Advice on buying a house for cash

Hi, A girl in work is purchasing a house for the first time, She is paying cash, No mortgage involved. She has asked me for advice as she is on her own and from further up the country, I am not up to speed on these issues so any help would be appreciated. Everything is going fine so far but an engineer went to look over the house and found a few faults that need to be rectified, My questions are, Where does the engineers report go to as a mortgage is not involved and who is responsible for sorting out the issues within the house, I am assuming the onus is on present tennants. Any step by step advice or pitfalls to avoid would be appreciated, Thank you.

Well, the onus would be on the current owner (can't see how tennants are involved at all) to sort this out, or your friend will pull out of the sale. Alternatively she could negotiate a lower price and fix the issues herself.

Hi salaried

From the sound of it, I don't think you are the best person to ask for advice.

As she has cash, she is in a really strong position. She should get someone who has experience in negotiating and who has dealt with auctioneers a few times to guide her through the process.

Askaboutmoney is no substitute for negotiating in the marketplace.

Brendan

Snags would not normally need to be rectified by the vendor on a second hand house - it would be for sale as is IME - so just adjust your offer according to what it will take to fix the problems, if they can be fixed. Get a builder to quote for rectifying the problems if they are significant.

One thing you should definitely do as well is get an independent valuation done by an auctioneer who has recently sold properties in the area. An independent valuation is something the banks would insist on if you were getting a mortgage.

Then figure out what to offer. Go in low to start. if she is not embarrassed by her offer then its too high!

As their is no bank involved the engineer's report is for her to decide if she proceeds with the purchase or not. If it's minor things, then normally she should deal with these in the future, if it's major, she can ask the sellor to rectify but that is not advisable, rather she should reduce her purchase price to price in the remidial works.

She needs to hire a good solicitor to do the purchase for her and to ensure the title is good.

As she is a cash buyer she should be able to negotiate a good deal.

Is she happy with the location, size of house going forward etc.

I am certainly not the right person Brendan I agree, By the way when I said the tennants I meant owners, I am only offering advice as a friend , The girl asking for advice is dealing with an estate agent, Solicitor and an engineer. The engineer did find problems with the drains and my friend got a quote from him as to the cost of rectifying this, It is not substantial but her solicitor is advising her to sort it out herself after the sale as it might put off the vendor, I would understand it if she was paying a bargain basement price but she is paying the full asking price, Her solicitor will contact the estate agent today to see if the vendor is willing to sort the problem but was told this would be unlikely, The only advice I offered her as of now was to ask her solicitor to contact the estate agent and see how the vendor views the situation given that my friend is the only potential buyer, and she is willing to pay the full asking.

salaried said:

she is paying the full asking price

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Well then tell her not to.