Buyers remorse for soon be buyer…

sean-og3

I am sale agreed on a nice house m in a great location (for me). Crazy price for a 2 bed (385k) but, based on other houses recently sold in the area it’s a fair price in todays market (I.e. this is what it is in this area).

The structural engineer’s report came in today noting that half of the roof (its small, mind you, maybe 4.5x4.5 meters) needs a waterproof membrane. I’m just hoping, and waiting to find out, if the slates that just be removed and put back on have asbestos.

Overall, I’m now worried that my good buy is not as good as I thought. But, with todays crazy market, I don’t want ask the sellers for a reduction in price incase they decide to pull out, and I worry I’d regret pulling out because of one, fixable issue…

any thoughts/ words of wisdom would be very welcome!!

Thanks!

Knowing what you know now, is it still worth to you what you bid? If not, then walk away. But be mindful that the price of that house will go up, not down in the current market and when you buy an old house, chances are you are going to have to spend a bit of money to update it. Good luck.

crinkley

For me the worry would be the asbestos, that immediately increases the price drastically, happened to me with an attached garage and the price for removal was eye watering, I had just bought it 9 months previously.

You just have to weigh up the pros and cons and if you're not totally in love with the place walk away and keep looking. Consider your budget also and with the housing market how it is how important is location to you.

o1s1n

It's a bit of a scary gamble isn't it? I very reluctantly pulled out of a sale over the summer in an area I really liked as I found out a development was going in behind that I wasn't happy with, we would have been severely overlooked.

I wasn't sure if I'd find another property there in my price range and as you noted, prices are just on the up and up and we were at our limit already. In the end I just wasn't happy with the risk so decided not to go ahead with it.

Did end up finding a beautiful house we went sale agreed on very soon after thankfully.

How long have you been looking in that area?

manonboard

Ask for the reduction OP. All they will likely do is say no. Explain the reason etc. Just be reasonable with how much you would reduce it by to costs of works. They dont want to pull out any more than you do.

That price is insane. 😮

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118337883#Comment_118337883

Depends where it is really! a huge majority of the houses in Stoneybatter where we were looking are 2 beds and you're looking between 350k-400k+ for them nowadays, depending on their condition.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118337950#Comment_118337950

I'm concerned for people who are buying now.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118337996#Comment_118337996

With the amount of bank controls on mortgage lending amounts at the moment, I wouldn't be too concerned.

It's not like you have people running away with themselves on mortgages, you're all still limited by and large to 3.5 times your annual combined salary.

House value of 385,000 means two people need to be on a salary of 50,000 each.

After deposit of 10% is deducted if they're first time buyers, the mortgage of 346,500 - which is about 1,450 a month over 30 years.

Two people on 50,000 are taking home about 6,000 a month between them after tax. Easily afford that mortgage.

My concerns extend beyond Ireland's borders, but I'd rather not have the internet debate tbh.

zg3409

A few tips/options

Ask for a reduction in price

Look at other nearby options, you can always pull out.

Are you in a chain, will chain fall through etc? Willing to rent for 6months or a year?

Are other properties that you are really interested coming up still. March 2021 seemed to be peak buying demand, and after there was a drop in real purchasers, but depends on exact model. In some areas you might only get a suitable to you house once every 3 years.

Your bank mortgage providers may insist on survey and refuse loan. Your solicitor may refuse to say house is ok to mortgage. Depending on loan to value bank may not care, or they may insist on bigger loan to cover costs of work. This may result in extra legal/ loan delays.

Is roof actually leaking, can you delay the work 1, 2, 3+ years. I recommend getting a friend or builder you can trust to give it the once over. Surveyors always come up with 100 issues, some are critical and costly, others need to be done anyway, others don't matter. A common sense builder type will give you best advice while surveyor will cover his backside so you, or solicitor or bank don't sue him afterwards for missing something. If you have an old house, you need to factor a big budget for serious work such as external insulation, windows, roof, floors, plumbing etc. These should be factored into overall price you bid, and it's nearly impossible to get builders and trades, so it may take years to get work completed.

Ideally you buy a house that has a lot of work done on it, that you don't intend fixing up, and you get it for less than it costs to do equivalent work to nearby house.

JimmyVik

I bought a house last year, then withing a few months got offered 10s of thousands to buy it off me so i said yes and figured id just buy another one and pocket the change.

Now any houses ive looked at are far more than they were when i was bidding on that house too.

I reckon if i buy at this point i'll actually be worse off even with that extra money.

But the opther side of the coin is that house prices could take a sudden nose dive soon too. You just dont know whats going to happen.

houseyhouse

If your big concern is asbestos, why don’t you ask the sellers if you can get the roof tested? I knew somebody selling a house recently and the buyers were concerned about something the survey threw up so they had a builder come look at it more closely and estimate the cost of repair.