House on market for one yr+

fivemice

Hi

We've seen a house we like, it's on the market for £144,950. Details here - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-4452423.rsp?pa_n=false&tr_t=buy

We've been watching Rightmove for over a year just to get an idea of what would could afford to buy when the time is right. My dad has recently offered to put his name on our mortgage as a guarantor (we're self employed, renting so hard to save for a deposit, not great credit but could easily afford this mortgage) so we're going to start things moving.

Anyway, I remember this house being on the market for a long time, at least 9 months if not more than a year. Why do houses not sell - is it likely that there is something wrong with this house, and if there is does the seller/EA have responsibility to tell us about any problems before we go ahead with surveys and the like, or maybe they just want full asking price and nobody has offered that yet?

This is all soooo overwhelming!

What would be a suitable amount to offer for this house, taking into account that it's been on the market for so long.

Doozergirl

Well, it looks great inside. The outside picture hardly shows the house.

Have you been to see it? Is that picture the back? What does the front look like? EAs usually show the back when the front isn't very nice.

The only way you find out what it is worth is by getting out there and viewing as many houses as you can. Then you have real comparisons. You can also check what other houses in the street have sold for by using a website like https://www.nethouseprices.com.

The fact it hasn't sold generally indicates it is overpriced, but it may just be that the vendor won't accept any less and that's why they have been on the market so long. Establish what you think it is worth and don't go over that price. Don't let the time it has been on the market come into it really; you should always go in as low as you dare!

maninthestreet

Go here, and find out how much semi-detached houses in the same street have sold for recently:


https://www.houseprices.co.uk

fivemice

Thanks Doozer.

We haven't been to see it yet, but picture number twelve shows the front of the house and it looks fine to me :O)

fivemice

MITS - I have had a look but it's quite hard to tell as all the houses are quite different so the difference between top and bottom houses is over £300K!

My husband is going to pop out and have a chat with the EA.

omni

In my experience if a house has been on the market for that long there must be something wrong with it. i.e. damp, subsidance, planning permission granted in the area for something that will affect the price in future, near a pillon, etc... Just phone the agent and ask them straight out as they will have to tell you what they know.

HTH

Omni

Doozergirl

Oh I didn't see it! It looks very nice. I wonder if they just have an inflated view of what it is worth then as it looks like the sort of house that should sell.

Go and see it. Tell us what you think!

Supervixen

fivemice wrote:

Hi

We've seen a house we like, it's on the market for £144,950. Details here - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-4452423.rsp?pa_n=false&tr_t=buy

We've been watching Rightmove for over a year just to get an idea of what would could afford to buy when the time is right. My dad has recently offered to put his name on our mortgage as a guarantor (we're self employed, renting so hard to save for a deposit, not great credit but could easily afford this mortgage) so we're going to start things moving.

Anyway, I remember this house being on the market for a long time, at least 9 months if not more than a year. Why do houses not sell - is it likely that there is something wrong with this house, and if there is does the seller/EA have responsibility to tell us about any problems before we go ahead with surveys and the like, or maybe they just want full asking price and nobody has offered that yet?

This is all soooo overwhelming!

What would be a suitable amount to offer for this house, taking into account that it's been on the market for so long.

Personally, from a seller's point of view, there's not always an obvious reason for a house taking ages to sell. Ours has been on the market since April, and although we had 4 separate offers, one which we accepted and was withdrawn for no reason the next day :mad: we didn't sell until December.

The house is newly decorated & carpeted (in neutral colours, of course) and in reasonably good nick. We were up against about 6 others on the same estate, some smaller & cheaper, and a brand new development less than half a mile across the road...even THEY were having trouble so I think it's just the market locally that held us up. we dropped the price three times and accepted £6000 less than our original asking price but hell, at least the place is (almost) gone now!

Alan_M_2

Looks like a nice house, the front elevation (last picture) looks strangely devoid of windows though, must be an unusual layout.

scorpio_princess

Looks good to me! And also a very reasonable asking price (although I don't know the area - you can't get 3 bed houses here for under 170k unless they're in a really bad location)

It also looks 'move-in-able' - I say go for it! i'd probably offer 138k to begin with, but that's up to you of course.

lynzpower

i would also worry about how long its been on the market. Although in fairness it could have been in a bit of a state before and been recently house dred.