Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

AIBU to offer this for ex council house

82 replies

Honeycombskl · 10/05/2021 18:01

I'm pregnant and me and DP are desperately trying to buy a house big enough for us and baby and his 2 kids. The problem is that we live in a beautiful part of Scotland where property is currently flying off the market, being bought by people moving here after the pandemic who can afford to put on crazy offers over the house valuation. We have a good deposit saved but have been struggling to get a look in and can't afford to put in much over the asking price.

A place came up which I went to view straight away. The house is lovely, done up beautifully, has a fantastic garden and backs onto a lovely forest area. Bedrooms are a bit small but it has the number we need so great. My main concern is it's an ex-council house and although most of the homes in the area have now been bought, they definitely look like council houses (in terms of style outside, etc).
I've put in an offer, which is £7000 over the valuation and I'm waiting to hear back from the seller. I'm now questioning myself though if this is a financially stupid move. The house has been done up to a high standard so was valued at far more than the neighbouring houses, I'm just worried about losing money if we come to sell further down the line.

On the other hand it would be a great family home for us and I can totally see us eating in the kitchen or playing outside in the huge garden and forest.

YABU- you're daft and going to lose money if the buyer accepts
YANBU- property prices are going up just now anyway, just focus on how it will be as a home and not what it might sell for in a few years time.

OP posts:

Sirzy · 10/05/2021 18:04

If it’s the one you want at a price your happy with go for it! My only concern would be if your offering over value then when it’s surveyed you may struggle to get the full amount on mortgage?

Verbena87 · 10/05/2021 18:06

I’d go for it but I am useless at caring about money and feel like a house is a home to build the life we want in first, and an investment second.

Original poster

Honeycombskl · 10/05/2021 18:08

If it’s the one you want at a price your happy with go for it! My only concern would be if your offering over value then when it’s surveyed you may struggle to get the full amount on mortgage?

I'm not sure that we will but basically £7000 is the maximum over a valuation we could go as it would come out of our deposit. I'm being told of properties going for tens of thousands over their valuation round here just now so basiclaly put in the max we could go to, probably why I'm panicking a bit.

OP posts:

Ginisatonic · 10/05/2021 18:09

I think that’s always a risk with the Scottish offers over system.
Hopefully it will be your home for years and when you eventually want to sell the £7000 will be quite irrelevant.

alwayswrighty · 10/05/2021 18:12

If you're going to stay for a number of years then I wouldn't worry at 7k over

UnsolicitedDickPic · 10/05/2021 18:13

Can't speak for Scotland but where I live, ex-council houses are actually better built, because when they were still putting them up they had to adhere to more stringent building regs. Some of the council houses in my home town are significantly better built than most new builds.

UnsolicitedDickPic · 10/05/2021 18:13

Sorry, posted too soon! So IMO £7k over isn't unreasonable.

Tal45 · 10/05/2021 18:14

I think the system is awful. From what you've said though you've found a house you like and offered the max you could and hopefully it will be enough. I don't think £7000 is a huge amount in an 'offers over' situation so I don't think you've made a mistake. Hopefully you'll get it, it sounds lovely. We live in an ex council house and love it.

Original poster

Honeycombskl · 10/05/2021 18:15

The thing that worries me is we've talked about moving away in a few years time, but we don't know when or even if it will happen (I'm originally from Italy and we've talked about moving there in the future). So we may well be selling in a few years time.

I can believe this. It had a really good home report.

OP posts:

DaisyWaldron · 10/05/2021 18:17

I live in a former council house. I paid the asking price twenty years ago and it's tripled in value since then (although that's also because we built a significant extension). It's sturdily built with a decent garden in a great location in the catchment area of excellent schools.

It hasn't risen in value as much as non council houses in the same area, but it's been excellent value and I have no plans to move. There's no way I would have been able to afford three double bedrooms and a garden in this area any other way.

Thisisworsethananticpated · 10/05/2021 18:17

I can only afford ex
Council
And both properties have been

Mistressinthetulips · 10/05/2021 18:18

The fact that it's ex-LA will be accounted for in the valuation - for a pp, these are done first in Scotland, might be different in England? So OP already knows the actual valuation. Whether it's a lot depends on the full amount - 7000 is 7% of 100,000 but only 3.5% of 200,000. 10% on top in a fast-moving area is pretty standard.
Hope you get it OP!

Rinoachicken · 10/05/2021 18:20

I live in a council house - it has annual servicing of things like electrics, gas, etc, roof and gutters maintained every couple of years, external painting every 5 years. I’d say if anything it’s in far better repair that the houses around it which are privately owned!

Rinoachicken · 10/05/2021 18:22

Posted too soon...

...if I could afford to buy a house, I wouldn’t hesitate just because it’s ex-council - as if mine is anything to go by, the structure itself will have been maintained potentially much better (and a paper trail of work done as well) than one where you don’t know what has been done or not done.

Branleuse · 10/05/2021 18:24

Ex council houses are almost always well built with a practical layout with storage. I think theyre a good bet

emmylousings · 10/05/2021 18:25

I bought an ex council house about 15 years ago and haven't had any problems with it. They seem to be quite well built with better proportions than a new build 'starter' home.

hellywelly3 · 10/05/2021 18:26

We live in an ex council house. I wanted a home in a nice area with a good sized garden. I was priced well for the area I’ve no plans to move. I don’t care what it looks like from the outside I’m sitting inside looking out.

frazzledasarock · 10/05/2021 18:27

I lived in an ex council house for years, it was perfect for us at that point in our lives and in very good knick.

Hope you get it.

tedsletterofthelaw · 10/05/2021 18:29

@Branleuse

Ex council houses are almost always well built with a practical layout with storage. I think theyre a good bet

Yep agree with this.

We viewed so many houses before we bought our current home. So many of them were small, impractical. In one of the newer builds you could hear next door talking through the walls they were that thin.

Our current house is ex-council and is perfect. Bedrooms are well proportioned and the property has been well maintained over the years with good quality fixtures and fittings. Not to mention the garden is beautiful. It's large and mature, something rarely found in newer build properties.

Good luck in your new home OP!

Blossomtoes · 10/05/2021 18:30

Some of the best houses here are ex local authority - massive plots and well built. Hope you get it.

singsingbluesilver · 10/05/2021 18:31

Excouncil houses are often bigger, better built, have good sized gardens and have been well maintained. I would far prefer one in this area than the three storey 'town houses' with a postage stamp garden, thrown up in a couple of months all on top of one another.

Stinkerbells · 10/05/2021 18:32

Personally I would take a gamble, wait for the market to settle (At least until after Stamp Duty extension and Furlough have ended) and continue to save but there are many conflicting opinions on how the market may go so it could be a bad idea if they keep rising, although I don’t see how current prices are sustainable to keep rising long term tbh.

I understand you are expecting so probably feeling the need to find somewhere but I do worry about people feeling pressured, overpaying and getting stuck.

I assume the area is good if most of them have been bought. Small bedrooms is a little red flag. Have you checked sold prices (do they publish sold prices in Scotland?)

Will you be happy to live there long term if you’re unable to move? What are the local schools like?

Ex Council houses are usually good houses, solid and well maintained, with larger plots and decent room sizes. My brother bought an ex council years ago and it was cracking.

Bit of a generalisation as I don’t know the area or the house but if you don’t over pay and have opportunity to add a bit of value they can be a good buy but you say it’s a little more than others and already done to a high standard so it might have hit its ceiling in terms of value, you need to be mindful of negative equity.

FIL always told us to buy the worst house in the best area you can afford. (Maybe not quite the worst lol). Perhaps a bit old fashioned but it’s sound advice.

BrieAndChilli · 10/05/2021 18:34

Ours is ex-council - was sold into private market in the 70s.
We have just bought it and it’s had an extension and none of the ‘nice’ houses in the posher end of town within our budget ticked as many boxes in terms of space and amount of rooms.

Original poster

Honeycombskl · 10/05/2021 18:42

Personally I would take a gamble, wait for the market to settle (At least until after Stamp Duty extension and Furlough have ended)
The stamp duty extension ended up here earlier in the year than in England. Although the Stamp Duty in England could still be relevant as many people seem to be moving up to the area right now.

Where we are there aren't really any bad areas. Schools are good etc. Wouldn't be the worst place to be stuck but equally I'd hate to be stuck anywhere if I needed to move.

Have you checked sold prices (do they publish sold prices in Scotland?)
Yes and this is what worries me. It's been valued at £135000. Current owners bought it for £97000 in 2016 but have upgraded the kitchen and living room (to a very high standard). Other properties nearby sold for about £105000-£115000 but most of these weren't done up to the same standard, but this is what worries me about us losing money on it.

OP posts:

Original poster

Honeycombskl · 10/05/2021 18:43

Thanks for all the comments. I hope nobody thinks I'm saying anything negativr about council houses, it's just whether it will hold it's value when house prices are so inflated right now.

OP posts:

Flip

1 2 3 4