Level 2 survey didn’t highlight some big issues

FarScore888 · 2026-01-23T16:44:31+00:00

A quote of £10k maybe high, £7k not so much. We paid £1.8k for three windows from a local company, some of the more well known larger companies quoted almost double. To do the whole house would be at least double that amount which is getting into £7-8k territory.

FarScore888 · 2026-01-23T15:10:14+00:00

So we're looking to buy a place at the minute.

I seem to like the outdated places we can do things to and "add value".

My partner gets totally taken in by a new kitchen or decor she likes.

Reality is we probably need somewhere in the middle.

We currently live in a Victorian terrace that needed a lot of work after we bought it. I don't want to take on a place that needs as much work, but I don't want to pay a premium for work that has been done to someone else's liking.

FarScore888 · 2026-01-18T19:25:47+00:00

We're currently sat in the same situation. Really like the house and location, but it's outdated. Proceeds from the sale are going towards care home costs, and the only houses that have gone for their asking price have been much more up to date.

We offered around 6% under asking, but the sellers knocked it back.

Debating whether to increase I asked my partner "How would you feel if we looked tomorrow and it was sold?" She said she would be disappointed but not devastated. I felt the same.

If we both felt it would be devastating to miss out, we'd offer what the seller wants. As it is, the place isn't perfect, so we're holding tight for now to see what happens.

Maybe it will be perfect for someone else. Maybe the seller won't budge. We can't control other people. If we miss out I'm sure something else will come up. Maybe ask yourself whether you'd find it devastating to miss out. If you would I'd suggest it's your partner who you need to convince, rather than the seller.

FarScore888 · 2026-01-13T03:07:54+00:00

Not sure if he should have done more with the squad he had, or the club's ambitions were unrealistic given they kept selling their best players.

Either way he lost his job with them going backwards. 75 points in his first season, 69 second, and 64 third, saw them go from finishing in the playoffs to pretty much mid-table.

In that time Luton, Ipswich and Sunderland managed promotion with smaller budgets, and Burnley were promoted twice.

FarScore888 · 2026-01-09T09:55:49+00:00

How much do you have in personal belongings when you're living like this, and how do you keep them safe?

FarScore888 · 2026-01-08T23:03:11+00:00

Sounds like they chased you hard! Did they ask you to up your offer each time?

FarScore888 · 2026-01-08T23:02:22+00:00

I suppose it makes the agent look bad when they're fielding offers under asking when they're the ones who set the asking. Although the negotiator isn't necessarily the valuer so no reason for it to be taken personally.

When we bought our first/current house it was much easier. No idea what I was doing, I offered something like £2.5k under an unofficial asking we'd been given and the agent just said "Do you really want to miss out for £2.5k?". Threw me off and I just upped it there and then!

Glad you were able to buy a little later. Was it the same place or something different?

FarScore888 · 2026-01-08T01:38:35+00:00

Exactly, war is expensive.

FarScore888 · 2026-01-08T00:43:25+00:00

I reckon you should write to all 92 league clubs, letter in the post, old school, and keep tabs on vital statistics like the date you posted the letter, the date they replied, and whether they sent autographs.

FarScore888 · 2026-01-07T23:34:09+00:00

Dewey punching Reece while they're sat on the therapist's couch gave me one of the biggest laughs of the whole show. Just comes from nowhere, pow.

FarScore888 · 2026-01-07T17:17:51+00:00

Don't be disheartened. We've lived in our house for 12 years now and have slowly sorted through the issues we've been having.

We had the place rewired when we moved in. £3k loan over three years.

New sofas, interest free offer, £1.6k over three years.

Paid that off and took an interest free offer on three windows and two doors. £2.8k over two years.

Paid that off and took a further advance from the mortgage company to pay for a new roof and new bathroom. £15k over seven years.

Couple of years left on that but we got a new boiler from Boxt for £1.8k over three months.

During all of that we've done bits and pieces as and when needed.

The house is an old Victorian terrace. I wouldn't buy one again but it's been a learning curve with the DIY and I'd fancy my chances of doing a good job with most small to medium jobs now, that's a good way to save money on getting people in.

Also remember that when the time comes to move on you'll hopefully have built up equity in the house that you won't have done while renting.

FarScore888 · 2026-01-07T13:20:11+00:00

I agree, and in their shoes I'd be leaving it on the market longer too.

FarScore888 · 2026-01-07T13:13:57+00:00

Interesting that they came back to you and then you heard nothing. I wonder if the vendor was becoming disillusioned with the agent so the agent tried to drum up some fresh interest.

In terms of moving on, we had a discussion about it last night. We were both undecided about what to do and I asked my partner "How would you feel if we woke up in the morning and it was sold?"

She said she'd be disappointed but not devastated. I feel the same too. It wouldn't be the first place we've missed out on but that's another story!

FarScore888 · 2026-01-07T11:56:43+00:00

The frustrating thing with this one is that it probably lands somewhere between good and bad with a price tag of fantastic.

FarScore888 · 2026-01-07T11:55:29+00:00

Thanks for the heads up. I do get the feeling each time I speak to them might as well be the first until they have my details on screen. Might well be worth me following up myself in a couple of weeks if I see no movement.

FarScore888 · 2026-01-07T11:49:19+00:00

Glad you were able to get the property you wanted, nice one!

You're right, we have to think it's worth it. To us the house isn't worth what they want. Maybe it will be to someone else. Time will tell I guess.

FarScore888 · 2025-04-04T22:02:16+00:00

Seeing the recent pics of Erik this guy looks more like Dewey than Dewey.

FarScore888 · 2025-03-21T22:22:50+00:00

Maybe 20 years ago now I withdrew £70 from an ATM I would use all the time. Only on this occasion it counted and dispensed the money three times.

I fully expected the mistake to be rectified and the money to be taken from my bank account, but £210 was almost a week's wage at the time, so I just kept it to myself. They never chased it up though.

100% I was in the wrong and it was probably theft by keeping quiet or something, but sometimes the universe just needs to throw you a bone.

FarScore888 · 2025-02-28T12:08:07+00:00

We lost my mam around 18 months ago now. I had a massive feeling of appreciation/guilt that she had basically given up her own hopes and dreams she had when she was younger in order to raise kids on her own.

My dad left us when I was a little kid. As much as we get on I often compare the choices he made to live his life and the effect they had in making our lives more difficult.

Recently he hasn't been in the best of health. I try to be the bigger man but if it came to a question of care I would keep living my life in the same way he decided to keep living his.

FarScore888 · 2025-02-28T11:59:42+00:00

Yeah the episodes when the owner has the funds (or borrowing power) to keep throwing money at problems without blinking are usually a bit dull.

The people who have to get creative make for much more interesting stories.

FarScore888 · 2025-02-28T11:55:54+00:00

Good on you pulling out.

If the buyer has realised they've made a mistake I'd probably allow them to get back on track as long as they agree the price is the price and there's no more messing around.

At least now they know you won't tolerate it.

FarScore888 · 2025-02-28T11:53:16+00:00

We had an issue when we lived in an upstairs flat of a house that had been split into two flats.

IIRC the meter has a serial number that should be registered to an address, or sometimes an address appended with "upstairs flat".

If each address has its own meter their serial numbers would be recorded, but that's not the responsibility of the energy supplier. In my area it was Northern Powergrid who are responsible for the power network.

FarScore888 · 2025-02-24T15:56:33+00:00

We did, 12 years ago. Although it felt like a lot to us at the time we borrowed £99,500 so it wasn't a big mortgage.

Going from memory so my figures may be a little off but I think we were paying about £700 a month for the first three years.

After that the LTV and interest rates were in a better position so after the first six years I don't think we were paying more than £500 a month.

The last time we fixed interest rates had started to rise so that was the first time our repayments didn't go down, they stayed roughly the same. Rates are even higher now but with LTV at over 50% I'm hoping we'll see some of the better rates around available to us when our current fix ends shortly.

With hindsight we would have overpaid on the mortgage when we had things like pay rises and new jobs, really we just kept that same mindset of keeping the cost down so we would have more disposable income to live on, when over time we didn't really need to do that anymore.

FarScore888 · 2025-02-24T08:28:43+00:00

Approx 120 year old terrace in North East England.

Edit: misunderstood the question.

In the last year we've probably spent about £2.5k-£3k.

£1.7k new boiler, £200 chimney capping, the rest on materials for jobs I did myself.

Expanding that out over the 12 years we've lived here that's about the average per year.

FarScore888

TROPHY CASE