If a house is on the market for considerably less than you would expect...

[FriggFRIGG]

Ther are no pictures of the inside and the blurb says it is 'in need of updateing'
What,exactly,should I prepare myself for when we view?
And what work is likely to be needed...

It's the first house that is a good size in a good location,that we could actually afford-just.its 5k over budget,so they may tell us to do one,but you have to live in hope,eh?!!

Yes,we have two DC,a 3yr old and a 16month old....but we could possibly stay at FILs whilst doing the initial work...to make it safe and liveable.

It's good to know the EA has to tell us why it's so cheap!

I wish EAs were open on sundays!

look at flat roof(ves) too, ie dormer. The nightmare they can bring is unbelievable. If you know someone who could nip up onto the roof, all the better, get them to lift tiles and look at the roofing felt and whether the batons are sound.

Ask the EA if it has been on the market before, and if so, did it go to survey. I think they have to tell you if it failed (would like clarity on this myself if anyone knows).

I would guess it's either in a state that Kim and Aggie would baulk at, with rubbish everywhere and profanities scrawled all over the wall, or there's been a murder there and there are still bloodstains and a body shaped spray painting on the floor left by the forensics team.

I don't think I could live in a murder house...I'm not sure I could even go inside one...

Updating to me means a new kitchen, bathroom, carpets and redecoration.

If the house is clean and safe, you can live in it and just do it up room by room as you can afford it.

Go have a look round ( can you have a snoop round the outside today and peer in the windows ?) take one of the Dads with you , he will be able to point any potential problems that might be too big to cope with.

I could live in a murder house. But I love a bargain! Definitely live with Gil until at least the major bits are done and the kids room is done/safe.

Hmm not Gil but FIL. You don't want to live with Gil.

Obviously worth a look, for reasons others have said, but there might be a mobile phone mast looming over the garden, or an enormous electricity transformer nearby.
I assume you know the area so can discount sewage farm as a possibility?

yes I know the area well,it's just round the corner form the most expencive road in the town,so no sewerage or eletrcity towers!

Blimey spelling is awful...I could blame the iPad,but I'm afraid I just haven't had enough coffee!

DH and I bought a house we'd never set foot inside.
When we looked through the letterbox you could see the blood stains from a fight on the walls and smell the piss in the carpets.
It was WAY below the going rate for that road.
We slowly did it up and happily lived there for 9 years.
Go with your gut instinct.

Hm, 'in need of updating' usually just means a bit of replastering when you peel off the anaglypta wallpaper/strip the artex ceiling and redecorating everywhere, probably an avocado bathroom suite with wobbly taps and a pine kitchen with formica work surface and doors dropping off hinges, some paisley carpets maybe with 20 years of dog pee (as in our house when we bought it) - livable up to a point but you'd definitely need to spend some money over the next couple of years and some of the work would be difficult with small children. Possibly tobacco-stained too, which may be more of an issue with young children (I have a couple of friends who bought houses like this and had to rip out all carpets, built-in wardrobes/cupboards, etc and fumigate before moving in with their kids, the smell was so strong). 'Updating' suggests a challenge, but one with potential.

I'd say the 'in need of considerable modernisation' and 'the price reflects the current state of the property' houses are the ones to be more afraid of! They're more likely to be the ones where the cost of renovation takes the purchase price over the market value.

Fingers crossed Op! Come back and tell us about it when you've had a viewing

I will comeback and let you know,I'm calling The EA in the morning to book a viewing ASAP...

We put it past FIL this afternoon,and he seemed very keen and positive!

Oh I did find out a bit about it today,courtesy of Zoopla....
it was last sold in 2008,for £20k over the current asking price.
we tried to have a snoop,but there is a car parked in the driveway...so I guess someone is still living there?!
It's odd,it doesn't seem like its going to be a 'granny house' it has gas fires though and there was lots of rubbish bags outside,oh and the garage has tape across the door with DO NOT OPEN written on it!

hmmmm

Well we'll find out tomorrow I guess!

Intruiging. I want to know what's being kept in the garage that you mustn't open the door.
It could be anything from a crack den to homing pigeons who aren't well trained.

Hmmm,we can't see it until they've 'cleared' it

A reposition I think.

The EA has expressly said,it doesn't have any major problems,just new kitchen bathroom,re decorating etc....

And he said the price was between £150-£170k.
now,we could do £150,but defiantly not £170....hmmm

Oh blimey I want it.

But it's not going to happen though is it.

Have you got the PropertyBee toolbar installed? If you have it, you can see all the details of when it first went on the market and at what price etc on RightMove. It's quite useful if you're buying.

We sold my gran's house when she went into a home last year for a lot less than anything else on the street. It is structurally sound but entirely unmodernised - avocado bathroom suite, 1970s kitchen units, swirly carpets, embossed wallpaper and on central heating! The bloke who's bought it is gutting it.

No I don't,I'll go and find it now...but TBH ive been checking rightmove everyday since September,so I tend to know when something came on!
This was only Friday,so really new.
I'm going to pop into the EA later after I've dropped DD at preschool and see if I can squeeze anymore info out of them....

At a guess I would say it probbly needs a new boiler, GCH installed and re-wiring. New bathroom and kitchen too.

Not unsurmountable issues IMO but havng done a lot of work on our previous house with small dc, its not something I would do again in a hurry!!!

Good luck!

we got a house like this - it was a good £50K less than other houses on the street (and £10K less than the house opposite which went on the market at the same time!).

So we viewed both properties, and both were probate sales.

1 was a bit bigger, but had luminous 60s wallpaper everyhwere, no bath, a stair lift, and the garden was a disgrace. It had a garage and a nice driveway though.

the second was empty, had hideous 70s wallpaper everywhere, the main bedroom had a boiler slapped on the wall, there was a lean-to out the back which was not accessible from the house, but meant that opening the dining room windows was pointless, and the car port was too small for a car (and the driveway a disgrace).

However, we got the 2nd one, and 8 months later, we have a nice kitchen and adequate bathroom, and we are about to finish stripping the wallpaper off the lounge/dining room, and get it decorated, then move onto the 2nd bedroom and get it painted in gender neutral colours for the children!

we were also FTBs, and no chain obviously, which swayed the sale in our favour.

good luck, hope it is better than you expect!!

I would insist on seeing it and say you don't need to wait until it's cleared. Emphasise you are a first time buyer in a really strong position and need to be the first person to see it.

Reason I say this is we were told we couldn't see a house as vendors weren't doing viewings until they had done a bit more work the following weekend but a 'strong' first time buyer came along and persuaded the EA/vendor to let them see it and they bought it. No-one else had even had a chance to view it!

Why they advertise something before they are willing to do viewings is a whole other thread, it really annoys me!