Buying house: What would you do?

ChewyyBacca

hazyjo said:

PS re the one you linked to, I'd not choose to live on that side of the Progress Estate. Would buy to the east of the A205.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/80380126#/
Thanks for the tip @hazyjo
Perhaps the desirability of the area is the reason why it is unsold. This house has been on market for almost 6 months now, went SSTC in June, back again, went Under Offer on 15th July and came back on mkt again in Sept. And now £30K reduction in asking price

davidmcn

ChewyyBacca said:

davidmcn said:

ChewyyBacca said:
Pobate sale would mean there is an executor of the will, however multiple parties with interest in the sale proceeds. Making all these minds arrive at a decision, or resolve the discord between them, should one arise, would be a difficult and time-consuming process. So yes, as you said, more time will be an obvious given in such sales.

No, you seem misguided about this. The vast majority of executries are amazingly dull and straightforward - executors tend to be the beneficiaries (or beneficiary - there's not necessarily more than one residuary beneficiary with an interest in the property price), not people arbitrating among a crowd of bickering second cousins.

I think you are oversimplifying when you say more often than not there is one residuary beneficiary of a probate sale

That isn't what I said.

I have in the past dealt professionally with executries, there were disappointingly few contentious incidents despite the popular portrayal of them in fiction etc. Obviously people aren't likely to bother posting here about the executries where everything happened smoothly. And there is of course plenty of scope for other types of sale to involve disagreements among the people with interests in the property.

zagubov

ChewyyBacca said:

FTB_Help said:
What about this one https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/73607826#/

4 bed and a bathroom upstairs, 0.2 miles away from the one you're looking at

This is a good find. Thanks @FTB_Help
Nice little cul de sac, will contact them.

I think that's the best house so far. For London, that's a lot of house for not very much money.

ChewyyBacca

hazyjo said:

When I lived in Eltham, it was generally considered nicer than Welling. If you include the block of housing to the left of the A205, and above Rochester Way, yes it's quite council (although some of that is actually SE3 rather than SE9).  Houses around Eltham Park and on the Progress Estate have always been popular. Prices usually reflect that. I would personally rather like there than Welling. Although perhaps its desirability has changed over the years.

@hazyjo for your inputs, very much appreciate it. Last night spent hours reading about entire SE9 area, different estates and frankly it was an interesting read
Especially http://www.unlock-urban.org.uk/pdf/WalkLeaflet2013map.pdf
& http://progressestate.blogspot.com/ & Lawrence case
I don't know how much of this general knowledge and trivia will help us in our decision making, nonetheless a very good read.
Im sure there are gems to be found there. 
Like this one: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/75001644#/
Its way out of our budget, but hey no one stops you from looking, it went STC within days of listing.

ChewyyBacca

barbiedoll said:

I know Welling really well, I grew up there. The postal address may be in Kent, but you'll be paying London prices for tradesmen. Your 20k will probably just about cover the cost of moving the bathroom, with possibly a bit left over. It's a messy job, and always ends up costing more than you planned, especially if you're paying someone else to do the tiling etc.

I think you're paying a premium for this house due to the proximity to the station, and the corner plot with the extra land. The drive and garage is handy, as I think there may be parking restrictions there because of the station? It's liveable, and you can decorate each room as you go, you can tart up a room for a few hundred quid, IF you don't need plastering or other major works. Having said that, there's a lot of stuff to get rid of, the brick fireplace, the fitted wardrobes etc.

And as Adrian pointed out....where are the radiators? I can't see a boiler anywhere either (although it may be in the loft or garage), but buying radiators alone for those curved bay windows is going to be expensive.

Unless you can get the price down, and you are confident that you can do some of the refurbishment yourself, you should be wary. This has "money pit" written all over it!

Pricing vs living space is the reason why Im looking at Welling, parts of Sidcup etc. I do understand, tradespeople will demand London prices. However just shy of 20K for carving out a bathroom in a bedroom seems a tad expensive.
About the original house in discussion: Yes, you are right, proximity to station, garage space and more land than other houses was the reason to consider this house. However, my confidence is a little shattered now with our refurb budget and rough estimates of work to be done discussed here.
About Welling:
As said before, Im finding myself moving farther and farther on the south-east London map in search of properties that will suit us. One of them was this: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/86456179#/
I kept debating in my head whether we will be able to take up modernising the living room, bedrooms and bathroom and knock down kitchen to build a small 5*3 extension on ground floor for modern kitchen/breakfast room. (provided no structural issues) Spent time in understanding the PPs given to houses on the street, comparables, recent sales, other on sale properties on the street. And lo behold, property is under offer even before I could pick up the phone to get a viewing.

hazyjo

Might be worth checking out this map too: https://vis.oobrien.com/booth/

The more deprived areas are towards red and the other end of the spectrum are towards green. Welling comes up very green so not a bad shout, and obviously nicer than when I lived in Eltham.

ChewyyBacca

cattie said:

ChewyyBacca said:
hazyjo said:(

Would you consider these?

Much better long term value.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/96845882#/

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/98187770#/

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/100155434#/ (lost out on a house in that street myself once).

Thanks for the links @hazyjo
How do you arrive at long term value? (genuinely asking)
No intention to offend anyone, I am not looking at Eltham though. Eltham has a very high concentration of council and social housing. There are a lot of great houses there, but I fear resale value will not be high. You can change everything in a house you own, except for the location. I genuinely liked this house https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/80380126#/
though worried what value will it fetch when we are ready to sell it off in 7-10 years.

The comment about Eltham having lots of council housing isn't strictly true. There is the Middle Park Estate yes, which covers what I'd call the bottom of Eltham going into Mottingham & can understand nobody being keen on buying there, although a big proportion of the properties are now privately owned & it probably attracts a lot of ftb's  

However, the Progress Estate cottages, which are in a conservation area (some of which hazyjo gave links to) is more like living in the country than on the outskirts of London. It really is lovely around there & the cottages tend to be pretty spacious. I once owned a house there & had a bedroom of approx 18' long & the other 2 bedrooms were doubles. This part of Eltham & the area it connects to, known as Eltham Park really is a great place to live (yes owned a house there too). The Eltham Park area is just private housing & quite a desireable & sought after place to live as it has a village community feel & schools are excellent.  My house there sold on the day it was listed with ea & at a higher price than ea originally suggested I list at. Properties in that area do usually go quickly.

The Poets estate in Welling was built as council housing, though a lot of those are now privately owned. Wherever you live in greater London you're unlikely to be far from what once was a council estate. 

Thanks @cattie, appreciate the education
I will keep an eye open for properties in eltham. However either there are properties in 350k range which are less than desirable or way beyond 550k
Given what you & hazyjo have said about Eltham and reading a little bit of history - 'Well Hall garden city', I am still hopeful there will be something suitable coming up soon.

ChewyyBacca

hazyjo said:

Might be worth checking out this map too: https://vis.oobrien.com/booth/

The more deprived areas are towards red and the other end of the spectrum are towards green. Welling comes up very green so not a bad shout, and obviously nicer than when I lived in Eltham.

This link is very helpful. Thanks 
I will use this link in conjunction with streetcheck to assess the data points on the area. 
Ofcourse nothing beats lurking around the street at different times of the day and a visit to local supermarket