Viewing this house - 18 months on market

campbell19925

Hi all,
I am going to view this house that's been on the market for 18 months and not had an offer. Is there anything I should be wary of when I go view it? I assume 18 months is out of the ordinary and it seems like there maybe an underlying issue? Maybe theres not and I'm being over cautious.
I rang the estate agent and asked why and they said "we just haven't found the right person yet".

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51326718.html

This is the property in question. Any comments/suggestions when I go for the viewing would be extremely helpful.
I have never viewed a house to buy before and I'm a first time buyer.

AdrianC

"We just haven't found the right person yet" = "We can't find anybody daft enough to ignore the decor and pay enough to make the deluded vendor happy"

Silvertabby

The decor is a relatively easy fix. The open stairs from the lounge would be much harder/costlier to sort out.

Rosieandjim

There is a lot of work to do but if the floorplan is what you want this can be done over a period of time. I expect it puts people off.

Crashy_Time

Offer 150k.

cattie

Unfortunately the very dated decor gives the house an incredibly claustrophoic feel so I expect many potential buyers will not even want to view after seeing the pics. I know I wouldn't unless the price was very low to counteract the thousands of £'s it will take to bring the house up to modern day standards. Every room seems to have horrible Artex ceilings too & would be a difficult house to try to live in whilst the required work to each room is done.

ceb1995

We bought our first house just over a year ago and it was 80s decor as they'd not changed much since they bought it and including the electrics and windows needing replacing, we've lived through redoing most of the house but it's challenging and has cost so you have to be prepared to take that on (we spent 15k). Make sure you check to see how old the heating system,electrics and boiler is.
The stairs in the house wouldn't be to everyones tastes so its whether you can live with that too. Compare the price to modern houses in the area and if the cost of the work is more than a modern house would cost i'd look elsewhere.

Smi1er

Plus the ensuite has an archway leading to it. Not a door.

markin

Mostly its just a lick of paint and taking out the wardrobes, but the bathroom probably stops most people who just want to move in and do very little work.


The Description is real poor, no mention of the DG, boiler and most room sizes are missing.

Albala

The decor is a lot more recent than 80s. Not my taste, but it isn't at all out of the way compared to all but the dismal 'grey everywhere' stuff people seems to want top dollar for at the moment. I can;t see much wrong with it, bar the stairs if you have young children.
Seems a reasonable size for the money to me, unless the area in general is very cheap.


By all means offer what Crashy suggests, but only if you want to end up like him. (Renting.)

HalfPint

The decor, although awful, can be fixed easily. Don’t underestimate however how many issues artex can cause, it seems to be on all the ceilings, and will need overboarding and plastering (easiest way). Those stairs in the living room would be a big no no for me. It’s a personal thing and I just don’t like them.

The kitchen according to the photograph seems to be an odd shape whereas it shown as rectangular on the plan.

The bedrooms look small because of those large wardrobes in every room. Why does the en-suite have an archway instead of a proper door? Not enough space for one perhaps? iAnd what’s the weird wee door in the middle of the bedroom wall, loft access maybe? Or storage? It’s just odd.

Check windows open/close and that none of the glazing is blown (condensation inside). Check boiler. Keep your eyes peeled for things that might be hiding problems. Check the outside, is the guttering well maintained or showing signs of wear/leaks. Take someone with you who’s sharp eyed and has experience of buying. It’s always good to have a second pair of eyes.

It’s certainly in a much better condition that our house was when we bought it. Try to see past the clutter and see if it would suit you and be within your budget for improvements (estimate £15k to £20k minimum). Go back for a second look, paying attention to anything you wanted to check out or look at again.

And lastly do you homework on the area, compare sold prices/similar properties and then do the math.

HP