I'm looking at buying a house, but it's come to final offers. The vendor wants more than we believe the house is worth and dismisses most of the faults, but without third party backup, we're in a pretty weak position. He's worked in the building industry a good number of years and is fairly self assured he knows what's what, but doesn't know I have a fair idea too. They reckon there's another fairly certain, higher offer on the table to add insult to injury.

Can anyone recommend a surveyor that's familiar with the dewsbury/huddersfield/wakefield area that could do us a pretty comprehensive structural survey on a 1930s brick built detached house, particularly walls and roof and an independent valuation? Given we're about to drop a shedload of cash on the deposit, good value/low cost would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Tom

I seriously doubt that an independent valuation would make the vendor reconsider his asking price and would be a waste of money. Just offer the amount the house is worth to you. Even if there's a higher offer on the table, it might not be as attractive, particularly if you're in a better position, can move quickly and have a pre-approved mortgage in place.

Phil

Is the report for your peace of mind or something for you to try and negotiate against?

Sorry in advance to any builders on here (who are fine body of men) but .......

I hate buying houses from builders - they are tough negotiators and there always seems to be a load of bodged jobs in the house which look fine when you first buy the house but reveal themselves after you move in. I find builders who are very capable of doing a great job whilst at work, lose interest when doing their own houses and cut a lot of corners.

Don't be intimidated and if you can't get the deal you want then move on and find another house. There's always another one if you are patient.

Cheers for the thoughts. The valuation is for our own peace of mind. We originally started our negotiations with an intend value in mind, but as time has passed and there have been a couple of offers from people in chains, we've revised our thoughts upwards. The people in chains have gone nowhere though.

Last week, they apparently received an offer from a couple that have a house to sell, but when they got their offer knocked back from the vendor, they upped it but apparently it'd be funded by a loan from one of their parents (a £230k loan.....). Does anyone actually have £230k in cash to give their kids?

The vendor's waiting to hear back about this other offer, but said if we'd come close to their offer, they'd rather sell to us. I feel like we're being manipulated - well, we are being manipulated, but swmbo sees it that what if we lost the house for another 6 or 7k, it'd be devestating. It's the only thing we've both really liked in a year of looking. In my eyes though, we're already 5k over what we originally thought it was worth and we're having our buttons pushed by someone who talked his way round everything we discussed at fault with the house, despite some of it being clear to a layman and still a very current fault.

I don't want to get drawn into the trap of offering more money again, just because our offer has been artificially inflated by people making silly offers, probably knowing their house will never sell. The only way I can see to gain any perspective now though is to get someone without a vested interest to say what's what and give us an idea of what it's actually worth. We'd be having the survey done if we bought it, so either it's money we'd spend anyway, or it's a bit of a lump now to save paying over the odds for the next 30 years.

Play the same game and remove your offer and place a lower one as from what you're saying it does sound like he's trying to play you. If he's got a better offer why hasn't he taken it already?

The other offer is contingent on their parents lending them £230k cash, but they need to confirm if said parents will lend them it. Seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened.

In my mind, if someone was able to lend you that amount of money, they'd either always lend you it without question, or never lend you it....

I wish I had a crystal ball.....