How to approach this property?

TheCyclingProgrammer

A bit of background: we've been house hunting since April and must have viewed over 40 houses in that time. We've lost out on a few houses that we've offered on. Our budget started out at £250 and is now around £275. We are first time buyers in a good position, 20% deposit and an AIP (expired but we can get another one easily through my mortgage advisor).

After a bit of a break we saw four places today and one of them has us very interested. It was a bit of a spur of a moment viewing after a cancellation. I'd seen it on Rightmove and not given it much consideration due to its proximity to a primary school (right next door) but decided to give it a chance.

On inspection, it's a very big property, almost 150sq m according to the vendor and they added about 15 of those with a small rear extension. It also has an existing two story rear extension. It was previously marketed as a 5 bedroom but is now being marketed as 4 bed with an "office", probably because the 5th upstairs room is smaller than 7x7 ft, with about 2x2 ft unusable due to the stairs bulkhead and I don't think you'd get a bed in there. You can see he rest of the details in the listing:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44434255.html

At asking price it's outside our budget but my gut feeling is that the vendor is asking to much. We need to get this down by £15-20k.

A bit of research has unveiled some interesting information. The current vendor already owns a house in North London and wants to move back there so no chain. They bought this house last October for...£188k! How did it gain £107k in value in less than a year?

It went back on the market two months later for £220k (guide price £220-250k) and didn't sell. I'm guessing it was bought and done up to make a quick profit but didn't. Judging from our first viewing, this was a rush job - put some laminate down, slap on some magnolia, badly, and try and sell it. It still needs more work IMO as it's clearly not been done up with much attention to detail. Old skirti and architrave in desperate need of replacing has had some gloss slapped on it, bad paint job etc. you get the picture.

Vendor then had the extension built and from what I can gather from the old listing, removed an internal wall, changed the layout and put in a new big kitchen. EA, probably exaggerating claims vendor has spent loads of money, maybe close to £100k which I don't believe for one minute. £50k I could believe.

It then went on the market for £295k in May and increased after 3 days to £320k and stayed there until August when it went back to £295k. Still hasn't sold.

My gut instinct is that it's still overpriced. The average house price on the close is £190k. They have clearly spent money on the house but they haven't added that much space to it. There are parts of the surrounding area where a 4 bed can command £300k but they are detached and not right next to a primary school which the vendor admitted has put many people off. I think £265-275k is more realistic. £320k just seems ludicrous and I can't see what they are asking standin up to a mortgage valuation.

I suspect the asking price is coming from the vendor not the EA. I know EAs are enthusiastic but I can't see why they would overinflate the price that much as their primary concern is to get a sale and it's clearly not selling!

Anyway, I spoke to the EA on the phone this afternoon and gave some initial feedback and expressed an interest and said we would be arranging a second viewing. I sent a follow up email asking some further questions such as building control completion certificate for the extension as I can't find it online, only the start notice approval.

I intend to go back for a second viewing with my FIL for a detailed inspection because like I said, I have a suspicion there's been a lot of bodged DIY going on. I'm more than happy - enthusiastic even - to spend the time and money to do the house up properly as I think it can be a really spectacular house with some imagination (I hate magnolia), TLC and attention to detail. I think it could be brought up to scratch with a budget of about £10k.

It ticks almost all our boxes. Good size garden which is great as I want to get a garden office (I work from home) in the future. I can live with living next to the school. I've weighed up the pros and cons and the pros outweigh the cons.

Does my analysis seem reasonable or am I wrong and do you think it's realistically prices? How do I best play his if we make an offer? I'm almost leaning towards an aggressive opening offer - £265k maybe. If the asking price is unrealistic but the vendor delusional then maybe we'll get nowhere but we can only try. They might just want to sell it now.

Sorry for the very lengthy post!

TheCyclingProgrammer

Apologies if there's any typos in the above, I wrote this on my iPad and I swear my typing is getting worse!

phill99

Having read your post and taken out the superfluous information, I'm still not sure what you are asking.

You have over analysed everything.

The bottom line is: just offer what you want to offer. Your analysis wont sway them one bit. They will either accept your offer or they will reject it. Its as simple as that. If you want to buy it then you will offer a bit more and if they want to sell it they will drop the price and you will meet somewhere in the middle.

phill99

Having just looked at your link, I wonder if some people are serious about selling their house. And I wonder if Estate Agents want to sell houses. The grass needs a serious cut. Plus, the down pipe from the gutter on the 2 storey rear extension is partially missing at the bottom, which is why there is water staining on the brick work.

And I'm sorry, but that lounge is hideous. Its been really badly thought out with that pillar right in the middle of the room. Sorry to rain on your parade.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Above is just further examples of why I want a detailed viewing. I assure you I expect the list of issues to be lengthy. The garden is a complete mess. The vendor repeatedly told us how he wasn't "green fingered". Lazy and prone to doing half a job would be my impression.

Maybe I am over analysing it. I was asking if my analysis of whether it's overpriced or not was reasonable. If I'm wrong and it's realistically priced then there's probably little chance of us getting it down to a price we can afford. I realise this could be the case anyway even if it is overpriced if the vendor is deluded and really thinks it's worth that despite still not selling (most places sell within weeks around here).

You're right, the layout of the living room with the column there isn't ideal but I think hideous is a bit OTT. I think we can make the layout work.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Just looked at the photo again - there is no missing drainpipe. There's something weird going on with that photo but there appears to be some weird artefacts/corruption or a very strange photoshop job going on. Look at the bottom left corner of the house.

Takeaway_Addict

Why have they Photoshopped it? Either way it's terrible

TheCyclingProgrammer

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

Why have they Photoshopped it? Either way it's terrible

I'm not sure they have, I think something weird has happened to the photo, it could just be a damaged file. Not sure what's going on with it to be honest.

phill99

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

Just looked at the photo again - there is no missing drainpipe. There's something weird going on with that photo but there appears to be some weird artefacts/corruption or a very strange photoshop job going on. Look at the bottom left corner of the house.

You're right. The grass has also been (badly) photoshopped. Also the window isn't right. The centre transom only goes half wayup the window, plus something is being reflected in the window which isn't there, plus the three light marks/ white paint on the right of the window aren't right. I think there has been a half finished structure against that rear wall (poss half finished conservatory) which the vendor has got rid of but the EA has just photoshopped it rather than getting a new pic. That explains why the downpipe stops half way down the wall. You would have thought they wouldn't have used the David Blunkett Graphic Design Agency to do their photoshop work would you?

The photo clearly shows the down-pipe clearly stopping half way down the wall. It doesn't go into the gulley where it is supposed to.

Argghhh

i would offer 249k save on stamp duty as well - i think you will need to be a bit more critical on your 2nd viewing, gotta agree with Phil on the lounge- and have u viewed house at start and end of school day with parking etc?

TheCyclingProgrammer

Trying to get a second viewing at one of those times. Parking shouldn't be an issue per se, there is a driveway, but access to could be an issue. There is no stopping allowed outside the school mind you.