Great house, but two next door are also for sale! Is it dodgy or a coincidence?

deskjet

Hi all,

My partner and I are first time buyers. We've seen a great house; good value, has the features we want in a decent area.

It is one of three houses built together. However the two other houses on the left on the one we're interested in are also on the market.

I've found out that one of the houses has been on the market one year with no offers, the second has been on since Feburary with no offers and the one we're interested in was put on the market in January, taken off in March to rent, then put back on the market for sale in July/August.

The other two houses are on the market for £25k more than the one we like - they're almost identical but the one we like has a smaller garden and the garage is in a separate block instead of being attached.

The vendors of the property we are interested in have moved out of the area and have reduced the price to cut ties with the area (according to the ever trusty estate agent!).

We have a viewing soon. I feel optimistic because the house looks ideal for us, but I have a niggling voice in my head asking "Why are all 3 on the market at the same time?" - particularly as it's on quite a large estate and there aren't loads of homes for sale on there.

Is it just coincidence or should I be looking for something? I intend to knock on a few doors before/after the viewing to try and fish out some info from a few, hopefully nosey, neighbours.

Any help/advice greatly appreciated

epz_2

i would go view all three and play the off against each other, if somewhere ddint sell in a year the owners know its overpriced and should be up for a lower offer, if not just say hey ill buy next doors then.

for the cost of some shoe leather i would certainly speak to the neighbors, its nice to meet them before hand anyway.

remember odds are you will end up renters as neighbors which could be anything from a nice professional to hoards of students/ immigrants so make sure you get a good price.

deskjet

Thanks.

The other two houses next door both have chains, so it's unlikely that they'll be moving for some time as I think if they had somewhere else already then their houses would be vacant like the one we're interested in is.

We're certainly going to ask a few of the neighbours in the surrounding area; whether it'll shed any more light on it is another matter!

david29dpo

I would definitely ask questions about the area. I had to pull out 1 day before exchange after talking to neighbours. Turned out the local kids where the sporn of satan and no one could sell. It was even in the local papers.

telfordwhite

I often notice several houses for sale in close proximity in nice areas.

It is fairly common when someone puts their house up for sale that the neighbours reassess their own circumstances especially when they see how much the EA thinks it could be worth.



Could just be that.

VickyM_2

Could just be pure coincidence - it happened on our terrace of 15 houses, two years in a row! (and no, it wasn't something I'd said). The first time, one old lady died, one went to live with her daughter, and the third house owner moved in with a new girlfriend. This year, two people got new jobs away from the area. It did give the people buying a chance to compare and contrast, and pick what they were really happy with, so it may well work for you.

SquatNow

So from what you've said it sounds like this:
Overpriced new-builds, bought off plan on 1 or 2 year fixes. Buyers can't afford payments now rates have reset, so all have to sell at once. 2 houses were OO one was BTL, and BTLer is more desperate to sell as after the 2 year reset his yeild went to the dogs.

Anyone else got any better analysis?

Either way they are clearly WAY overpriced, probably because the current owners need to get back what they payed, and they probably paid 20-40% over true value because they were "new".

bylromarha

We bought on a new estate in 2001. We were all pretty similar, young couples, professionals.

We all were in the same point of life so when kid number 2 came along most people moved on as the house wasn't too big. We put our house on the market 6 months after next door sold and the other side put their house on the market just after we found a buyer.

So could be perfectly innocent reasons.