1st Time Buyer

dee4life2005

I'm currently living at home with my folks, but a house has come up for sale in our street that is of interest. It is a 2-double bedroom victorian style stone build house and the previous owners were an elderly couple, one of whom sadly passed away and the other is now in care. They don't appear to have spent a penny on the house since the 70's and the list of things needing done is fairly extensive .... although nothing major from what I can tell.

• new bathroom,
• new kitchen,
• completely re-wired
• completely re-plumbed, as it contains some lead piping - but it
• needs fully plumbed anywhere to fit central heating
• completely re-decorated, including flooring / carpets
• exterior stonework needs repointed in places
• chimney stack needs reseated and repointed
• some slates need re-adjusted on roof
• new windows, except master bedroom
• exterior weather boards need replaced as they are rotting in places
• iron guttering is rotting in places and needs repaired / replaced
• boundary fencing can do with some maintenance.

My dad is a sparky by trade so the re-wiring is covered, and he knows alot of folk in other trades.

The asking price is offers over 165k, with the home report valuation saying the valuation is 160k. Checking on zoopla shows that other similar houses in the street went for about 190k in 2008-2010. We reckon it'll probably cost 30-40k to completely bring up to scratch ... more like 20k if we do almost all of it ourselves (which is feasible, except plumbing).

I have a 35k deposit, so should be in the 20-25% LTV criteria for a morgage provided it doesn't go much about 165k offers over price ... and still have the savings available for the above list of things needing done.

I have a viewing lined up for tomorrow, which is more a formality really as I already know the house, and was thinking about putting in an offer. Given the amount of work needing done, and the home report valuation ... would an initial opening offer of 150k-155k seem okay, or would this come across as a bit cheeky ?

cattie

You can offer what you like but be prepared for a refusal if vendor thinks it is unreasonable. However, you could well be lucky & have your offer accepted, so you won't know until you try!

If houses were selling circa £190k between 2008-10 then it sounds as if it's already reasonably priced to allow for updating. I guess you are in Scotland though as you talk about a home report valuation and the house is priced at offers over?

As internal decoration, style of kitchen etc. etc are pretty much a personal choice, many vendors are not prepared to knock the whole cost of a buyer getting work done off of the price.