Owning your own home

Anybody hearing anything about Barclays having issues at the moment.

Our buyers were supposed to complete on Wednesday but the funds haven’t been released because of a ‘backlog’.

They’re pulling their hair out for obvious reasons, I’m annoyed because I said I wouldnt have a drink until we were celebrating selling that place.

The solicitors meanwhile couldn’t give A FUCK.

I'm buying a flat with Barclays as lender so this sounds slightly ominous, not quite at that point mainly because my solicitors also don't give a fuck. How long is the delay?

OK, quick question: last year we tried, unsuccessfully, to sell our house. We gave our agents notice at the start of December and our aim is to engage a different agent from April to try again (original agents didn't seem to do anything wrong, just didn't find the right person as our house backs onto a railway line, which puts a lot of people off). A couple of weeks back our original agent contacted us to say that they had a buyer who they thought would be super-keen on our house; he had looked at very similar properties to ours but everything he described about what he didn't like about them pointed to the fact that he'd very likely make us an offer. On that basis, we said that they could show him the brochure for our house. On the back of that, he's keen to view it very soon for which we would need to re-engage the original agent. They've drawn up a contract for a period of zero-weeks, with a specific note that it's only for this one-off viewing. If the potential buyer doesn't make an offer within a couple of weeks then we'll move onto a different agent.

Is there any risk to doing this? The possible upside is finding a buyer without having to re-market and increase our chances of moving on before the extended stamp-duty holiday ends. I'd just like to identify if there is a downside that I'm missing.

Not sure about the potential issues, but if turns out to be 'safe' it seems like a good opportunity to negotiate a lower rate with them, even if just for this one viewing.

They have this thing where say person a originally views through agent a but then buys through agent b or even direct then agent a ‘can’ still come after you for their commission.

I would probably turn them down on this instance on the basis that once the place is listed with a new agent they can view then, through the new agent. Keeps things simple.

Alternatively try to negotiate a tiny sales commission, as above.

Fair point, but not sure if that's something we'll try. Although I'm generally of the opinion that estate agents' fees are stupidly high, these guys are about as low as it gets round here, plus the only reason that they're able to bring this potential buyer to us is the work that they did last year in preparing the marketing material for the house and having it in their minds when trying to find something for this buyer.

Sounds genuine and potentially a lost opportunity if you don't allow the viewing. Where is this?

They have this thing where say person a originally views through agent a but then buys through agent b or even direct then agent a ‘can’ still come after you for their commission.

Yup, when we terminated our contract with them they sent us a list of all the people who had viewed the house with a note that if any of them (or their relatives) bought the house in the future, then we'd still owe them the fees. That's pretty standard AFAIK. It's definitely something to raise with this buyer though i.e., make us an offer now because we won't let you buy it through a new agent unless your buying price covers double the fees.

Lahndan innit

Yeah. Could use it to generate some urgency.

Worth noting that the viewer will know the place isn't currently 'officially' on the market so there won't be any competition in the wings, real or otherwise. They might offer you something low(er) because they think you might consider it or negotiate with them rather than going through the hassle of re-listing.

That said, if they don't offer you something you would consider you could always tell a massive lie in that there is another interested buyer who has made a better offer and maybe they would like to match it?

you could always tell a massive lie

god the process of buying houses is shit isn't it

I think in terms of what offer we'd accept there's a whole raft of competing things. Not having to remarket saves us hassle, but they're also benefitting from buying a house that isn't yet on the open market. Starting the process now might help get it finished before the stamp duty holiday ends in June, but that's actually slightly before we want to move. The lack of competition might get them thinking that they can make a stupidly low offer, but we can always say that the massive uncertainty in the market at the moment means that we want to give it the best chance on the open market unless they come up with a sensible offer.

god the process of buying houses is shit isn't it

Selling isn't much more fun.

Yeah. I think you have to go in to it with the expectation that you will be lied to, and the trick is to try to figure out what the purpose the lie is. It's interesting in this specific situation that you'd have a single agent view of things but the agent has one buyer and no visibility of anything else. Unusual for the seller to have that kind of control of the situation tbh.

I’m sure the estate agent will have already lied to them on the sellers behalf.

We viewed our place ‘off market’ and surprise surprise there were ‘competing bids’/interest

Personally I'd go with it. You're not committing to anything beyond that viewing and a month plus before you go with the next agent means that the likelihood of overlap is diminished.

Yes, I think agents are very practised in telling both sides what they want to hear. My niggling concern is that if this buyer does make an offer and we start down that path then we won't engage a new agent and generate new interest, and it won't be so easy to just kick them to the kerb if they start messing us around. That said, we've got an option for moving in with relatives rent-free in the place we want to move to, which means that the only real problem with delay is stamp duty coming back in.

You could attach some provisions to your acceptance - we will re-list elsewhere if x hasn't happened by y date, etc. Not sure if you would need a multi-agency agreement to do that though, which of course is more expensive.

Shed: Day 2

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Noticed some efflorescence on external bricks - should I be worried or consequence of the wet weather/snow and cold? No damp indoors, on the outside or blocked drains...

How old is the house? Think it's pretty normal for salts to leach from bricks for the first couple of years.

10 yr old extension part of the house

Shed: day 2 finish

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Sweet and still plenty of time to have a beer in the sun.

Is the shed as big as the base?

If so, Beast is right.