Viewing this house tomorrow - grateful for any pointers

movingtomacc

PasturesNew said:

Yes, that loo in the middle's annoying, shame they couldn't have worked out how to get it by the front door.  That was a bugbear in my last house, I had a "fit for the disabled" loo slap bang in the middle, much bigger than the loo in this house; I felt I was forever walking through the hallway and round the loo for no good reason - along with the annoying opening/closing doors behind me each way.  But, a layout is what it is and while you can have preferences we aren't all able to "choose".  Buying is more about finding the fewest annoyances  

Absolutely. If it manages to tick 75% of our boxes without missing out on any "must-haves", we're pretty happy.

The requirement for a downstairs toilet (my partner has a bad knee so need to minimise going up/down stairs) is what we have been struggling with when house hunting. The typical terraced house in the Macc town area doesn't come with one and rarely lends itself to installing a new one.

Chandler85

I think you will find it to small.

Even the pictures make it look tiny!  Master is on the 2nd floor (going by it having an ensuite) and it's small. 

If you already live in Macc then you know parking can be a pain.  Check if there are visitor spaces.

Thrugelmir

Biggest concern would be what's behind outside. Never keen on having walkways/pathways behind the property in built up areas. Worth viewing the property at different times of the day. 

BelowTheLine

I will echo those who have advised a walk around the back.

Also what the bin system is. My guess would be that they’ll be left out for collection in the parking area.

The price is quite high for a small 3 bed terraced house in the area, so I would expect gentle depreciation over the next decade or so as it ages and tends towards the average.

BikingBud

2010 said:

On the face of it, it looks OK.
Remember you don`t have to make a decision there and then and you can always go back and view again.
Take whatever the EA says with a pinch of salt. All they are interested in is ---- commision for a sale.
Maybe the previous owner bit off more than they could chew or maybe didn`t like living at 13.

https://silkdaleliving.com/developments/newton-street/

What's not to like, the link above says Stylish Townhouse and has got an Audi outside 

Shame the garden is an oversized patio, there appears to be no fence or lush vegetation at the front, a lamp post outside the front of the house forcing light into the bedrooms, the gate at the RHS is not actually there just your off road parking with a two large work vans already there.

Oh and don't forget to look closely at the 2 mill type buildings adjacent that will also entice additional illegal parking.   

Tom99

All 6 properties are owned by Consortium Business Services Ltd using buy to let mortgages from Paragon Bank on all apart from No 13 where the lender is Handelsbanken plc.

For some reason they are selling No 13, so you need to make some enquiries as to why if you are still interested after you view.

It's likely that the other 5 are still let if that affects your decision.

davidmcn

Tom99 said:

All 6 properties are owned by Consortium Business Services Ltd

...who appear to be a related company to Silkdale Living, so basically you'd be buying from the developer, and you can ignore the previous "price" as it obviously wasn't an arm's length transaction.

movingtomacc

Tom99 said:

All 6 properties are owned by Consortium Business Services Ltd using buy to let mortgages from Paragon Bank on all apart from No 13 where the lender is Handelsbanken plc.

For some reason they are selling No 13, so you need to make some enquiries as to why if you are still interested after you view.

It's likely that the other 5 are still let if that affects your decision.

Wow. How on earth did you unearth that information?! That's amazing and really good to know. It raises questions as to why they weren't able to sell to other buyers in January 2019 and why they're trying to offload it now.

I had a snoop around on my way in to work this morning and the houses don't show any signs of being lived in. There were a couple of cars in the parking area but that could just be others living in the area.

I will update once we've viewed it later this afternoon.

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

Ah, that makes sense now. What the builder did above is not unusual, especially in markets that aren't conducive for expensive house sales. I saw a lot of this during the great recession. They may have decided that early 2019 wasn't a good time to sell and held out until the outlook was rosier. As David said, ignore the 235k price.

The inability to sell could also indicate bigger issues such as risks they didn't account for (flooding?) etc. The easiest way to get a better idea would be to take a look at the BLP policy and go to the endorsements section which (quite often) can point out areas likely to cause trouble.

Paragon probably hit an exposure limit and hence they had to rope in another lender as well in the form of Handelsbanken. The interest rate for H is probably higher than the Paragon mortgages hence it being sold first. I've never worked with H, so can't say that for sure.

This initial sale is probably a test balloon. If you like the house and can afford to wait, I would see how this listing progresses. Based on the information you have at present, I am reasonably confident that the other properties will come on to the market once this is sold. You will also have a better idea of the price by then.

warby68

I think there is a danger of over-paying here with it being the first one. Its not uncommon for developers to hive properties off into their own investment company but in my experience its because they couldn't sell them. 
I get the downstairs loo need but how does the master bedroom being on 2nd floor counter that?
For some reason I wouldn't want to be the only owner occupier in a row of rentals - round here (NW also) rental tends to depress the price.
I like the modern styling (although the frontage has been cheapened a fair bit from the original advertising mock up ) but not the downstairs layout - more like a 2 bed downstairs than a 3 bed with the tiny kitchen. I understand the design might work well for you but anything a bit 'off' proportion wise attracts a smaller pool when looking at resale.
On the other hand, if they are trying to offload because they have to (lender pressure possibly) you might get away with a cheeky offer.