buying a house

[winston1]

ok thanks

there is conflicting info online as to whether adding sockets to a 1970s
install is possible.

Of course it is possible.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Of course you can. Its done all the time. The only issue is that the sockets are not RCD protected because you have an old style fuseboard. But that was OK at the time of installation.

It should be pointed out that even though it was OK at the time of installation, it is not OK now for new sockets.

Now, new sockets, or new cable buried in walls (which can affect any changes to light switch positions, as well as socket circuits) may not be added unless the circuit is RCD protected.

If the current CU does not have RCD(s) then there are ways around that, on a per-circuit basis, but, frankly, that would not make as much sense as having the CU replaced.

Ian - if you have the space for two CUs, one option to defer/spread the cost of wholesale replacement and rewire (if the latter is needed) would be a 2nd one alongside the existing, with circuits transferred as and when.

 

[motorbiking]

Any seller with an IQ bigger than his shoe size would reject that.

The time for offers is when you first look at the house. Once a potential buyer has made an offer, and invested money in the purchase, the seller knows that any further lower offer based on something as trivial as needing electrical work is just trying it on.

That’s exactly what i did. seller refused so i knocked 2k off at 11th hour, which they accepted

 

[lanswerted]

think may put in an offer with the caveat that i will request a discount if pir comes back with total rewire necessary.
i guess a pir for a 5 bed house will be around the 250 mark.

 

[Taylortwocities]

i guess a pir for a 5 bed house will be around the 250 mark.

Yes probably ish

 

[flameport]

think may put in an offer with the caveat that i will request a discount if pir comes back with total rewire necessary.

Waste of time and money.
No inspection will ever say that - it's just a report on what is there.
Even if you got some dubious 'inspection' which did say that, it won't make any difference - if you make an offer, it confirms you are willing to pay that price.

If you believe the property to be overpriced, make a lower offer now.
If the seller doesn't accept the price you want - walk away. Plenty of other properties for sale.

 

[JohnW2]

Even if you got some dubious 'inspection' which did say that, it won't make any difference - if you make an offer, it confirms you are willing to pay that price.

As the OP has said, it is possible to make 'qualified' offers - and I've certainly seen that done when there were uncertainness as regards potentially high-cost remedial work. For example, an offer of "£X minus the cost of replacing the roof (or underpinning the building, or whatever), if my survey indicates that is necessary".

I do, however, agree that electrical work, even a 'complete re-wire', is likely to cost so little in terms of the big picture of house purchase that therefore might be too trivial to get very excited about.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Doggit]

You always put an offer in subject to survey, or surveys. If you tell the vendor of your concerns, they may well recognise what you are saying, and be more accommodating. At the end of the day, there could be problems galore, but if the next guy is prepared to offer more than you do, then they got the property. At the minute, the markets soft, and people are able to put offers in, but if you're at the top of your budget, then the mortgage company may well knock you back anyway. You could well leave the wiring for a few years, and just concentrate on a CU upgrade for now, so it begs the question, do you really need extra sockets, and where.

 

[lanswerted]

hi there,

i am not too sure the market is soft.
it seems to me sellers are overpricing a lot of the stock,
at least here in greater manchester.

 

[Doggit]

Estate agents will always price as high as possible, as you're always going to try and knock them down. Building societies are tightening up on applicants, and so people can't always get a mortgage, hence there are not so many real buyers out there. And with interest rates about to rise, lenders are about to get very twitchy as to who gets funds. Manchester may well be a hot spot at the minute, in which case, you may have to swallow some of the repair costs; so all you can do, is negotiate honestly, and don't stretch yourself too much. Remember, this threads mainly about buying a house, not whether you can add sockets to old electrics, that's a secondary issue that you may just need to budget for.

 

[lanswerted]

just to clarify, i would be buying cash.
estate agents says a ten percent discount offer was rejected. only that offer received so far in six months.
thinking of adding 1k to said offer.

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

Sounds good. BTW most estate agents just want to sell the house so they get their commission. The extra few percent is not really an issue. When I sold a house recently we added well over 10% to the estate agents valuation, and got it because we didn't mind waiting.

 

[Doggit]

Wow, you're in a strong position; cash buyers are a rarity nowadays, and vendors should be treating them like royalty But if they haven't had an offer in 6 months, then somethings wrong. In my area, Ward and Partners always overvalue a property to get the sale, and then wait for the vendor to realise there's a problem, because there's no way they will admit to being wrong. Now the vendor may be able to wait, or he may need the price he wants, but if he's not going to budge, then you've got to decide if you will. You can offer the 10% discount price (or even 12%) and then work upwards, and you can do a bit of research on Zoopla etc, to see if the properties overvalued, but it may be worth just knocking on their door, and talking to them directly.

 

[lanswerted]

on this particular property i think 10℅ less is fair.

with regards to estate agents, i don't quite understand how they work.
a lot of stock around here seems overpriced to me and then after a few months
you get the inevitable reduced price update.
the higher end properties seem to be stuck for a fair few months.

 

[Doggit]

You want the best price going for your property, so you get the estate agents to value it, and ironically, you'll go with the one who tells you they can get the highest price, and in a sellers market (less properties and more buyers), that's achievable, but in a buyers market (more properties than buyers) then the properties got to be priced sensibly, otherwise the punter goes and looks at another one. So the estate agent has overpriced this property, or there's an issue with it, and when the vendor gets offers that aren't what he was promised, he refuses them, then the property is on the market for a long time, and it gets stale, and punters pass it by because they know there's an issue. Now the ones that have been overpriced and then get reduced, and subsequently sell, have good (well fairly good) estate agents, and sensible vendors, but you haven't got that on your one, so who's going to blink first.