Buying a property - next door was sold unusually cheap

a2mn1lt

We are interested in a property and think the price it's being offered at is reasonable compared to other properties in the area (we've looked at Land Registry etc)........except one.

Next door sold for about 13% cheaper in April 2012 (it was on the market for about seven months) and it was being marketed via an estate agent. It wasn't in a poor state of repair and is the same in all respects as the one we're looking at. We queried this with the estate agents of the house we're interested in who just said that there had been a large increase in the price of rural properties in the last year, but we know this isn't the reason as it doesn't tie up with other research we've done. So, it's an anomaly and we'd appreciate knowing from anyone on the forum who may have an idea of why there would be such a difference.

We've asked the vendors about neighbours and they've said that their neighbours haven't changed so we're wondering whether perhaps the house next door was sold to a son/daughter for a cheaper price, but why then would it have been advertised via an estate agent and presumably incurred estate agency fees in the selling?

Any ideas would be helpful as we are hoping to put an offer in this weekend, but just can't understand the discrepancy.

Thank you.

ValHaller

Rural? Then you can't assume it is identical just because it is next door.

Dan-Dan

There are a myriad of reasons to possibly explain it , and it`s likely you will never know the truth , where we are moving to , one house went for a good 30k under what three others , including ours , went for ,in recent years, apparently it was a divorce , quick sale kind of thing , but in reality , if your survey stacks up and valuation after offer , and your happy with the price , you must go with what you think its worth to you , dont potentially lose it based on second guessing what you might never know

Ivana_Tinkle

Are you sure it did sell for this price? IME the data on those house price websites isn't always correct. If you are sure, is it near a stamp duty boundary? Or are the current occupants renting? Could it have been sold with tenants in place and therefore fetched a lower price? How sure are you that it was in a good state of repair? It could have had dry rot or some problem that's expensive to fix but not necessarily visible. If that's the case, you can bet the agent won't be telling you about it if you're looking to buy next door!

kev_pecker

Ivana_Tinkle wrote: »

Are you sure it did sell for this price? IME the data on those house price websites isn't always correct. If you are sure, is it near a stamp duty boundary? Or are the current occupants renting? Could it have been sold with tenants in place and therefore fetched a lower price? How sure are you that it was in a good state of repair? It could have had dry rot or some problem that's expensive to fix but not necessarily visible. If that's the case, you can bet the agent won't be telling you about it if you're looking to buy next door!

Agreed on the first point, I'm pretty sure this one is a little bit out

G_M

Have you knocked on the neighbours' door and asked them?

Always do this anyway- you'll learn far more about the properties, the area etc than the vendors will ever tell you AND you'll get an idea what yourneighbours are like...

00ec25

kev_pecker wrote: »

Agreed on the first point, I'm pretty sure this one is a little bit out

Gosport - highly desirable area, second only to Sandbanks, so £1.4m seems eminently reasonable

witchy1066

Knock on next door and say you are thinking of buying next door and was wondering what the neighbours are like , they will either laugh and say well we are nice but don't know about anyone else as we haven't been here long,or grunt at you , or maybe just maybe and it has happened to us , invite you in to see "what they have done to theirs"

last time we did this the bloke came out and said "we are great but her on the other side is a bit dodgy" it turned out to be his MIL and he was joking (I think)
we didn't buy the house but we pop up often for a chat
strange situations that friendships are made

anyway its worth a try , what have you to lose ?

witchy1066

Here , here , G_M totally agree,

invaluable when looking to buy

caeler

I sold my old house via a part-exchange and the price the developer then sold it on for was significantly less than what I 'sold' it to them for and what I had originally bought it for from said developer 18 months earlier. It certainly looks like a dip for the neighbouring properties. The highest of that type being purchased £21K more than what mine later sold for 2 years later. Ouch.

phoebe1989seb

00ec25 wrote: »

Gosport - highly desirable area, second only to Sandbanks, so £1.4m seems eminently reasonable

LOL :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Seriously, I agree with ValHaller - when it comes to rural properties there can be a vast difference in values.......our nearest neighbour bought their house in the village six months before us for less than half the price we paid - but you could fit the whole of their house into our kitchen!