Propoerty marketed as a 3-bed but in fact a 2-bed with loft room

bouicca21

I've been looking in SE London and the market really has calmed down, properties are starting to stick. I completed a month ago - and, yes, I paid less than asking price.

jaylee3

kakasha wrote: »

I'm paying £20k, not £30k above the asking price. It is a dream house as everything except the loft is superb: location, garden, massive master bedroom, big kitchen and so on. The loft isn't dodgy, it's actually quite nice but not a bedroom - and that's my issue as it was advertised as a 3-bed property (as per my first post).

It's not an awful house. It's just overpriced for what it really is. And I'm feeling massively let down by the agency who has simply lied to us and made us think we were making an offer for a 3-bed house.

I will not agree with anyone who says the average property sell price in Ldn is lower than the asking price - not going to argue about it anymore.

Well then buy it if you want it. But you did ask for opinions and views, and many people have given you their views, but you seem to have already made up your mind.

As I said, I would run a mile from it, but if you want it, buy it.

kakasha

I've asked for opinions and many who have posted here have helped me made my decision which is going back to the asking price which is relevant to what the property is worth.

I still want this house but it does require some work done before it becomes a 3-bed as it has been advertised. Therefore the price has to come down. If the vendors say no then tough luck, we've lost a third home and we have to accept that.

zzzLazyDaisy

It sounds as if you need a mortgage, in which case the decision may be made for you, since the lender will decide what it is willing to lend on the house and you will have to make the difference up in cash, plus keeping aside the funds that you need to make the loft room safe.

Also, do bear in mind that the regs re loft bedrooms have got much stricter. A loft bedroom can only be sold as such if (and only if) it has been signed off by building regs (which yours hasn't). That means it can only be sold as a loft storage space, as you have found out. The estate agents are only to blame here insofar as they did not ask to see the building regs cert before marketing the property (a mistake that they prob won't make again) but this is the sort of thing that often doesn't surface until the solicitors start asking for information.

Next time you buy, you will know to ask to see copies of the buildings regs certificates for any loft or garage conversions (another one where people get caught out) BEFORE making an offer.

Right now, you are caught in the process and emotionally invested in getting through to the end. You need to take a step back and look at it unemotionally, because by the time you come to sell, the general buying public will be much wiser to these issues and you will find it difficult to sell the property without taking a significant hit in real terms.

Daisy

DRP

bouicca21 wrote: »

I've been looking in SE London and the market really has calmed down, properties are starting to stick. I completed a month ago - and, yes, I paid less than asking price.

Agree (ime).

A relative is trying to sell in 'upcoming' Hither Green and is hardly even getting a viewing despite using the approx valuation suggested by 4 agents...

JimmyTheWig

kakasha wrote: »

I still want this house but it does require some work done before it becomes a 3-bed as it has been advertised.

Did you not know this when you made the offer?
If so, I'm not quite sure why:

Therefore the price has to come down.

kakasha

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Did you not know this when you made the offer?
If so, I'm not quite sure why:

Of course I didn't know that - we thought we were buying a 3-bed house as this is how the property was being advertised and talked about by the agent. Otherwise I wouldn't have started this threat.

We're no building experts and didn't realise that what the agency was calling the 3rd bedroom is in fact just a loft storage room. You would have thought they know what they're talking about right?

kakasha

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

It sounds as if you need a mortgage, in which case the decision may be made for you, since the lender will decide what it is willing to lend on the house and you will have to make the difference up in cash, plus keeping aside the funds that you need to make the loft room safe.

We do need a mortgage but the lender will still lend us money as we have a large deposit so that valuation doesn't change much from their perspective.

JimmyTheWig

kakasha wrote: »

Of course I didn't know that - we thought we were buying a 3-bed house as this is how the property was being advertised and talked about by the agent. Otherwise I wouldn't have started this threat.

We're no building experts and didn't realise that what the agency was calling the 3rd bedroom is in fact just a loft storage room. You would have thought they know what they're talking about right?

Oh, ok, sorry I didn't realise that bit. Maybe I've mis-remembered.

In which case the questions are
1. Is the house still suitable for you for the next 5+ years? [It sounds like the answer is yes.]
2. Is the house worth as much to you as you thought it was? [It sounds like the answer is no due to its re-sale value.]

In which case [i.e. if my "sounds like" comments are correct] I think you are right to drop your offer accordingly.

Grunthos

DRP wrote: »

Agree (ime).

A relative is trying to sell in 'upcoming' Hither Green and is hardly even getting a viewing despite using the approx valuation suggested by 4 agents...

I'm down the road in New Eltham, and no slowdown here. The house next door to me - it's a terrace, so same layout, no extensions, very comparable to mine - went up for sale on the 11th, then went STC on the 15th. There was no open day that I was aware of, but it still sold in 4 days including a weekend! The guide price was the same as the guide price on mine was 9 months ago, so it'll be interesting to see what it's actually sold at.


I agree that the market is calming down a bit, but it's still pretty ridiculous. Also, agents are overusing the 'Offers over' and 'Guide price' trick; vendors tell them what they want, and they advertise it for 'Offers over' that minus 10%. So generally you have to offer 10% over to get to the price that the vendors really want in the first place. If you don't, there's no shortage of people queuing up behind who will.


Like the OP, I have been through the London wringer recently and I agree that almost everything ends up going for over the asking price, even in the wilds of Zone 5 and 6. I saw a place in Selhurst - hardly the most salubrious part of South London - advertised at £285K which went for over £315K back in January. I overpaid on the place I did buy, but the valuation came in on the nose and it's a long-term purchase, so I'm relying on HPI and inflation generally to make up for it.


The London market is always mad, but it's been even madder than usual in the last 12 months and at the peak earlier this year it was downright insane. Cash buyers in particular were a nuisance, driving the prices up beyond what mortgage buyers could afford. I'm glad to be out of it, even at the price I had to pay, and I sympathise entirely with the OP here.