his quote half way, take it or leave it, as we risk losing our new house if we wait for council regulation approval!
What council are you under
Fair point. We lost the buyer and I got an RSJ installed.
I got our surveyor to pay for it, plus some on top, otherwise I would have sued him for missing this when we moved in 5 years previously.
To be fair, it would make me wonder what other work had been done "under the radar".
I think you should accept the fact that there was no planning consent for the stack removal and prepare to take a hit.
Should this have not been picked up on when you bought?
Maybe take the hit then counter claim against your advisors?
Or have I missed something?
It doesn't need to prevent the buyer from proceeding so it is still a negotiation - based on how much you both want this to go through.
We've been told to expect his builders quote today so we'll see what happens
IMO most of them are severely overpriced when they come on the market, and inevitably are reduced within 12 weeks or so.
Admittedly, we have a long tick box, as it's hopefully our last move, so only a few have come up to the viewing stage, but even with some of those we have viewed, we came to the conclusion that people are taking the piss, while others failed the surveyors reports.
**Edit. Siv, if we fail to find anything in Kent by early next year, we may be joining you in Norfolk.
Was talking to someone the other day just had thier offer accepted on a place in leybourne he said they missed out on a place that went for way over asking price
Somewhere in the middle a deal is one. The biggest difference with property opposed to anything else is that if one doesn't have a property (either to own or rent) then they are homeless. That kind of gives the Vendor a strong position as he/she, obviously, has somewhere to live.