The house next door

GDB2222

If you ask a surveyor how to value this, he will take the value of a done-up house and subtract the cost of doing it up. That is simple and logical, but it is not how the market works.

A few years ago, when 100% mortgages were available, people tended to pay over the surveyors' formula for houses like this. They reckoned that they could phase the work over a period of time and perhaps they simply underestimated the cost. In any case, whatever cash they had available could be used for the refurbishment work.

Move forward to the present, and 100% mortgages are not available, and any mortgages over 80% tend to be very expensive. Consequently, ordinary housebuyers have to put all of their cash into the deposit, and they have nothing left over for refurbishment work. That means that the only people who will take on the house next door are cash buyers, who probably want to do it up and make a profit. So, they will pay less than the surveyors' formula, as they want to make a profit and they will have a 2nd lot of expenses for selling the property on once they have done the refurbishment.

Strapped

Sounds like an ideal development project to me, Red Devil

red_devil

maybe if you have the money and the skills to do it up.

The estate agent lied about how long the house had been on the market is this usual?