How much to offer for house? Anticipating mortgagee's valuation?

anewman

Been looking at the following house. EA said current offer is £125k and vendor would be looking for more. It went off the market a while ago, and recently came back. EA said there is a sale proceeding on the property, but taking long so vendor has asked to re-advertise in the hope a buyer may come along looking for a quick purchase, ideally a cash buyer. Property was previously a business on ground floor, and has permission for residential use. I understand it to be freehold.

I would be a first time buyer buying with a mortgage so looking to complete ASAP with no chain, which could work in my favour. I think the most likely hurdle would be the Mortgagee's valuation of the property. If I offered £130k and the valuation came back at £120k or less, it's unlikely I could make up the difference.

Many thanks.

Thrugelmir

Cash buyer suggests there's an issue with the property. Find out what the delay was caused by. May well not to be suitable for mortgage purposes. 

anewman

Thrugelmir said:

Cash buyer suggests there's an issue with the property. 

EA said "ideally cash buyer" so not exclusively. I suspect the issue is buyer being able to sell their house.

davidmcn

Has there been planning permission to incorporate the shop premises into residential? If not then it's not going to be acceptable for any standard residential mortgage.

Also check out the shop next door, as that looks like it's been vacant for a long time (and deteriorating) - I expect a mortgage valuer to make negative comment about that.

anewman

davidmcn said:

Has there been planning permission to incorporate the shop premises into residential?

EA says it has.

SameOldRoundabout

You can look at planning application history via the council website. I’d check that first. 

Doozergirl

"Ideally cash" suggests that there is a bit of a mortgage issue going on and that's what causing delays.  Almost certainly along the lines of what davidmcn has said. You're possibly not going to be in a better position than the current buyers unless you get a good mortgage broker who can avoid the risk averse ones - that's if the planning permission has been obtained.   

Even if it has been, that room looks very much like a shop and so a mortgage company may well look at it and think 'not a house'.  

It looks like an awkward one just from the photos.  

davidmcn

SameOldRoundabout said:

You can look at planning application history via the council website.

Not with this one.
Ask EA to see the planning permission?
It doesn't look great from a FTB point of view anyway.

anewman

davidmcn said:

It doesn't look great from a FTB point of view anyway.

The main appealing factor is floor space. Considering where I currently live, nearly all properties on the market seem tiny - even those described as "spacious". The idea of buying something run down that needs substantial work doesn't put me off. I'd hope it would be a case of saving and making rolling improvements as and when affordable, prioritising the important things such as rewiring.

Coming to the conclusion this particular house might not be the one though, and I'd be in a better position with more saved.