Can I get your opinion on this House?

Rony

@Slithery
Okay Thank you

@hazyjo
Well if I were the seller and someone came in with a lower offer then I may possibly want to hear their reasons why they think that is a good idea. But I guess you're right, a shorter email, straight to the point is more professional. Okay, yes I will say that.

Hm, I am a Londoner through and through, so Reading is unfortunately a no. The reason why I choose East London when I work in Paddington is because my family is here in the East. I want to live closer to them, but not so close (30 mins away is a good distance, my family live in Barkingside area). The travel at the moment for me is 1hr ish, my previous job (where I drove to Tunbridge Wells every day) was 1hr 30 on a good day. This property here in Kidbrooke, would take me maybe 1hr door to door so I am okay with it. 

I want to live within Zone 4 as I am a young professional I guess (not sure if it is PC to say that nowadays haha), and would like to stay relevant whilst I'm young (More time after work to socialise, less travel time, shorter time for people to get to my house etc). Living outside of Zone 4 can be a bit troublesome at my age I think. I also currently live in Zone 4 and it is quite good, so I guess that is my initial benchmark.

I am a bit complex haha

bouicca21

If I had a choice, the commute from Kidbrooke to Paddington would not be on my list. Changing trains is always a pain and takes far longer than it ought to. 

hazyjo

Rony said:

@hazyjo
Well if I were the seller and someone came in with a lower offer then I may possibly want to hear their reasons why they think that is a good idea. But I guess you're right, a shorter email, straight to the point is more professional. Okay, yes I will say that.

Hm, I am a Londoner through and through, so Reading is unfortunately a no. The reason why I choose East London when I work in Paddington is because my family is here in the East. I want to live closer to them, but not so close (30 mins away is a good distance, my family live in Barkingside area). The travel at the moment for me is 1hr ish, my previous job (where I drove to Tunbridge Wells every day) was 1hr 30 on a good day. This property here in Kidbrooke, would take me maybe 1hr door to door so I am okay with it. 

I want to live within Zone 4 as I am a young professional I guess (not sure if it is PC to say that nowadays haha), and would like to stay relevant whilst I'm young (More time after work to socialise, less travel time, shorter time for people to get to my house etc). Living outside of Zone 4 can be a bit troublesome at my age I think. I also currently live in Zone 4 and it is quite good, so I guess that is my initial benchmark.

I am a bit complex haha

No probs, I do understand. I'm also from east (Chigwell Row) so obviously know Barkingside very well. I've lived all over so know a lot of areas (even put offers on houses in Tunbridge Wells lol). I'm also complex LOL.

Actually, I lived in SE3 (Kidbrooke Park Rd), SE9 (twice) and SE10 albeit some time ago. Knew the areas well - and moved there for exactly the same reasons - was just far enough away (with the water inbetween) from family!

I only moved out to Leigh on Sea a couple of years ago but it's not stopped me going out (I'm probably old by your standards, but still out in London regularly lol). Easy journey. Just not from Paddington!

I suppose Hainault/Chigwell border is too close to family? My friend's selling a lovely flat there. She initially had loads of interest (3 viewings and 3 offers including one over asking price) but with lockdown it all went a bit mad so she's just starting again.

dani17

Hi, I am the seller of the house. could you just offer me 310 to avoid wasting time? hahahahahaha

hazyjo

dani17 said:

Hi, I am the seller of the house. could you just offer me 310 to avoid wasting time? hahahahahaha

Gone from being a FTB in April to quickly buying and selling then lol (just in case the OP panics!)

dani17

haha. I would rather create a special account just for this comment hahaha

coachman12

Hi Rony.  Some years ago I lived in a house overlooking Blackheath Common so I know the adjacent area including Kidbrooke very well.  Personally, having read this thread, if I were you, I'd pass on this property. Given your radius for purchase, I think you could do better with your available funds, without having to spend about £50k on improvements. Whether you still have a yen for Kidbrooke or whether you want to spend a bit more time to look at other areas within your extended radius, I feel that a different house to the one you have placed on this thread is something you might wish to ponder on as you look at more properties, either in Kidbrooke or a slightly wider area, Whatever choice you make, all the very best, Rony.

NinjaTune

"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."

From the floorplan, I suspect yours was originally a 3 bed too.  The upstairs looks like it's been changed so that the master bedroom has incorporated the box room.  The overall square footage is probably pretty much the same.

The property you like has a lot of work to be done but also a lot of value to be added, so if the guide is 325-350 then I doubt they'll bite at 300k as it's only been on the market for 3 weeks.  It's got 2 gardens, off road parking, good size living room, decent size kitchen, opportunity to put in a downstairs WC near the back door, huge master bedroom and a good sized second bedroom.  It's got what looks like a reasonable sized back garden and some greenery in the local area from the school playing fields.  Not sure what the noise levels are like from the A207 under 'normal' traffic conditions.  The place has got a lot of potential, I like it.

pinkteapot

Agree with the others saying don't go into too much detail on reasons when making an offer. If you list out detailed reasons then the seller could just come back and disagree with them. 

I usually just ring and say something like "We like the house, it could really work for us. We're in XYZ position. So our offer is £x." If necessary, adding anything you want included in the price like carpets and curtains (probably not relevant for a renovation property). 

Rony

@bouicca21
Southeastern to Jubilee to Bakerloo. I don't use the southeastern often, so perhaps there can be hiccups in the first change. But jubilee to bakerloo are both fairly frequent, so there shouldn't be any problems there. Also, with working from home becoming more accepted now, commuting may not be too much of an issue. (Also I think I may change jobs next year (once settled in with mortgage and stable), and move closer to Central London)

@hazyjo
Oh wow you have lived everywhere! And yes, Hainault and Chigwell are just next door so too close unforuntately. 

@dani17
Not going to lie you gave me a mini heart attack there! Started to get cold sweats lol thank Hazyjo for having my back haha

@coachman12
I hear you. You say I can get better for my budget, however I have been looking for the past 6 months and I can tell you there isn't a lot of supply for my requirements! This place fits all my requirements and has amazing potential. You also mention that spending £50k is a drawback. On one hand from the financial point of view it is as an initial large outlay, but on the other hand, as a new homeowner I am excited to actually rip the house apart and put in my personally chosen bathrooms, kitchen, carpets etc. Plus the £50k would be an investment rather than an expense. The one thing that I may be slightly worried about is that I have no renovation experience. Having so much done on a house in one go, may overwhelm me in the sense that I understand that with renovations things don't always go to plan (extra costs, builders taking shortcuts etc)

@NinjaTune
The square footage of my current place is 781
The square footage of the sold place last year is 907
That's almost 130 extra square footage which is about the size of a decent medium room?
It has recently come back onto the market yes, but it fell through beforehand (I think it was on the market since January 2020 the first time round). But yes, there has been a lot of interest in the property on the viewing day this time round so I take your point that £300k might be too low. But that is what my budget allows so I will have to go with that. Any higher and I won't have any money to renovate.
I agree with you, that's why I like this property, it has a lot of potential.

@pinkteapot
Thank you, thankfully I haven't sent me email yet. ALso, you mention calling, I was planning on doing it over email so that it is less awkward? Is offer over email a big faux pas?