Getting quotes for a house you want to buy.

[Lupa Monkey]

Hello,

Hope I'm posting in the right forum here.

Briefly, we are thinking of buying a property which needs to be completely re-rendered outside and re-plastered inside as it has a massive damp problem. But I'm guessing there are possibly other works involved in getting the property right too.

Is it reasonable to ask the vendor to get some up to date quotes for the works needed? The cost of sorting out this problem is the deciding factor of whether we put in an offer and we don't really want to go in blindly with an offer if we don't know the full cost of the repairs.

The estate agent suggested that he got a figure of 20k but we don't know if that quote factors in everything.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Amanda

 

[HERTS P&D]

What happens if the seller gets a quote for £10k and you buy the property then find out that the quote was buy a 'fly by night builder?'

The best thing to do is go round with a builder yourself and get a quote off him and knock the price down.

Andy

 

[Lupa Monkey]

Hi Andy, thanks for your reply. Yeah I did think about that pitfall. Can I reasonably expect a builder to to come and do a quote if I'm only thinking of buying? I'm totally clueless about such things. Do they charge?

 

[^woody^]

I can't see why any builder would want to spend hours preparing a quote for a house sale that may never go ahead, or for the quotes to be used to get a discount and the builder sees none of it.

And it is not reasonable to ask a vendor. You are buying, you do the sums and make the offer

 

[Lupa Monkey]

I can't see why any builder would want to spend hours preparing a quote for a house sale that may never go ahead, or for the quotes to be used to get a discount and the builder sees none of it.

And it is not reasonable to ask a vendor. You are buying, you do the sums and make the offer

How am I supposed to do the sums if I am not an expert on building? How do I get the figures if I can not ask a builder to quote? Bit of a catch 22 situation.

 

[pred]

What sort of house is it and when was it built?

 

[Lupa Monkey]

What sort of house is it and when was it built?

This is it:



It's detached, approx 100 years old. It comes with an annex at the back.

Untitled

• Lupa Monkey
• 9 Jun 2013
• 2

Untitled

• Lupa Monkey
• 9 Jun 2013
• 1

And here is the state of the inside due to the wrong render...

Untitled

• Lupa Monkey
• 9 Jun 2013
• 2

 

[pred]

I reckon allow £30k to be on the safe side, allow three months to renovate, so if you are going to let it out there is no income till all the work is done, how much are you paying and how much is it worth done up and how much rental will it fetch.

There is a house come on the market around the corner from me for £250k, it's been refurbished as far as I know, one sold a few doors up recently, they had it on for £280k and refused my offer of £250k, so it's a good price, the rental according to Zoopla is £1200pcm so these figures add up.

 

[pred]

I say £30k to renovate because;

You need scaffold to rerender, check the roof and probably fit new facias and gutter at the same time, it looks like the ceilings are done with artex, don't scrape as they may have asbestos, the house probably needs a rewire, plumbing and central heating, rip the ceilings down, then it makes life a lot easier to rewire and run CH pipes you will not need to take up the floorboards upstairs then, while the ceiling is down get a timber treatment guy in to spray for woodworm etc and get a guarantee, get the first fix electrics done when the old plaster has been hacked off.

 

[Lupa Monkey]

I reckon allow £30k to be on the safe side, allow three months to renovate, so if you are going to let it out there is no income till all the work is done, how much are you paying and how much is it worth done up and how much rental will it fetch.

Oops sorry pred, I think I may have got my terminology mixed up earlier when using the words investment property. I used to think that meant a do-er upper I've amended the subject accordingly.

So it's just for us to do up and live in. It was originally on the market for £220k back in Feb of this year before it was reduced. It's going for £180k now.

 

[Lupa Monkey]

You sound like you know a thing or 2 about the building trade pred...fancy a project?

 

[pred]

I reckon allow £30k to be on the safe side, allow three months to renovate, so if you are going to let it out there is no income till all the work is done, how much are you paying and how much is it worth done up and how much rental will it fetch.

Oops sorry pred, I think I may have got my terminology mixed up earlier when using the words investment property. I used to think that meant a do-er upper I've amended the subject accordingly.

So it's just for us to do up and live in. It was originally on the market for £220k back in Feb of this year before it was reduced. It's going for £180k now.

Have you got a brass neck, offer £150k, I'm in the process of buying one they wanted £200 so I offered £170, a few days later after a bit of wrangling I got it for £180

 

[HERTS P&D]

What's the full post code of the property and how many bedrooms?

Andy

 

[Lupa Monkey]

What's the full post code of the property and how many bedrooms?

Andy

It has 2 bedrooms and a small loft room in the main building and 2 bedrooms in the annex. It's in Gloucestershire. Why do you need the full postcode, you looking for a do-er upper too Andy?

 

[^woody^]

How am I supposed to do the sums if I am not an expert on building?

You pay for professional advice

Typically, when you have a building survey done, you instruct the surveyor to advise you on the work you want doing and costs.

Don't rely on forum posts which brag about their supposed property dealing exploits, which have no relevance to your potential property, its condition or sale situation