How to approach this property?

TheCyclingProgrammer

Struggling to find a good reason why the EA might have Photoshopped it. The more I look at it the more I think it might have been; the repeated brickwork on the bottom left has all the signs of somebody copying and pasting a layer several times.

Just bizarre. We went in the garden, don't remember seeing anything remiss about it besides being a bit of a mess. How strange.

specialboy

The lounge is unliveable with that pillar in the middle of the room, the frontage looks out of proportion for the size of the building and the rear area looks on the small side too

Bouncybubbles

Having just lived next to a primary school for 3.5 years I can tell you exactly what it's like. Having a drive means nothing to parents dropping their kiddies off. 'No stopping outside the school' means they will stop everywhere else including right Infront of your drive. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to leave the house only to find the drive blocked by an empty car! Also you don't want to have anything delivered during those hours with a van etc as the road will almost certainly be inaccessible. It's noisy at break times so be aware if you are working from home. To put it another way how annoying do you think all of the above becomes over time. We were fine with it all at first, however I am so glad we moved after 3.5 years of it.

Bouncybubbles

I know it may seem that I am being a killjoy but if you are planning on staying there a few years it's just a few things to bear In mind, also I wasn't next door I was about 6 houses down. So possibly a lot worse for closer people

milliemonster

To be honest, it's totally irrelevant whether you or anyone else thinks its overpriced or realistically priced, if you want the house, you just have to offer what you are prepared to pay for it, they either accept or they don't, you can argue with them til you're blue in the face that you think it's overpriced because of x, y and z, but if they have a price in mind they will sell at, it will make no difference to you getting the house at the price you want.

You are overanalyzing and by going over it with a fine tooth comb on your second viewing to them give them a whole host of reasons why you want to offer much much less that it is on the market for, will unlikely sway them to accept your offer.

If you want the house, just offer what you are prepared to pay without all the 'reasons why'. They will either say yes or not

davisc02

I think Millie is right, you are over analyzing things and trying to put yourself in the owners shoes. For all you know the owner may have spent 100k on it, he may have had a crappy first builder and lost 20k the first time round or he thought he could be a property developer, realised how hard it is and bodged everything to save money, who knows. Like the other posters have said you have to offer what you think its worth, if it gets accepted great if it doesn't look else where or up your price.
My personal view on this property is the school would be a problem, having the school run dictating when I should or shouldnt leave my house would be a big turn off.

martin.cat

Firstly you need to get your AIP sorted as if it's expired that would suggest you got it before MMR? Was introduced. You need this so that you are in the strongest position possible when you make a below asking price offer. A friend of my thought they could borrow 300 but this was reduced to 230 with MMR
At the end of the day it will be down to the vendor and their thoughts / budget as to whether they accept. When selling our house we had 2 picky viewers whom made offers and in the end I polity told them that it's obvious they can't afford so don't waste my time anymore. The upshot of that was that one came back with a much better offer very close to the asking price. However I had another offer on the table so took delight in telling the picky people that had messed around too long and missed out.
It's near a school? What's the problem other than parking when you will most probably be at work. The school is a big plus for me as it could increase your promptly value if it's a good one and your in the catchment. Also it's unlikely to be knocked down and redeveloped in the near future into flats etc.
As for the photoshop I would suggest that's it's something to do with the extension guttering and the works not quite finish

Try you cheeky offer it may work given the price increases
The only real way is to have it surveyed and that will stregthen price reduction especially if it doesn't meet mortgage valuation
Other than that you may need t sit tight and allow other interest to subside and for the vendor to get impatient

TheCyclingProgrammer

We got our AIP after MMR was introduced. It expires after 3 months and our lender changed their criteria in advance of MMR starting anyway. No issues there and in not getting another until we are ready to make an offer.

House has been on the market for four months and I don't think it's had a lot of interest to be honest, because of the school.

Anyway after sleeping on it we are having second thoughts about the property as the more we look at it the less we like the open plan layout - it is very awkward.