How can I find out how much a property was originally on for?

[autumnwardrobeonthecheap]

Have seen a house for 220k, but IMO it's not worth that at all. The estate agent told me it was previously on for £300k about 1.5 months ago.

Now is my valuation of the house seriously off, or is the estate agent having a giraffe?

Average house price sale for similar house in same area is 260k (last quarter). But this house is a 4 bedroom house with no garden so I think the sellers have limited their potential buyers "pool". Also the house needs a load of work, kitchen is not a fitted kitchen & space is very small, bathroom is horrible and a loft conversion (4th room), is unusable because the en-suite they have put in is massive meaning you now can't get a bed in!

Also is there a place where you find find out house price sales of a certain street so that it excludes other streets surrounding? I'm using up my street and it is considering a postcode area rather than a specific street IYSWIM?

Any help much appreciated.

[GrabShellDude]

Have you tried Propertysnake? Other than that I can't think of another way. You're right though, 4 beds and no garden is really limiting your market. Are you sure about wanting it?

[autumnwardrobeonthecheap]

We are childless, and first time buyers so it does suit us (just!). But we would not be prepared to pay anything near asking price (we are thinking 127k max!), mainly due to the work and also the face that in turn we would be limiting our buyer when we go to sell it in x years.

I have looked on property snake but it's not on there. Do you think I should just ignore estate agent, put in an offer I feel is fair and if they aren't happy then that's that.

[autumnwardrobeonthecheap]

that should read £175k max

[GrabShellDude]

If you are sure it's the house for you go for it. As first time buyers you're in a great position. I'd be tempted to go in at £115k tbh, you can always up it if you want to.

BUT, re-sale will probably be quite hard from the way you describe it, even in a good market.

Is the area really good?

Let us know how you get on.

[BloodyStranglingwithBling]

I was just about to ask this question myself. I looked on property snake for a property that at 275 looks reasonable to me. I'm not sure if it's that low because it's actually hideous inside, or because it's come down. Any other non-propertysnake suggestions on how to check?

[autumnwardrobeonthecheap]

GrabShellDude, the area is a bit hard to describe. It's not IMO a "good" area, there are other much nicer areas within the city, it's a very mixed area. But the corner we have selected is a goodish corner. It's quite close to town, and up my street classes it as,

"Often, many of the people who live in this sort of postcode will be white-collar singles or sharers living in terraces. These are known as type 25 in the ACORN classification and 1.55% of the UK?s population live in this type."

So I'm thinking when we come to sell it we will either be selling to an investor type looking to rent it out, or a first time buyer with a bit more money than the norm who think they will make mroe money in a 4 bed house rather than a flat etc.

TBH I'm not convinced about it, my partner is the one who thinks it's amazing. It is very close to his work and that seems to be his main consideration.

The area that I like is described as:

"Often, many of the people who live in this sort of postcode will be well-off professionals living in larger houses and converted flats. These are known as type 13 in the ACORN classification and 0.87% of the UK?s population live in this type."

But it's about 6 miles away from DP's work; and he is against using the bus and the walk is 40 mins which is too long. Parking near his work is about £50 a week.

[mppaw]

www.houseprices.co.uk

Great site for finding out what houses went for in your street and when.

[autumnwardrobeonthecheap]

Is that the actual price the buyer paid for it do you know mppaw?

Do you know of any websites that detail how much a house was originally up for sale for other than property snake by any chance?

Thanks everyone for your help so far!

[JimmyMcNulty]

www.property-bee.com

You have to download it to your computer but it's perfectly safe (I have it on mine). Then search rightmove or a couple of other sites for your property. If anyone else with property-bee has previously come across that house (very likely) it will show you a record of its price history.

[autumnwardrobeonthecheap]

Hmm weird, I just downloaded it, but don't understand how to "launch" it?

[autumnwardrobeonthecheap]

Just figured it out, you have to be searching on a database like rightmove for it to work. That's such a cool tool. The house I was told was originally on for £300k 1.5 months ago, was actually on for £250K 3 months ago!!!

Jimmy do you know what this means: "Status changed: from 'New price' to 'Available'"

Thanks very much for this, it's fab!

[expatinscotland]

i thought i smelled a rat when it came to that EA, autumn.

he's talking out his arse.

stick with your original offer and if he doesn't like it than he can get nothing instead of something.

many new EA's aren't used to having to work for their living. well, welcome to reality!

[SharpMolarBear]

oooh hang on I used to se an archive site that would show you old pages
We used it for exactly this when our vendors told us our houe had prev been up at higher price

[SharpMolarBear]

oh sorry you have sortedd it

[JimmyMcNulty]

If I were you I would make the EA aware that you have caught him in a lie... (No doubt it will have been 'a mistake' . Knowledge is power!

"New price" changing to "Available" just means that at that point the EA changed the way he described the house. So for a while he was marketing it as 'new price' then obviously it wasn't new anymore, so he took that off and it just went back to being 'available'.

Make sense?

[scaryteacher]

I have a 4 bed period house without a garden, but with 2 patios. It is our 3rd house, and the lack of garden was a huge attraction, as I loathe gardening. There is enough space for a large garden table and chairs, and a barbecue; space to grow herbs and a few pot plants. There is no mowing to do at all.

I don't think not having a garden is a draw back to some people. If and when we come to sell, I won't be looking for a large garden, but something similar to what we have. Not everyone wants to spend their weekends mowing the lawn, or having to worry about their borders, especially if like us, they are busy professionals.