2-bed converted to 3-bed - does it warrant price increase?

retepetsir

We're still on the lookout for a 3-bedroom end-of-terrace / semi in the South East. Our 2-bedroom flat has been on for 6 weeks now and we've had lots of viewings but only one offer so far, and quite a low one at that, from a buy-to-let investor who wants to move quickly.

We'd seen a 3-bedroom house up for £249,950 which went under offer very quickly back in March. It's now no longer under offer as the buyer found another property that they preferred instead. The vendors have just found a property that they'd like to move to (and had an offer accepted) so I wondered if it was worth looking at again.

I've since found that it was purchased in 2007 for £195,000. A semi-decent kitchen and bathroom have been put in (although not to the best standard) and it does need some tidying up in all rooms. However, it was a 2-bedroom place and they have taken some space from the main bedroom to make a small box room, only around 2m x 2.1m by the time the cupboard is taken into account.

Now my main concern is what to offer. Apparently they don't want to budge much (the previous offer was close to the asking price), but a £55,000 increase seems quite steep?

Help

phill99

You are focussing on irrelevant information. What was paid for it 6 years ago and what has been done in that time are irrelevant.

It is now a three bed house and is valued at such. If all the other 3 bed houses in the area are valued at £210k, then it's probably overpriced. But the fact that someone. Has already offered the asking price suggests that it is worth what is being asked.

retepetsir

Cheers. Thought that may be the case but just wanted to confirm my thoughts. The inlaw is a retired surveryor and is saying that it 'should be viewed as a 2-bedroom house'.

The other 3-bedroom houses vary a great deal in price, from £220k right up to £350k+. There are lots of variations.

Hmmmm

dgtazzman

Can't speak for you, but I wouldn't consider paying a 55k premium for a wall that probably cost them next to nothing to put in. I'd hardly class 4 square meters as a bedroom either, more like a walk-in closet, you wouldn't fit much more than a single bed into that space...

phill99

dgtazzman wrote: »

Can't speak for you, but I wouldn't consider paying a 55k premium for a wall that probably cost them next to nothing to put in. I'd hardly class 4 square meters as a bedroom either, more like a walk-in closet, you wouldn't fit much more than a single bed into that space...

This subject has been done to death on here.

A 2m x 2m room will be classed as a bedroom by both estate agents and building society values. There are many thousands of families who have this sized room asa third bedroom. Whole estates in the 50's and 60's were built like this.

moneyistooshorttomention

Personally, I would feel "done over" by the vendor if I realised they had managed to sell me a 2 bedroom house at the price of a 3 bedroom one - just because they had put a wall up.

I'd refuse to proceed with buying this house at all at ANY price - other than the exact same one appropriate to a 2 bedroom house.

I would imagine the other buyer pulled out because they realised that they would be conned if they proceeded.

I can see some 2 bedroom houses in my area being advertised as 3 bedroom and priced at a higher price - just because someone spent a £1,000 or so and put up a wall and would be interested to know if they manage to get away with it.

Dan-Dan

I dont see the problem , putting up a wall to make three bedrooms sounds like a great idea , especially if they are lucky enough to increase their house sale value by many times the cost of doing the wall!
Fair play to `em

As Phil says , thousands and thousands of `3 bed` homes in the UK have box rooms as the 3rd bedroom anyway so its hardly outrageous

retepetsir

I'm surprised it wasn't built as a 3-bedroom as the box room is pretty much the same size as the 3rd bedroom we've seen in other houses!

We are expecting our first baby at the end of the year so the box room would initially be used for the baby.

Tricky. I thought it was a clever idea so have been looking for large 2-bedroom places but they are few and far between.

The buyer actually pulled out as they wanted to move quickly and had found a more suitable property for themselves.

Difficult

katejo

retepetsir wrote: »

I'm surprised it wasn't built as a 3-bedroom as the box room is pretty much the same size as the 3rd bedroom we've seen in other houses!

We are expecting our first baby at the end of the year so the box room would initially be used for the baby.

Tricky. I thought it was a clever idea so have been looking for large 2-bedroom places but they are few and far between.

The buyer actually pulled out as they wanted to move quickly and had found a more suitable property for themselves.

Difficult

Personally I would never buy a property where a bedroom had been divided to make more money from the sale. A flat near my old one had a large kitchen and living area. The owner turned the living room into a bedroom and put the sofa on the vinyl floor in the kitchen

phoebe1989seb

katejo wrote: »

Personally I would never buy a property where a bedroom had been divided to make more money from the sale. A flat near my old one had a large kitchen and living area. The owner turned the living room into a bedroom and put the sofa on the vinyl floor in the kitchen

Me neither - although we (like the OP) have in the past looked at houses with a very small third bedroom that was original to the (Victorian) house.

Slightly different, I appreciate as it wasn't adding a bedroom, but in our last house we sub-divided a reasonably large bedroom to create a full en-suite bathroom. This gave us a 16' x 10' master bedroom and an 8' square bathroom. Despite still leaving a fairly decent sized master and creating an additional bathroom (as well as the two that already existed), we didn't add any value to the house nor expect to make more money when we later sold.........

Guess some sellers are just more clued-up - or lucky, LOL

HarryBarry

phill99 wrote: »

You are focussing on irrelevant information. What was paid for it 6 years ago and what has been done in that time are irrelevant.

It is now a three bed house and is valued at such. If all the other 3 bed houses in the area are valued at £210k, then it's probably overpriced. But the fact that someone. Has already offered the asking price suggests that it is worth what is being asked.

Assuming all other 3 bed houses in the area also have a tiny 3rd room, then yes it is fine to compare. Otherwise you have the situation my friend just had where nationwide said no to lending the money as the valuation came back so much less than their offer. This was a similar situation with a 2 bed becoming a 3 bed, but its not just the size of the bedrooms that didnt compare, the lounge/kitchen etc is smaller than the typical 3 bed houses in that street.

Also this "a house is worth what someone is willing to pay" - not really. There are a lot of idiots about. Just because someone was going to over pay doesnt mean everyone else will.