Suggestions / advice / unsure

Crashy_Time

dantheram said:

singhini said:

Not sure i would bother, your not gaining anything (and the house looks fine to me already IMHO).
Its been on the market since 2nd December i.e. 3 months and it doesn't look like they have dropped the price in that time (perhaps they will hold out for the asking price in the knowledge that its the cheapest property available), but might be worth having a chat with the estate agents and offering perhaps £250,000 assuming they haven't had much interest in those 3 months (say your offering 6% below the asking price as i don't think that sounds too bad). 
I stress i do think its a very expensive area and looking just a few miles outside of this area properties seem a bit more affordable. 

Just some more info, was on with another agent at £270k since circa September last year. My fear is when i come to move on I will be stuck in the same position, with something that is a pain to sell. 

Just don`t buy it would be my advice.

dantheram

niceguyed said:

It's in a desirable area (because of the school) but still hasn't sold even with the stamp duty holiday so you're right to concerned. Just my opinion (and for the price I think it's reasonable no more no less) I think it has little kerb appeal. It's not a family home so the market is smaller so you miss out on those willing to pay a premium for Ecclesbourne. It's not sold because a few miles in either direction you'd get 3 beds and a much nicer house with a proper garden. 

I’m keeping an eye on that sort of radius, not much coming on at the moment so it’s quite disheartening. The risk is I plump for this when not really committed
to it. 

Loanranger21

Crashy_Time said:

dantheram said:

singhini said:

Not sure i would bother, your not gaining anything (and the house looks fine to me already IMHO).
Its been on the market since 2nd December i.e. 3 months and it doesn't look like they have dropped the price in that time (perhaps they will hold out for the asking price in the knowledge that its the cheapest property available), but might be worth having a chat with the estate agents and offering perhaps £250,000 assuming they haven't had much interest in those 3 months (say your offering 6% below the asking price as i don't think that sounds too bad). 
I stress i do think its a very expensive area and looking just a few miles outside of this area properties seem a bit more affordable. 

Just some more info, was on with another agent at £270k since circa September last year. My fear is when i come to move on I will be stuck in the same position, with something that is a pain to sell. 

Just don`t buy it would be my advice.

But when did you last buy a property, crashy, hmm? 
You are not local to Duffield so I don't think on either count you have any experience of house buying. 

jjdc

I live in Belper, just up the road and have friends who live in Duffield. Its is a nice place to live - not much there though, basically a big housing estate surrounded by fields, but is probably 2nd to quarndon for expensive property, a few nice pubs (angelos at the kings head is well known), the Viceroy does fantastic indian food, best I've had outside of London, a coop for food and post office, but expensive due to ecclesbourne school catchment (which apparently isn't as good as its reputation anymore so my wife tells me). Qujick to get on to a38, and theres a train station too. Basically any town north of Derby along the A6 is pretty nice if you're looking for somewhere  close to peaks, Milford has some lovely cottages and slightly cheaper, little eaton has some lovely buildings, as does cromford, Belper has character, more of a town center and bar some council estate areas, its really nice although prices have increased massively over last 5 years, matlock bath is like a seaside down but gets very busy in summer/bank holidays/any time the sun is out. Avoid any town east of the A6, esp towards Nottingham and you're fine, west is fine such as Turnditch, farnah green. I paid £250k 3 years back for a 4 bed detached here in Belper, probably worth over £320k now based on similar sale prices, I dont think Duffield will increase much more so I wouldn't purchase it if you're thinking its going to go up in value each year. 

Parking isn't great around duffield- theres a tiny public car park near train station so people just park their cars where they can, I think Tamworth street is in a 1 way bit, and has a car repair place there that Benz Bavarian uses so probably noisy during the day if thats an issue.

The Derwent has flooded twice really badly in last 2-3 years, every time it rains it would send me in to a panic. Video here from 2019 floods of river ecclesbourne, which pretty much runs through the back garden!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWz-BhfNVZs

Similar happened a few months back too

I'm a snob, so if you want opinions on other houses/areas to avoid let me know!

FreeBear

I can see one huge red flag looking at it on Streetview.

Around the base of the wall is a course of hard blue bricks. The next course up, some wally has drilled a load of holes in to each and every brick - Presumably, in an attempt to cure some perceived damp problem. In all probability, they have slapped waterproof render on the inside to hide the damp.

Two things wrong - The public path runs up hill and almost covers the blue bricks - These are your damp proof course, so rain will be splashing up against the base of the wall and penetrating the bricks above the DPC. The shoe on the bottom of the downpipe discharges straight on to the path, adding to any issues with damp. In the winter months, you'll also get a nice icy patch.

getmore4less

there is a water pipe on the back wall that goes into wall beyond the stairs/door what does that connect too?
(one on the side for the shower) 

dantheram

getmore4less said:

there is a water pipe on the back wall that goes into wall beyond the stairs/door what does that connect too?
(one on the side for the shower) 

I cannot figure that out either 

dantheram

Crashy_Time said:

singhini said:

Not sure i would bother, your not gaining anything (and the house looks fine to me already IMHO).
Its been on the market since 2nd December i.e. 3 months and it doesn't look like they have dropped the price in that time (perhaps they will hold out for the asking price in the knowledge that its the cheapest property available), but might be worth having a chat with the estate agents and offering perhaps £250,000 assuming they haven't had much interest in those 3 months (say your offering 6% below the asking price as i don't think that sounds too bad). 
I stress i do think its a very expensive area and looking just a few miles outside of this area properties seem a bit more affordable. 

They have dropped the price by 6k so far and IMO that is nowhere near enough of a price drop for this house.

Suggestion as to what is? The market has gone ridiculous again 😫😢

Doozergirl

dantheram said:

Crashy_Time said:

singhini said:

Not sure i would bother, your not gaining anything (and the house looks fine to me already IMHO).
Its been on the market since 2nd December i.e. 3 months and it doesn't look like they have dropped the price in that time (perhaps they will hold out for the asking price in the knowledge that its the cheapest property available), but might be worth having a chat with the estate agents and offering perhaps £250,000 assuming they haven't had much interest in those 3 months (say your offering 6% below the asking price as i don't think that sounds too bad). 
I stress i do think its a very expensive area and looking just a few miles outside of this area properties seem a bit more affordable. 

They have dropped the price by 6k so far and IMO that is nowhere near enough of a price drop for this house.

Suggestion as to what is? The market has gone ridiculous again 😫😢

Crashy thinks that every house is too expensive.  I wouldn't take any specific advice because they don't care about you, just their agenda.  

phoebe1989seb

I like quirky and think it's an interesting property with potential, although I'm not familiar with the area and would be concerned about flooding.

If the house is otherwise ideal, I wouldn't let the layout deter you as this can be changed. Our current 400 year old (non-listed) cottage that we purchased three years ago is a prime example....

Originally a small mill, it was converted to residential use about 150 years ago at which point it had the main living room at the front, kitchen at the back, no inside bathroom and three bedrooms - two of which were interconnected.

In the 1990s when the property was sold for the first time, the new owners converted the middle bedroom to a window-less shower room and landing area, placing the dividing wall through the centre of a chimney breast with original fireplace 🙄

Nothing about this layout worked for us so we set about changing it. As we got the cottage for an amazing price (repossession) it worked out cheaper to do this than buying a property already configured to our requirements.

The kitchen is now in the front and middle rooms (walls removed and steels put in), whilst the old kitchen is a cosy snug. Upstairs, we removed a (modern, stud) wall dividing up the second, rear bedroom into small room and huge walk-in cupboard. This became our main bedroom. 

We repositioned all the non-loadbearing walls upstairs to give a bathroom with window overlooking the garden, spacious hallway with masses of storage and office area, plus smaller double bedroom at the front.

The new layout works far better and makes the cottage feel far larger. Hopefully if we sell it will be more attractive to prospective buyers as when we bought it the cottage had been on the market for years 😮