Ask Lemmy

25240 readers

2355 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

1st time house buyer, potentially serious structural issues found... anyone have advice re negotiating price reduction / if I should pull out? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 8 months ago by Transcendant to c/asklemmy

55 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey all.

Finally in my 40s I'm fortunate enough (with a lot of family help & a mortgage) to be buying a home. It's end-of-terrace; just spoke to the surveyor today after he's done most of the inspection and he's found a lot of structural problems.

Feeling a bit defeated, it's taken so long to get to this stage of having an offer accepted, and being close to exchanging contracts. It's an old house so while I wasn't expecting it to be fault-free, I'm quite disappointed and I guess looking for some advice / reassurance.

Not got the report in text yet but he mentioned potential subsidence; rising damp; cracked walls; problem with the chimney stack; window frames; and others. Said it's all stuff that can be fixed, but potentially expensive. My plan is to wait for the text report next week, then contact the estate agent and attempt to negotiate a price reduction in line with the cost of the repairs, which imo will run into at least £15k. Considering it's on the market for £85k, and the owner wouldn't even put the electric on for viewing because she didn't want to pay £1 a day standing charge, I'm anticipating some pushback.

But, should I even bother? Is this 'sunk cost fallacy' at play? I certainly feel like if they're not prepared to negotiate re repairs then I have to walk away as I could buy a well-maintained property round here for the total cost of around £100k!

Any advice much appreciated.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

In the US there are some things covered in the survey and some not. We paid for an independent home inspector to go top to bottom of ours before purchase. I tested the water, had the most recent electrician go over our system, and talked to the neighbors about the history of the property. It was very good to have all that information and worth the money to pay for. It greatly reduced the worry and I got to know the property before buying it.

[–] Transcendant 2 points 8 months ago

Yeah peace of mind is priceless. Plus as I'm buying via a mortgage, there's no question about getting surveys done... iirc the provider would be content with a 'basic' survey but I felt like it was worth the extra ~£80 to go for a more in-depth one!

Am trying to look at it not as £500 wasted, but a £500 expense that's saved me from potentially making a very bad purchase.