Viewing this house tomorrow - grateful for any pointers

movingtomacc

warby68 said:

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 definitely need to make sure there isn't anything major that prevented them from successfully selling the houses when first built.

It's just the two of us. If we do buy the property, we'll be using the larger room on the first floor and Airbnb'ing out the ensuite on the top. We're doing the same in the house we're renting at present and doing well, even in winter. I wouldn't have guessed it but Macc sees a lot of tourists and visitors!

B_DOG

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.

@Tom99 How DID you figure this out! 

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

B_DOG said:

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.

@Tom99 How DID you figure this out! 

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08840404/charges

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

Having had a look at the change in non-current liabilities in the accounts, it looks like the houses are on 75% LTV mortgages.

If that is indeed the case, the fact that Paragon was willing to lend at 75% LTV on a new build is (by itself) says that it's adequate security for a mortgage and a positive indication that reduces the probablity of there being anything fundamentally wrong with the property.

Of course that doesn't mean that everything is alright or that it's worth the asking price.

Tom99

movingtomacc said:

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 got the ownership details from Nimbus maps (which you can do with the free version if the owner is a company or other non-private owner) and the mortgage details from Companies House.

george4064

movingtomacc said:

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser said:

- all the land registry transactions are marked Cat 'B' and all exactly the same price 235,000 and same date in Jan 2019, which is somewhat unusual unless it's one person/company that bought the units in bulk. Do try and find out who the vendor is. It doesn't affect the house itself but might help in getting a sense of how much lower they might go.

- the 235,000 might not necessarily be the cash that exchanged hands if there was a builder's discount / cash incentive involved.

I think I understand what you are saying. I will probe with the EA in more detail when I go for the viewing. I was wondering why something bought for 235k in Jan 2019 would be listed for 220k a year later.

Sale price should be on the official Land Registry, have you checked there?

Andysandy

Given the circumstances, there is likely to be some leeway on the price so there should be room for negotiation.

Builders selling new builds prize speed so if the property is empty and you intend to make an offer, do make sure that the Estate Agent has full confidence in your ability to proceed and complete quickly.  

davidmcn

george4064 said:

movingtomacc said:

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser said:

- all the land registry transactions are marked Cat 'B' and all exactly the same price 235,000 and same date in Jan 2019, which is somewhat unusual unless it's one person/company that bought the units in bulk. Do try and find out who the vendor is. It doesn't affect the house itself but might help in getting a sense of how much lower they might go.

- the 235,000 might not necessarily be the cash that exchanged hands if there was a builder's discount / cash incentive involved.

I think I understand what you are saying. I will probe with the EA in more detail when I go for the viewing. I was wondering why something bought for 235k in Jan 2019 would be listed for 220k a year later.

Sale price should be on the official Land Registry, have you checked there?

Read the rest of the thread, the "sale price" here is meaningless.

coachman12

VERY handy for Tesco store     But you might try and ask some of the locals why 20 houses have been sold in Newton Street in the past 18-24 months ? It's probably nothing, especially as the average house prices keep going upwards in the street----but worth making a few enquiries perhaps. Also it never hurts to have a word with the local Neighbourhood Watch and even the local bobbies as there's been above-national average crime increase in Macclesfield in recent years. 
It looks a nice house, and the last time I was in Cheshire ( relatives in Stockport) the town still retained its "market town" charm and, for somewhere that near to Manchester, looks a great place to live. The best of luck. Hope all goes well. Come back and let us all know how it all goes. Cheers. 

movingtomacc

VIEWING UPDATE - We really liked the house for the most part. The path at the rear was clean, no issues there. The kitchen is a bit small but we should be able to put up more counter space if needed. The room sizes are more than adequate for our needs.

Issues -
1. The street has a good slope and these are the only houses that are "below street level" so to speak. I don't know what happens if rain water comes down the pavement, it does rain a LOT around here. The EA didn't know but said that he's sure it's all ok as it's almost new-build. I guess I could just walk over when we next get heavy rains and see for myself.

2. As per the EA, the houses were rented out by the developer (which I guess we already knew thanks to MSE Forum! ) but are now being sold. He says it was tenanted but I'm not sure that is true as everything looks untouched. None of the other houses look occupied either. The parking lot had a couple of cars on it, but that could just be the neighbours.

3. If we do decide to offer, I have no idea what price we should start at! Totally confused by all the facts I now have access to, lol!

He did say that they have been busy with viewings for this house, but I just take that to be standard EA talk