Valuing a Property

[ireneadler101]

Hi all,

I'm thinking of purchasing a property, and am currently trying to work out how much our first offer should be on it.

The property is, however, hard to value, as when the current vendor (a property developer) bought it, it had a very large garden which he has since separated off and built a modern luxury house on. The original house (which we're thinking of buying) is Grade 2 listed, and needs LOTS of work doing to it.

The current vendor bought the property and the plot for £825k. It was, at the time, being marketed as having the potential for another house on the site, so at least part of that value was for the potential plot.

He's now selling it without the plot (obviously) and is asking for £1m (on the basis that the property is basically sound - which it isn't - we've had a surveyor in). He's done very little to improve the property since he bought it five years ago.

My view is that the property (in its current state) isn't worth much more than he paid for it (and estate agent has indicated that a low offer would be considered) - but I wondered if anyone had any tips on how to value a property like this?

For info, the house is in a commuter town in Hertfordshire (although not, unfortunately, one of the pretty ones!).

Thanks very much!

Amy

Have you worked out how much it will costs to do the works needed to your taste? Id then deduct that from fully finished value and then take off 20%

Personally I'd start with a cheeky offer of £500k and see what he says. Worse is a flat outright no

sounds like you already think it is worth about what he paid for it 5 years ago so you could start there?

We have had a ball park figure of £200k thrown at us for the roof replacement, but need to get a proper estimate from a roofer.

The finished value is hard to ascertain as there aren't many comparable properties around. Am I likely to be told to politely bugger off if I approach the estate agent who sold it the first time around (not selling it this time) for their view on its value once renovated? Worth a try I guess?

Estate Agents probably wont mind talking to you about future values because they would hope that you might go back to them in future when you do decide to sell. No reason why you shouldn't also discuss it with the agent that is selling it now?