To lowball homeseller?

[suffolkgeorgiantownhouse]

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/170771690#/?channel=RESBUY

Hear me out.

This is truthfully a 1 bed flat, by the way, but is advertised as 2 because technically the kitchen could double up as a sitting room, but a very small one.

Seller listed flat 1 year ago in Sept 2022. Home has had zero offers in that time and a 25k reduction. Originally listed for 375 when the downstairs flat, which has 3 beds, sold for 378k recently.

The flat has no central heating.

The seller paid 300k for the flat in 2022 when there was an inflated huge post-covid rise in home values.

Am I being unreasonable to offer 275? I think she massively overpaid. It's always devastating to overpay on a property and lose it upon selling, I really feel for her. I unfortunately lost 15k selling my first home so I know how this feels.

Average 1 bed flat in Bury St Edmunds is about 160k and the avg 2 bed is 180k.

Additional question: is a flat like this suitable to raise a child in down the line? It's 95sqm. No I don't care there's no garden. I don't want to spend time maintaining something I will use for maybe 20 days out the year.

EDIT: I know this seems a strange purchase but I am a strange person and so it does fit me, my needs and tickles me in the right places. I have very specific period feature desires that this ticks all the boxes of. But I'm not prepared to overpay just because the owner did.

I live very close to this and apart from the baby and stairs problems I would say parking is a nightmare in the Bury grid. Permits issued outweigh cars 3 to 1. Also even if you don’t have a car getting deliveries etc will be difficult as this is a busy road with not many places to stop. Take a wander this weekend when the beer festival is on and you will see how busy it is but really any weekend is. There are other flats within town that have allocated parking or stopping outside and I would look for those or a quieter side street in town.

You can offer what you like... but if I were her and someone I knew recognised my house from this and sent me the link I probably wouldn't be selling to you unless I was completely desperate.

Non-obese? Bloody hell. Why so aggro?

Those of us that have had children know that they come with A LOT of stuff. Prams are heavy and bulky - where will you store one? Your future child will benefit from an outdoor space even if you don’t want one.

It’s just not practical. You’ll manage, of course, but I think you’ll regret it.

Children love gardens and use them most days! There have been so many posts about how difficult it is for parents living in flats that arent able provide a basic paddling pool during heatwaves. My kids spend so much time using the trampoline and climbing frame in the garden, granted we are lucky to have a big garden. And yes, perfectly able and non obese people do find it an absolute pain to have to take the baby, pram, shopping etc up the stairs. Doing that a few times a day for at least a few years? Painful. The only time it's unacceptable to low ball an offer is once a higher one is already accepted, unsure why making an initial low offer is a challenging question for you.

There’s nothing wrong with your offer, and I love the flat, but I don’t think I’d buy it.

Even if they accept your offer, it’s £100k over what you say is average for a one bedroom flat. That means you’ll probably lose £100k were you to ever sell it.

And you will likely have to sell it as I don’t think it’s suitable for raising a child in without making life difficult for yourself. You’ve got two flights of stairs to tackle with a pram, it’s a one bed so where will a child sleep long term (more people means you won’t want to use the living room).

It’s also a share of the freehold so you need to understand who is responsible for the roof, etc.

I think you’ve been blinded by the decor, you can do that yourself in anothernmore suitable and reasonably priced property.

I agree. Offer what you're willing to pay, and tge buyer can decide what they are willing to accept.

It's a really lovely property, but I do agree with pp. Ground floor access beats humphing a pram up and down. Don't underestimate the exhaustion of owning little people.

But your advice about it being wrong to put the seller in negative equity is ridiculous. The seller doesn’t have to accept OP's offer if they don’t want to! It’s not up to a house buyer to research what the seller paid and concern themselves with the seller's financial situation. There may be many factors of which you are completely unaware, e.g. the seller's desire to move as soon as possible to a different area. If they are pricing their property unrealistically for the market they won’t sell it at all.

OP - it can’t hurt to make an offer. You can explain your reasoning to the estate agent if you want to.

It's been exceptionally beautifully 'done' but is way overpriced.

I have a small flat (conversion in a pretty building, like this one) in a Surrey market town with excellent links to London and the south coast. It has two bedrooms, one of which is large, a separate kitchen and a delightful living room with window seat. If someone offered me 350k for it I'd bite their hand off!

Maybe take the real life experiences of people who've done it before rather than arrogantly declare you'll be absolutely fine on all occasions because you have functioning arms and are not obese! It comes across as quite arrogant. It's your choice of course but assuming you know best is interesting.

When you have kids yourself, this is the type of comment you will later cringe about OP 😆.

Maybe this seller won't be so grateful for your low offer 🙄

You sound a right piece of work OP.

I'm a chartered surveyor. In the politest way I can muster:

Please get professional advice from a valuer. Asking social media how much to bid is a bad idea.

Good luck.

If the owner paid £300k she'd be unlikely to accept a lower offer I'd have thought. All you can do is put in your offer.

It’s a gorgeous flat. But they are trading heavily on views of a church and I’d want to research the implications of buying a flat in a listed building.

It’s an outrage that it is being marketed as a 2 bed and that suggests both the seller and estate agent are chancers. The seller likely knows it is worth less than they paid for it and is desperately chancing their arm.

It’s not where I would plan to live with a baby and certainly not long-term with a child.

It's gorgeous. My dream flat if I wanted a flat.

Yes you can offer low. I've just (hopefully)sold a house and the estate agent said that in reality prices are 2018 prices. Obviously some people who bought at an inflated price believe they should be able to sell for more. My neighbour has had his on the market for 3 years now. He keeps saying "I'm not giving it away" but the reality is it's not worth what he's asking.

People are just trying to help you with the baby thing you know. They are sharing their experiences and you are just being nasty to them, which is not very nice.

Inner city in Bury St Edmunds 😂
On the stairs and baby issue, when we had one DC we stayed regularly at a 3rd floor flat. I got very good at folding the buggy one handed (if we'd been shopping) and used a sling a lot. It was central London and right next to a park.
I also have relatives in Edinburgh and as a PP has said there's a lot of preciousness about babies and stairs and lack of gardens on this thread.
I would be put off by the layout (we stopped visiting that flat when we had no 2) and the heating though.

As regards the price, the owner can take or leave any offer. They are an independent human being.

And you might have twins and a c section to recover from, or so many other conditions that follow childbirth.
It's an odd thing to post on a parenting forum, asking for advice and then dismissing all of it.😂

Online delivery, or yeah, leave baby in the pram and come back for them.

Millions of people raise children in flats with no lift. Hardly insurmountable is it.

OP - offer what you want but don't be surprised if it is rejected.

I'm assuming that you can't afford/ wouldn't buy it at close to the asking price so you don't need to worry about offending the seller.

It’s a beautiful flat, I can see why you love it. But, imo it works really well as a one bed but if yiu used the sitting room as a bedroom also the tiny amount of living space, where yiu can’t keep a toddler away from cooking, would be claustrophobic.

you need to think about how easy it will be to resell too, it is clearly over priced and the lack of heating will be a red line for a lot of people.

oh - and what is the soundproofing like between the flats? Conversions can have minimal sound insulation and with upstairs and downstairs neighbours you’d have to hope fir a baby who sleeps well!

It's become very clear that you have completely fallen in love with the looks and location of this flat, and are trying to justify it to yourself.

Which is fine if there are no financial or practical considerations, but you're talking about having a baby (though not clear whether there's just you or another parent moving in).

Ideally you want at least a genuinely 2 bedroom property - this isn't.
With a child, you need to have good heating and insulation - this doesn't have that
With a child, you need minimum and accessible egress - which this doesn't have
If you have a car, you'll need parking - doesn't have that
If you're going to raise a child, you need a property that has minimal risk of needing major works - this is old has massive cracks in the walls

Alternatively, if looks and location aren't the most important factors in your life, you can get a decent genuinely 2 bedroom flat near the centre of the town for under £200k, and a 2 or even 3 bedroom terraced house just a little out from the centre for £250k

What a gorgeous little property and well done flat, Stunning actually. I'd buy it if it was in London for sure.

We had a similar set up when had our first baby, tho not as nice a flat. We put the pram in the boot of the car and carried baby up stairs. It's fine.

You can offer that much, if you don't ask the answer is definitely no. But highly likely the answer will be no.