Can I get your opinion on this House?

Rony

Hi,
So I had a house viewing today and I would like to have your opinion on it. I am not sure what the etiquette is on stuff like this, but anyways here's the property:
property-88954463 (can someone post the Rightmove link for me?)

Some added detail that the ad doesn't show:
- The garden does not look like what it does in the pictures. Neighbour 1 side fence is completely missing. You can literally walk into their garden. Neighbour B side fence is still there but it has almost half fallen over, propped up by the overgrown shrubs in our garden. 
- There is a tree near one of the fences, which I think I might have to chop down potentially if it is in the way of the fence.
- There are a lot of broken bits, chipped and impairments of frameworks etc in the hallways and flooring that you cannot see in the photos. 
- I need to ask this, but I get the feeling this house may need some re-wiring.
- Ex-Local Authority

My thoughts:
This is a fixer upper and needs a lot of work. I therefore think that the £325k is over-valued. Looking at other similar properties in the area, I get varied results. It is difficult because on Rightmove in the Other similar properties sections:

- The "For sale" section only shows you asking price, which is not the sold price. For example there is a property of the exact same structure on the same road going for £400k (although it is much nicer), however I think that is overvalued

- In the "Under Offer" section, it also does not show you the offer price, but the Asking price, so not so relevant when it comes to deciding whether it is over or undervalued.
- In the "Sold" Section - I feel this would be the most relevant, however I cannot go into the Ad anymore to see how similar it is to my property. I.e. it only shows sold price, date and a few pictures. Can't even see how many bedrooms these were...making it difficult to compare. 

From my calculations and costings, I believe it would cost around £30-40k to bring this house up to a livable medium standard. £50-£60k on the luxury side.
Do you think an offer of around £300k is reasonable just based on the ad and the above? Or is it a slap in the face?
Thanks,

Mickey666

I’ve no idea what the house is worth to you, but whatever it is THAT’S what you should offer.  Don’t worry about upsetting the seller, if they don’t like your offer they can simply say no.  

Scotbot

On rightmove go into the house prices tab. From there you can get prices for every house by postcode and you can filter by property type. 

UnderOffer

This is the sold prices for the street on Rightmove, the most recent being June 2019; so like you said difficult to gauge price for today. 

Is the property an ex rental? You may find the owner is happy to negotiate Price if they are selling a ‘business transaction’ and not their home. 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detail.html?country=england&locationIdentifier=STREET%5E1037962&searchLocation=Whetstone+Road&referrer=landingPage

ProDave

The only "sold" one that seems comparable is no 78 that sold in 2013 for £205K.  That one looks "done up"

So you need to find how much prices have risen between 2013 and now to give you an idea what this would be worth when done up and presentable.

Rony

@ Mickey666
I understand that concept, however my value of the house is likely to be affected me bias. I am therefore asking you guys what you think the value of the house is and then from there assess whether I am deluded in one way or another. If I go in at the wrong value I will lose leverage, so i just want to avoid that scenario.
@Scotbot
Oh I see I didn't know! Thanks
@UnderOffer
Thank you for this! I can see in that top result, the state of the house is in similar condition to my one. However it is a 3-bed as well and it went for £320k. So that gives me a bit of assurance that going for less is reasonable. Although I know that was 1 year-ago, I am discounting this factor by the current Covid situation on a rough level.

The property is currently under the ownership of an investor. Prior to the investor the property was rented out. The agent also told me that there was an offer on this house a few months ago, however they fell through due to Covid situation.

So you say that investors are more likely to negotiate on price? Hm I didn't know that, I guess it makes sense, as they don't have a forward chain, and also have less sentiment. 

But in the description it I £325-£350k. £325k is already the low point. Do you think it is reasonable to negotiate even lower?

@ProDave
Thank you for looking into this. I will have a look at increases since 2013.

UnderOffer

Rony said:

So you say that investors are more likely to negotiate on price? Hm I didn't know that, I guess it makes sense, as they don't have a forward chain, and also have less sentiment. 

But in the description it I £325-£350k. £325k is already the low point. Do you think it is reasonable to negotiate lower?

Well it could go both ways, as if an investor they could be hard nosed too and not want to negotiate. It all depends on their circumstances and how keen they are to sell. It’s worth testing the water with your offer, they may well be keen giving current circumstances. 

Give clear reasons to the EA as to why you offer that price, you could also mention the 2019 listing with more bedrooms. 

davidmcn

Rony said:

The property is currently under the ownership of an investor. Prior to the investor the property was rented out.

So how long ago did the investor buy it? According to Rightmove the last sale was in 2011.

Rony

@UnderOffer
Okay thanks I will do. The EA also mentioned at the viewing today that he had 10 more viewings today. Which puts a bit of pressure on me. I do know that this could be a marketing strategy, however can they lie like that?

@davidmcn
I'm not sure then....Agent said last person living in the house was Dec19 time....so I presumed it was the tenant from the previous landlord rather than the investor....unless he meant the investor is the same as the landlord? Not sure.

hazyjo

There are only two 2+ bed houses in the whole of SE3 for less than £350k (this is one of them, both in same road) so it hardly seems overpriced!

I owned 3 properties in SE3 (at separate times). Two were prob less than half a mile away. You obviously know that section (left of A2, north of Rochester Way) is not the nicest part with many council houses/streets, although I should imagine most are privately owned now. Unfortunately the nicer parts of Eltham and surrounding areas will be much pricier.

What's your criteria? Beds, max price, essentials?

davidmcn

Rony said:

unless he meant the investor is the same as the landlord?

Probably. It is an investment property from the landlord's point of view, after all.