Help us make on offer

warby68

I think you're right to be wary and that you may come unstuck with the valuation anyway if you only have a small deposit.
There is usually a ceiling price for a street or small area as well. You don't really want to pay an outlier price.
Very few houses will increase in value by a full third without being extended and increasing the square footage. The rest is generally cosmetic which depreciates rapidly. Its possible they've over-developed on a £150k property.
How does it compare to other 3 beds?
If you're going to live there forever and would like a nice easy first few years then the price doesn't matter so much but sounds like you may move so I think that £50k increase is significant.

Thrugelmir

Sounds like a classic example of a lot spending money and not adding as much value. Doesn't sound like £50k's worth of improvements. 

WiseOwl00

Thanks for all your advice, it's been really helpful.
The house is absolutely stunning and worth £200,000 to us personally. But as you've all said, cosmetic touches don't really add much value and may make it difficult for us to get a mortgage. Plus I fear we'd lose a lot of equity. 

Mickygg

It sounds to me like they may have priced the house right, they have viewings and you are interested.
I bought my last house similar to this, all done up and the price was too high which I knew. I ended up paying more than the property was worth to get it. Do I regret it? Nope as we have had many happy years here.
a similar property round my way has done this, sold for 40% more after just a year and it was completely renovated. It sold very quickly.
people do want to pay a premium for done up houses, like you and me. However it sounds like you are uncomfortable doing this whereas I wasn’t. 

The main thing I would be very weary of is downgrading the house to a 3 bed. Unless the fourth bedroom was a box room like 6x5 I would have thought this would devalue the property.

WiseOwl00

Mickygg said:

It sounds to me like they may have priced the house right, they have viewings and you are interested.
I bought my last house similar to this, all done up and the price was too high which I knew. I ended up paying more than the property was worth to get it. Do I regret it? Nope as we have had many happy years here.
a similar property round my way has done this, sold for 40% more after just a year and it was completely renovated. It sold very quickly.
people do want to pay a premium for done up houses, like you and me. However it sounds like you are uncomfortable doing this whereas I wasn’t. 

The main thing I would be very weary of is downgrading the house to a 3 bed. Unless the fourth bedroom was a box room like 6x5 I would have thought this would devalue the property.

I completely agree. At the end of the day, if someone wants a luxurious house then they might as well save some time by buying one which is already done up. The £50,000 might just be cosmetic additions, but if the buyers were going to spend that renovating it themselves anyway then it doesn't really make a difference. 

We didn't end up putting an offer in, in the end. We've gone for a property which is the same price, but on a road of other similar priced houses. We decided as first-time buyers we'd like to build some equity first and have a go at doing some slight renovations ourselves.