Surveyor, how to go about it?

CuppaCocoa

Myself and my partner are hoping to buy the house next door to my parents. No jokes please! We approached the family and expressed an interest (house was unoccupied and they were awaiting probate). They have requested a meeting to discuss this. Where do we go from here? I'm guessing that it will be sold without an estate agent. My partner has a property to sell (no mortgage) and we've already met with a mortgage broker to discuss our situation. Basically he said that it would be better for her to sell her house first and get a mortgage of approx €130k on top of that to cover the new property.

There are only 3 houses for sale in this estate, two of them way over-priced €400+ and on the market for quite a while. How do we decide what's a fair price for this house? Obviously they will have a figure in mind but how do we get a proper market value? Who do we contact to do an assessment and what sort of bargaining should we be doing? We don't want to be pushy as it's their family home and there are a lot of memories attached to it but we need to be realistic as well. Any advice?

seamus

lilybarlean wrote: »

We don't want to be pushy as it's their family home and there are a lot of memories attached to it but we need to be realistic as well. Any advice?

My only advice is to drop the sentimental attitude.

It's bricks and mortar. Memories are stored in your brain, not in your home. If you buy the house, you're likely going to completely redecorate and then it becomes an entirely different house.

Sentiment has no monetary value so don't go into this thinking that you need to offer them more on account of it being a family home. You don't. It's unoccupied, therefore it's now a resource drain dangling around their neck.

Seeing as you know the family, no you don't need an estate agent. Chances are, they will have a figure in their head in terms of what they would like to sell at and the minimum they're willing to accept. You need to come up with your own figure of the *most* you're willing to pay for it and then take 15%-25% off that figure as your initial offer. Then you can come to an agreement. Treat this as a business transaction - they don't have to sell if they don't want to, so don't feel any need to pander to them.

You can however, use sentiment to your advantage. If they're family friends, they may be more willing to give you a lower price on the house on the basis that the house is going to some who will look after it.

A fair price for the house is hard to come up with. If there are 3 houses in the estate for sale, then it's a buyer's market. Average the asking prices and deduct at least 20%.

You don't really need a surveyor as they will pretty much do the same. You can send the surveyor in after you've agreed on the sale (but before you sign anything) and they can tell you if there are any major problems with the house which will cost you money.

If/when you do agree on the sale, don't be tempted to use one solicitor to "make it easier". Make sure you're not using the same solicitor as the seller.

CuppaCocoa

Thanks for the reply. I'd feel happier knowing that the house was worth x amount of money before disclosing my offer. I could be offering too much! Plus, I don't know how structurally sound the house is. I know my parents had to have damp-proofing done last year and as they're old terraced houses I'm guessing this needs to be done next door as well. Would feel much safer with a report under my belt.

D3PO

lilybarlean wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. I'd feel happier knowing that the house was worth x amount of money before disclosing my offer. I could be offering too much! .

seriously your going to listen to what somebody values the hosue at and use that as the basis off your offer ?

Its a buyers market. A house is worth what somebody is willing to pay . There is no such thing as a "value" take the lowest asking price of the 32 and lop 20% - 30% off thats your starting offer right there.

now where do i send the invoice to for "providing you a value"

CuppaCocoa

How do Estate Agents arrive at a value so? What do they base it on?

Another query - if the sale were to go through and we agreed on a price of say €350k, we would have two payments, one from the mortgage co and one from my partners account from the sale of her house. Can the solicitor do anything about stamp duty i.e. say the house is worth €300k instead of €350k and save the stamp duty on the €50k or is this a complete no no?

seamus

lilybarlean wrote: »

Can the solicitor do anything about stamp duty i.e. say the house is worth €300k instead of €350k and save the stamp duty on the €50k or is this a complete no no?

No, there's no way around this any more. There used to be an old trick whereby you would declare that you were paying €300k for the house and €50k for the contents. This meant that while the value of the entire transaction was €350k, stamp duty was only payable on the €300k.

The rules have since been changed so that stamp duty is payable on the entire transaction.

Theoretically you could pay €300k for the house and "gift" the other €50k to the other party outside of the sale of the house. But the tax payable on that €50k would be greater than the stamp duty and no solicitor would touch the deal if they knew you were doing that. If revenue found out, they would likely chase you for the additional stamp duty anyway. So not worth the hassle in the long run.

CuppaCocoa

Thanks, worth a try! Supposing we make an offer and it's accepted, what then? Do we give a deposit and arrange a survey?

seamus

Nah, forget about the deposit if the house isn't listed for sale elsewhere. When you've agreed the price, they will go and talk to their solicitor about drawing up the contract for the sale. At that point, engage a surveyor and arrange a time with the seller that suits them, for the surveyor to go look at the house. You don't need to be there.

Then talk to your bank and your solicitor to set about accepting the loan offer.

The contracts of the sale basically state the nature of the sale, the property involved, the amount involved and the date of the sale. Your solicitor will receive these contracts and do a number of things in relation to making sure that everything is as it should be. Your solicitor will advise you about any pitfalls that he/she finds (e.g. if something is amiss in the land registry) and must advise you against going through with the sale if there's a big problem.

The contracts usually do something of a back-and-forth between the solicitors while stuff is clarified or changed on the contracts. For example, if your surveyor finds that the water tank in the hot press needs to be changed, then you can add that to the contract as a condition of the sale.

So here's what you do next:

1. Agree on the sale.
2. Find yourself a solicitor and ask, "What do I do now?". He/She will tell you.
3. Hire a surveyor.

And that's about it. The solicitor will tell you what needs to be done and when.

CuppaCocoa

seamus wrote: »

Nah, forget about the deposit if the house isn't listed for sale elsewhere. When you've agreed the price, they will go and talk to their solicitor about drawing up the contract for the sale. At that point, engage a surveyor and arrange a time with the seller that suits them, for the surveyor to go look at the house. You don't need to be there.

Then talk to your bank and your solicitor to set about accepting the loan offer.

The contracts of the sale basically state the nature of the sale, the property involved, the amount involved and the date of the sale. Your solicitor will receive these contracts and do a number of things in relation to making sure that everything is as it should be. Your solicitor will advise you about any pitfalls that he/she finds (e.g. if something is amiss in the land registry) and must advise you against going through with the sale if there's a big problem.

The contracts usually do something of a back-and-forth between the solicitors while stuff is clarified or changed on the contracts. For example, if your surveyor finds that the water tank in the hot press needs to be changed, then you can add that to the contract as a condition of the sale.

So here's what you do next:

1. Agree on the sale.
2. Find yourself a solicitor and ask, "What do I do now?". He/She will tell you.
3. Hire a surveyor.

And that's about it. The solicitor will tell you what needs to be done and when.

Great! Many thanks Seamus! Fingers crossed!

dan_d

Hey, recently we had our house valued (long story short - I wanted a re-value on the rebuild for a home insurance premium) and the surveyor told us the resale value aswell (not that i wanted to know that!). He worked it out based on size, location and prices around us- I asked him how he got it. It's not particularly mathematical, but it was fairly accurate.
Anyway, our insurance company have a company that they appoint these valuers from, which in turn has been appointed by the bank we have our mortgage with. I don't know whether you want to bother or not, but their name is Capital Property Group if you're interested and would like an independent evaluation.

D3PO

dan_d wrote: »

Hey, recently we had our house valued (long story short - I wanted a re-value on the rebuild for a home insurance premium) .

wy would you pay somebody for that ? The rebuild cost per sq meter can be got online so its not hard to work out the rebuild cost yourself.

CuppaCocoa

Ok, we had a proper look around the house last night and it needs a heck of a lot of work done. Re-wiring, re-plastering, new floors etc! However, we don't want to dismiss it immediately as these can all be cured and this can be reflected in the purchase price.

We now want to have the house properly inspected. I know people have advised against it but it's in such a state that we need to know exactly how bad it is before we think of putting in an offer (if at all). Can anyone recommend an expert in the field who will give us a professional opinion? PM me please!

And yes, I know people will shout 'run away' but houses rarely come up for sale in this estate. It has the potential to be a lovely home.