1st time house buyer, potentially serious structural issues found... anyone have advice re negotiating price reduction / if I should pull out? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by Transcendant@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

55 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey all.

Finally in my 40s I'm fortunate enough (with a lot of family help & a mortgage) to be buying a home. It's end-of-terrace; just spoke to the surveyor today after he's done most of the inspection and he's found a lot of structural problems.

Feeling a bit defeated, it's taken so long to get to this stage of having an offer accepted, and being close to exchanging contracts. It's an old house so while I wasn't expecting it to be fault-free, I'm quite disappointed and I guess looking for some advice / reassurance.

Not got the report in text yet but he mentioned potential subsidence; rising damp; cracked walls; problem with the chimney stack; window frames; and others. Said it's all stuff that can be fixed, but potentially expensive. My plan is to wait for the text report next week, then contact the estate agent and attempt to negotiate a price reduction in line with the cost of the repairs, which imo will run into at least £15k. Considering it's on the market for £85k, and the owner wouldn't even put the electric on for viewing because she didn't want to pay £1 a day standing charge, I'm anticipating some pushback.

But, should I even bother? Is this 'sunk cost fallacy' at play? I certainly feel like if they're not prepared to negotiate re repairs then I have to walk away as I could buy a well-maintained property round here for the total cost of around £100k!

Any advice much appreciated.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] ballskicker@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

Sounds like it comes down to your approach on risk management. Others have pretty clearly laid out the risks and frustrations of living in a house that's being fixed/renovated, but if the seller is as negligent as they sound then I'd expect to find even more issues. If the inspection couldn't cover anything pertaining to electricity then that'd be a huge red flag for me, that stuff can get real expensive real fast. Follow your gut and try not to fall for the sunk cost fallacy, it can be hard when you focus on how many hundreds of dollars and hours of time you've spent so far but it sounds like you're looking at at least another several thousand dollars in repairs, and that's only for the problems you're currently aware of. Everybody's situation is different so maybe this whole thing is right for you, but don't ignore the red flags just because of how much you've already invested

[-] Transcendant@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Follow your gut and try not to fall for the sunk cost fallacy

Have to say my gut is saying to walk away. Of course it's me that has to make the decision end of the day, but the responses I've gotten here have clarified all the subconscious worries I had and given me a lot more to think about. Much appreciated, glad I made this post.

this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023

48 points (100.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26672 readers

1612 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics.

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.