Offer on house in need of modernisation 31 December 2012 at 7:47PM in House buying, renting & selling 14 replies 2.3K views

msmyth18

Hello All,

I am about to submit an offer on Wednesday on a house here in the West Midlands. It is empty because the previous owner has passed away, and the relatives (who according to the neighbor live 3 hours away) are selling the house.

The house is in need of modernisation like central heating, roof repairs, asbestos removal from side veranda, electrical rewire and a new kitchen/bathroom.

It is up with the estate agents for £189,950, which even the agent who showed us round said was overpriced.

With this in mind do you think £156,500 subject to survey is a reasonable offer? We are hoping to get the house for less than £165k

BitterAndTwisted

Depends on how realistic the vendors are and how keen they are to sell. If they live that far away perhaps they don't have a clear idea of average prices in that area. They could be the type to hang on for years in order to realise that price, who knows?

What price has your builder put on the works required?

G_M

All you can do is work out:

A) what it will be worth fully updated - check sold prices (better than advertised prices) of similar properties in the area

what it will cost you to update (all structural and cosmetic changes

C) what 'mark-up' you need (ie compensation for your time, effort, stress in undertaking the work.)

Subtract C & B from A and then make an offer below that and negotiate up.

msmyth18

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Depends on how realistic the vendors are and how keen they are to sell. If they live that far away perhaps they don't have a clear idea of average prices in that area. They could be the type to hang on for years in order to realise that price, who knows?

What price has your builder put on the works required?

te would be £25,000 to bring it up to spec. I have a feeling that the price is massively off the real value

msmyth18

I put in an offer of £153,500- Which was rejected

I raised to £156,000 I am still awaiting the outcome I imagine it will be rejected too. After this I think I will wait for a bit

martindow

In pricing the work I think you also need to distinguish between what needs to be done and what you would like to be done. For instance you might prefer a kitchen or bathroom to be a different colour or replaced with a brand new one. But if there is a functioning kitchen and bathroom in reasonable condition I don't think it is valid to factor in the cost of replacement.

phoebe1989seb

martindow wrote: »

In pricing the work I think you also need to distinguish between what needs to be done and what you would like to be done. For instance you might prefer a kitchen or bathroom to be a different colour or replaced with a brand new one. But if there is a functioning kitchen and bathroom in reasonable condition I don't think it is valid to factor in the cost of replacement.

Agree with this - we recently sold my parents' house as they have both had to go into care and the couple that bought the house (a 1920s semi in very good, but a little dated condition), had a builder round to assess what needed doing. One thing required was rewiring and the buyers decided they also wanted to add loads more sockets etc - however whilst we accepted the number of sockets was not adequate for the way we live today, we made it clear that factoring in the cost of these when renegotiating the price was not on.

Additionally, whilst the house had a recently fitted wet room, the kitchen was a late 1980s Magnet pine jobby that is no longer fashionable. The buyers intended to knock through into the dining room to make a large eat-in kitchen/family room at in doing so replace the units etc, but made no attempt to get the price further reduced to reflect their own plans for the layout. Just because something isn't to your liking you can't expect to have the price reduced to reflect this

msmyth18

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Agree with this - we recently sold my parents' house as they have both had to go into care and the couple that bought the house (a 1920s semi in very good, but a little dated condition), had a builder round to assess what needed doing. One thing required was rewiring and the buyers decided they also wanted to add loads more sockets etc - however whilst we accepted the number of sockets was not adequate for the way we live today, we made it clear that factoring in the cost of these when renegotiating the price was not on.

Additionally, whilst the house had a recently fitted wet room, the kitchen was a late 1980s Magnet pine jobby that is no longer fashionable. The buyers intended to knock through into the dining room to make a large eat-in kitchen/family room at in doing so replace the units etc, but made no attempt to get the price further reduced to reflect their own plans for the layout. Just because something isn't to your liking you can't expect to have the price reduced to reflect this

I totally agree, but a rewire, asbestos removal, leaky roof repairs and repairs to render on the bay window I think are acceptable to reduce the price.

tim123456789

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Agree with this - we recently sold my parents' house as they have both had to go into care and the couple that bought the house (a 1920s semi in very good, but a little dated condition), had a builder round to assess what needed doing. One thing required was rewiring and the buyers decided they also wanted to add loads more sockets etc - however whilst we accepted the number of sockets was not adequate for the way we live today, we made it clear that factoring in the cost of these when renegotiating the price was not on.

I would have thought that once you have paid for the costs of getting the sparks on site, installed a new CU, added an RCD, opened up all the ceiling to install the now mandatory earthing in the lighting circuit and opend up all the floor to split the previous single plug circuit into 3 or 4 new circuits, the costs of adding a few (or even more than few) new plug sockets is not going to be a material part of the total cost.

tim

msmyth18

Hello All,

I am please to announce we got the house for £165k! :j

bambam0074

msmyth18 wrote: »

Hello All,

I am please to announce we got the house for £165k! :j

Glad to hear your offer has been accepted I'm in a similar situation and just awaiting news on if my offer has been accepted on a property in similar condition.

Do you mind me asking if you had any issues with a mortgage and if not what LTV was the lender willing to lend?

Thanks