HELP!

[Anonymous]

I posted a few days ago about the 17c cottage i've put an offer on. Thankyou all for your replies <IMG SRC="http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/discussing/smileys/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=""> Now we're in a bit of a pickle. How long have you got....
We're a young couple, with 3 motorbikes between us so we need a garage. We dont want kids, so an occasional second bedroom / study would be ideal. This property we've bid on has the garage, but the second 'bedroom' is a loft conversion which is accessed via a spiral staircase from the master bedroom. Now i think this is cute, and the view from up there is stunning - but 40 other people have viewed the house and turned it down for this reason. So, we offered them 10k less than asking price as we figure its gonna be hard to sell. They've kept us waiting now for 2 weeks as they cant decide whether to accept. Now they have a builder wanting to buy their back garden and build houses and they're considering taking his offer!!! We gave them 48 hrs from Monday to decide as we'll lose the buyer of our house soon if we dont have a decision - their time was up this morning and i still have no answer <IMG SRC="http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/discussing/smileys/frown.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=""> Should we walk away?

 

[Anonymous]

I think the spiral staircase is a problem with building regs - can the attic room be called a bedroom if it doesnt have 'proper' stairs ? Could cause problems with mortgage valuations.

someone who knows will doubtless pipe up.

personally I would leave it. If you chase them you are seeming keen, ignore them and get on with looking for something else before your buyer walks.

If there is plenty of land a builder will possibly be making a good offer anyway (if a chance of pp).

 

[Anonymous]

They haven't got a builder wanting to buy their back garden and build houses, they've got a builder who is offering to buy it subject to planning permission. With the appeal time he will want in his contract that could tie the vendor up for a year or so and during that time the garden can't be sold to anyone else and the house can't either, realistically. Builder's offer could even be subject to negotiating a successful purchase of adjoining land or property, for example, an way in. A year down the line, the deal could fail and the vendor won't get the fabulous some the builder is offering, this is what they're agonising over. If there was a real prospect of getting planning permission to build in the garden and the vendor wants the best price then they would have applied already. Stick it out and dont press them.

 

[Anonymous]

Fate.....what will be will be....which I know doesn't help during the stressful process of buying / selling but things do have a habit of working out. If this purchase doesn't happen then I'm sure in twelve months time you will be sitting down in a new home somewhere thanking the lucky stars. As a buyer who is able to proceed they should be chasing you not vice versa so hold tight if this is the one but keep on looking, good luck.

 

[Anonymous]

I've just been through this with my sister in law. She had sold and moved out, living with her brother. So in effect a cash buyer. After working out a realistic offer for the house she wanted it was then a case of sit on my sis in law to stop her from keeping going back with higher offers, she was the ideal buyer, but they knew she wanted the house so much they were playing on her fears of losing it.
There will be other houses, some just as good and some even better.

So it's either the silent treatment, or if you want to be really cheeky you could go back with another offer of another £10k LESS (well depending on price) and say if they want to sell it's got to be now, as you'll be having to move out and pay dead rent money.

Have you considered renting? In this day and age buyers are harder to come by, I'd favour that rather than lose yours. It's amazing how fast you can buy if you are not in a chain and you have that initial bargaining tool with whichever house you look at....

Aha, you want £200k, well we are ready to move adn will do it quick so heres's an offer of £190k, to most people money in the hand is worth more than more somewhere in that bush <IMG SRC="http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/discussing/smileys/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="">

You have to be prepared to lose some if you want to win some.

If it was me, I'd go back with a lower offer in writing and expect a letter to have crossed in the post accpeting your first offer................

Graham

 

[Anonymous]

I'd go with the advice to hold tight. Also I think Mark Snowdon's right about the building regs and your spiral staircase to loft conversion - we have a similar arrangement and the issue of it not being suitable for use as a bedroom came up in our survey.
P.S. we had to find a place with enough room for 11 motorbikes!

 

[Anonymous]

Just face it - you'll never get a motorbike up a spiral staircase.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't really see this as an "either... or..." matter.

If you formally pull out of this purchase you'll have to start house-hunting again. So why bother to pull out? They're messing you about, so you don't owe them anything. In your shoes, I would get on yer bike and start house-hunting again immediately.

I wouldn't make any effort to get in touch with the vendors about this - let the estate agent tell them that you're looking around again. It's probably the best pressure you can put on them. Maybe they'll get worried and get back to you right away with an acceptance of your offer. If they don't then you'll know that they're determined to chase this possible crock of gold with the builder, in which case you might as well give up on them anyway.

You never know, an even better purchase might be just around the corner. Garages that will house motorbikes aren't exactly rare!

 

[Anonymous]

or:

Convert the garage into a spare bedroom;
use the ground floor as the bike store;
the first floor room becomes a sitting-room, and
the attic is now your 'master bedroom'.

Simple.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree. It's very easy to work yourself up into the belief that a particular property is "the one". In most cases they are others around the corner.

In terms of resale value you should also be cautious of unconventioanl layouts. Most large houses are bought by conventional families with children; a large house fitted out as a luxury batchelor pad is likely to be less attrictive to the most likely class of buyer.

 

[Anonymous]

Despite all your VERY much appreicated advice, we got a call from the agent this morning to say they're 'pursuing the development route'... They're a little elderly couple and the house has been in their family for years, so i dont like to be mean - but i hope it all backfires horribly. A beautiful listed house in a beautiful village which is already being destroyed by ugly houses, and they sell their stunning landscaped garden for a few extra quid they probly wont even get! It infuriates me <IMG SRC="http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/discussing/smileys/frown.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=""> So we've taken our house off the market and gone back to the drawing board. It seems 2 bedroom cottages in Buckinghamshire, with a garage for our bikes, are VERY hard to come by when you aint got much money... <IMG SRC="http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/discussing/smileys/frown.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="">
But when we do find 'the one' i have a feeling i shall be a regular visitor here. We will learn as we go along and hopefully one day be able to offer advice to others too. A great site, with a bunch of lovely people.... <IMG SRC="http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/discussing/smileys/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="">

 

[Anonymous]

Good Luck.
When I bought the first house with my now wife, we saw this beautiful cottage nestling just on the edge of Cannock Chase. We both said that if it ever came on the market we'd buy it.
About 12 years later it did.
It was 4 months before our wedding.
It ws manic, it was going at Auction, we put our house on the market and sold it subject to buying at Auction.
We had surveys/mortgage etc all sorted, I had honeymoon on stand-by to be CANCELLED.
Everything was going our way.
We set our budget and off we went to the auction.

We got to our top price.........
We went to our top top price with having to do the work on an ongoing basis.
We went to the top top top price where Jo had to ply her body..... nah we didn't, two new bidders came in and took it away from us.

It was nice to see it go way out of our range, nearly twice the estimate, so we didn't have that, if only feeling, but then 12 months later work started on it after they had got planning permission, which goodness knows how they got it to do what they wanted, but now it's an ugly place which we wouldn't want to buy.

Still it got us looking and 3 1/2 years later we eventually found the place we bought last year.

It's bigger, it's better, it's older. it's in better shape, it's got more land, it's handier for major transport routes............. we absolutely adore it.

So, in a few words, don't give up hope, a better one will be just round the corner.

Graham

 

[Anonymous]

[No message]

 

[Anonymous]

Sonya

As Graham and Moo have said - DON'T WORRY. I've lost count of the number of times that my wife and I have set our hearts on a property, only to be disappointed because of some problem or other. And I promise you - EVERY time we have found somewhere else even better.

Good luck
David

 

[Anonymous]

Of course, planning permission may not be given to spoil the setting of a listed building...

 

[Anonymous]

‘Little elderly couple’ indeed?

You ‘big young bikers’ will get there one day, just like your mammy and daddy – horrors enough without having more wished upon you . .

Support HAGRO (Help Aged Geriatrics Rock On) and banish ageism, promote the confiscation of youthfulness from the young as it is wasted on them - transfer it to the oldies because they will be more appreciative and they will be able to run riot for a lot longer!

Grimmers
(36)

 

[Anonymous]

What part of Bucks? Wycombe end or MK end?

Matt Green

 

[Anonymous]

Anywhere betwwen Bierton and Little Chalfont, and all surrounding villages / in between.

 

[Anonymous]

Unless you are specifically buying with a view to sending children to a Bucks grammar school I would be looking hard at the villages just inside Herts border to the west of Tring and Berkhampstead. You'll get more for your money.

Alternatively, Chris Pallet estate agents are used by morgage companies and other such agencies to dispose of houses.

There's an independent Estate Agency in Wing (north of Beirton) which might be worth a trip as the Wing-Soulbury road is amazing on a motorcycle.

Matt Green

 

[Anonymous]

ere, ere.
Oldies unite - join COGS (curmudgeonly old gits) too.

Mind, I keep looking for houses in the area I will be escaping to in a few years time - trouble is I keep seeing the exact house I want, in the right area at the right price - and then get dreadfully upset when it's sold! I'm not planning on moving for at least 18-24 months but I can't help it .....