Fingers crossed.......
Posted: 18 Oct 2014, 11:38We fell madly in love with the apartment we viewed on Thursday morning, it's absolutely beautiful and in the most fabulous location right on the seafront.
Yes there are compromises, no garage is one, but we both feel the advantages outweigh any negatives and tbh we'll never find a bungalow as big that doesn't require lots of work. The location is fabulous and for anything other than an apartment way out of our budget. After a long coffee and lots of discussion about how much more ruthless we'd have to be with some of our stuff (most of which has been in the loft for the past 7yrs anyway) we decided it's just too perfect to walk away from so we put in an opening offer a bit below the asking price to test the water. As expected that was rejected so we offered more yesterday being very clear we don't want to get into a haggling situation. It's still a little bit below the full price, but as cash buyers we're in a very strong position and although the apartment is relatively new and each of the 10 share the freehold, the lease is relatively short. It had 99yrs and there's about 89yrs left, okay plenty long enough to see us both out lol, but apparently anything below 80yrs begins to devalue the property so to protect our investment it would need to be extended. We've been advised the cost wouldn't be excessive in view of the shared freehold, but potentially we might have to reach a majority agreement from the other owners. It's something a solicitor would have to look into thoroughly before any exchange. I'd be interested to know if any of you have dealt with a similar situation.
Haven't heard back yet and we do know they were doing a second viewing on their proposed buy yesterday afternoon so not sure if they're in the process of negotiating that deal or just mulling it over. We'll give the agent a ring this afternoon to see if they have any feedback........fingers crossed and watch this space.
Yes there are compromises, no garage is one, but we both feel the advantages outweigh any negatives and tbh we'll never find a bungalow as big that doesn't require lots of work. The location is fabulous and for anything other than an apartment way out of our budget. After a long coffee and lots of discussion about how much more ruthless we'd have to be with some of our stuff (most of which has been in the loft for the past 7yrs anyway) we decided it's just too perfect to walk away from so we put in an opening offer a bit below the asking price to test the water. As expected that was rejected so we offered more yesterday being very clear we don't want to get into a haggling situation. It's still a little bit below the full price, but as cash buyers we're in a very strong position and although the apartment is relatively new and each of the 10 share the freehold, the lease is relatively short. It had 99yrs and there's about 89yrs left, okay plenty long enough to see us both out lol, but apparently anything below 80yrs begins to devalue the property so to protect our investment it would need to be extended. We've been advised the cost wouldn't be excessive in view of the shared freehold, but potentially we might have to reach a majority agreement from the other owners. It's something a solicitor would have to look into thoroughly before any exchange. I'd be interested to know if any of you have dealt with a similar situation.
Haven't heard back yet and we do know they were doing a second viewing on their proposed buy yesterday afternoon so not sure if they're in the process of negotiating that deal or just mulling it over. We'll give the agent a ring this afternoon to see if they have any feedback........fingers crossed and watch this space.
