should we buy this property?

Doozergirl

CloudCuckooLand wrote: »

If you love it, drop the price £2k for each week she takes to come back to you...!?!

How to make yourself look like a genuine, honest buyer and be taken seriously. :rolleyes: Cloud Cuckoo Land indeed. If you gave most people that offer, they'd have three slightly different words for you.

I'm in the camp of knowing what is happening nearby. I'd rather have people for neighbours than rats on scrubland and if the entrance is in a different road, the disruption will actually be minimal. The reality is that most houses are not devalued by other houses, just perhaps whilst work is ongoing but 10 houses would not take a housebuilder long. They would not apply for a certain number and then increase - quite the opposite in fact; they would go for as many as they could and be knocked back by the planners. I've actually been advised by an architect in the past to go for more than you want in order to compromise on something you're actually happy with!

The prospect of new houses will put some people off so perhaps your offer will be accepted in a few days time. You know what to expect - new houses may be a bit of a shock and a big downside for existing residents, but not for new ones who have not know any different.

CloudCuckooLand

It was slightly tongue-in-cheek, hence the ...!?!

But is the vendor being fair in asking the OP to wait while 5 other people have their go?

If its fair for them to hold out for a bit more, there should be a downside to taking that gamble..

Perhaps a better way to express it would be, "24 hours or the offer is withdrawn", just to focus their mind?

Better ways?

Doozergirl

CloudCuckooLand wrote: »

It was slightly tongue-in-cheek, hence the ...!?!

But is the vendor being fair in asking the OP to wait while 5 other people have their go?

If its fair for them to hold out for a bit more, there should be a downside to taking that gamble..

Perhaps a better way to express it would be, "24 hours or the offer is withdrawn", just to focus their mind?

Better ways?

I'd accepted it was tongue in cheek until your second suggestion!

Having a half-decent offer on the table does focus the mind of a vendor! Why not let five people look if it allows you to get the house at a price you want? If someone has five viewings booked in then they will have some confidence in their ability to sell - you have to remove that barrier to expose them, but that will happen when those viewings take place - you dn't need to start throwing your toys out of the pram.

If you aren't prepared to go higher then fair enough, but there is no need to play games like that - vendors will not like being forced into accepting a lower offer than they were planning to accept and the result of trying that is likely to be the wrong one.

If you genuinely like a property and have a price in your head, why would you reduce or withdraw an offer due to a vendor being unalbe to make an immediate decision? She's being honest - Isn't it a good thing that the vendor is having to reconsider the lowest price she would accept? Seems that idea like these are put forward by people who are either not buying, selling or perhaps just not able to put themselves into a vendor's position. Patience is a virtue.

I'd reconsider a price for someone I felt I could do business with. I'd give very short shrift to someone who felt they could bully me into making a decision, without even a second thought.

googler

OP, before you go any further -

Go to the local council's website, go to the planning section therein, and look at the current application. If it's a detailed application as opposed to an outline one, it should show the style of houses to be built, the external materials, where their windows are, etc.

If it's an outline one, the detail won't be present.

If you can't find the application online, go to the planning department at the council offices, and ask for the 'duty planning officer' - every council should have one, and it's their job to help members of the public like you find applications like this. Ask to see the application.

Once you have more detail for yourself, rather than relying on second-hand info via the selling agent or others, you'll be better placed to make a decision.

LilacPixie

OP I would say if you have reservations about the house then it is not the home for you. Noisy dirty building site the probability of being oerlooked and then a road running next to the property where there is currently a house. Huge no from me.

poppysarah

Until it's built there's no guarantee they won't go back and change the planning permission for something else bigger. It can happen that once a precedent has been set for a development they can twist it to get more.
(Tesco does it all the time)

googler

If the access road runs alongside 'your' property, then do you really want to live with

The construction traffic arriving early morning, late at night or (if the build is behind schedule) during the night?

Once it's built, residents going back and forth at all hours?

Deliveries, bin lorries and other service vehicles going right past your house?

Does 'your' house have any windows or bedrooms on this side? That may affect your decision too.

Is the plan for a single-track access road, or a dual-track where incoming and outgoing vehicles can pass each other without stopping? This may also affect your decision. Can delivery vehicles etc turn within the site? If they have to come in on a single track, then reverse out, you'll have the 'beep beep beep' of the audible reversing signal when they do....

Once you've found the plans, post the council name and the app no so's we can have a looksee....... but as described at the moment, I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole - even if the inside is a palace.

Doozergirl

Why are people talking like neighbours are a bad thing? Most of us have neighhbours!

Access for the proposed development of five houses is in the next street! How much disruption is realisitcally going to be caused by five houses? They'll be built within months, the site is small so even if they did go for more houses (which they won't - they'll have applied for the maximum they can get on the space) then what are we talking about - 7 houses? How much more disruption can be caused by such a small number of houses

I can see more than seven houses from my house. If the house is available at a slightly better price because of some really quite random concerns, then I would take it. I can understand why someone who already lived somewhere would take the NIMBY approach and even want to move house because it is different to what they have been used to, but five new neighbours across the back will not all be overlooking this house. I'd go and look at the plans but these houses are unlikely to out of line with what already exists in the area - it will not be a Tesco superstore or a nightclub being put there.

sunshinetours

Doozergirl wrote: »

Why are people talking like neighbours are a bad thing? Most of us have neighhbours!

Access for the proposed development of five houses is in the next street! How much disruption is realisitcally going to be caused by five houses? They'll be built within months, the site is small so even if they did go for more houses (which they won't - they'll have applied for the maximum they can get on the space) then what are we talking about - 7 houses? How much more disruption can be caused by such a small number of houses

I can see more than seven houses from my house. If the house is available at a slightly better price because of some really quite random concerns, then I would take it. I can understand why someone who already lived somewhere would take the NIMBY approach and even want to move house because it is different to what they have been used to, but five new neighbours across the back will not all be overlooking this house. I'd go and look at the plans but these houses are unlikely to out of line with what already exists in the area - it will not be a Tesco superstore or a nightclub being put there.

The access is being created by demolishing a house and the access runs in a road "alongside" the OP said. That for me makes a massive difference

As others have said view the detailed plans yourself and get an idea of what loss of privacy will occur and can this be dealt with by tree planting etc. The OP said its not overlooked at all at the moment so there will be a difference if 5 houses are being built

We also don't know how big the garden is in the place being considered. Obviously the longer the garden the further away the potential "problem" is.

One other thing is that the bungalow being considered may become a corner house if the new road runs alongside it - that may also create its own issues with fences on boundaries that are now accessible to the general public for instance

Finally you stated you were stretching yourselves with this so really consider whether you feel this really is the house for you

The Op has had lots of good advice hope they make the right decision for them

theartfullodger

Nah, they'll be a better one...