buying next to a council house

[user1471461798]

My parents have had their house on the market for 18 months now, getting 3-4.viewings a week. No offers, they have dropped the price from 370000 to 335000. They live in a small village in Hampshire.
There are 4 council houses in their road, they bought in 1980 and have lived
there since it was built in late 60’s. The others are still council.
The village is very sought after and the average price is 750000.
They haven’t even had offers, feedback is it’s too small- average 3 bed semi. with extension on the back, huge kitchen as they knocked through.

No clutter, my mum has hates clutter and is a clean freak, decorated in white throughout, grey modern kitchen. There is a garage and plenty of room to extend, what more can they do?
They need to move to a bungalow and they are around 280000 in the next small town , so can’t afford to take less than 310000. But they haven’t even had any offers.
Is it because it’s joined to a council house, would you buy?

I'd have no problem with that. Our worst neighbours have been private tenants.

So do you mean that the house itself is ex local authority? That might be putting people off. Has anything else similar sold in the last 18 months?

I doubt it is because they are adjoined to a council property.

More likely the market is shit what with brexit, another recession on the cards, political instability and current over priced housing stock etc etc etc

No I wouldn't, I might catch the chav.

Although ex-LA properties generally sell for less than similar private builds - so they need to price realistically.

Is it overpriced

If they have had 4 viewings a week for 18 months and not had an offer then it's unlikely to be the price. If they have had 200-300 viewings then there must be something when viewing putting people off.

After 18 mths it can only be the price.

What does the street feel like? Does it feel nice? The average price for the village isn't so relevant, it's more the feel of the specific street imo.

Has their EA chased up feedback? Some of those dozens of viewers must have given feedback.... what did they say?

My worst neighbours were private owners who were rude and noisy

it’s in the most expensive road, there are only 2 roads and the other has more council houses. Their house is the cheapest by far, 2 doors up is 850000 and only slightly bigger, but detached. They have asked if it’s the price and every viewer has said no.

When the feedback is 'it's too small', what people mean is 'it's too small for the price'. Sadly with property it all comes down to price.

Weird. How many square metres is it? For a 3 bed semi I'd expect 100m2 at least.

Do they have big furniture that makes it appear smaller?

If it is on a street with other council houses then I wouldn't take the average village price as an indication of value. I lived in a beautiful stone built village where houses where quite expensive but there was one old council bit. You could have been on any post war council development in the country. Didn't at all feel like the rest of the village. Those houses were worth half what they would have been worth on any other street in the village. Nothing to do with the fact that there were one or two council tenants still on the street (the vast majority were bought years ago and everyobe who lived there was lovely). The charm that infused the rest of the village and drove prices up was simply not there is all.

I think it being attached to a council house and being an ex local authority house itsself will both have an unreasonable effect of price.

Obviously, I don't know the area but £350k a small 3 bed semi in those circumstances seems a lot to me.

Around here a 3bed ex local authority house is about £240k - they're 60s and built and almost all now privately owned (so not really a council estate anymore) Built to a good standard with good sized rooms.

Smaller, more modern privately built three beds are about £320k

Unfortunately, it's worth what someone will pay for it, not what they "need" for it. Bungalows are always disproportionately expensive. My parents are in a large four bed detached but they'll need all it's value to buy a small bungalow in the same area.

Cross post. Is it just lacking character or sonething? Or is one of the bedrooms actually a box room so it's in reality a 2 bed?

I agree, small means we expected more for the money

it’s not small, large lounge, huge kitchen-dining room and a large room off that, they use that for the dogs. 2 double bedrooms with the usual smaller 3rd, good sized bathroom with room for bath and shower. They have changed the windows so it looks different to next door. Enough parking for 8 cars and room for an extension at the side. Even the council houses in the next road have been sold at that price.

Does it smell of dog?

Are the neighbouring houses well maintained?

We need a link

That was my thought.

People who own dogs often don't notice as they're used to it. But people who don't own dogs will notice.

Tried to link photo, without giving details as it’s not my house

I wouldn't be put off a house because of council neighbours. I've lived on council streets before and the neighbours were lovely. So that wouldn't put me off at all.

There must be something though... anything about the garden?

If they're getting viewings, but no offers, something is going wrong when people view it. What is not in the photos that you'd see when you view in real life? Can you see the joining house on the photos? Is it in poor repair? Next to a garage / pub / nightclub or something? Is the road poorly maintained? Massively overlooked that doesn't show on the sales particulars?

You mentioned dogs - does it smell?