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?

Sorry but it would put me off

That's a perfectly nice house. Good kerb appeal.

I looked at LOADS of v similar houses before buying the one I have. It's also ex council and yes was much cheaper. But I live in a wonderful village etc etc.
The things that out me off other ex council houses were lots had council bungalows built right onto the boundary. It was the lack of privacy! The one I now live in has bungalows nextdoor but they are nowhere near the boundary line.
Others were on busy roads; on a junction; next to a river or had flooding issues in past; had v run down houses next door or near by.

The house I now have is tiny for a 3 bed. But plot is huge. I have a massive garden surrounded by allotments (so fingers crossed no building). Live in a cul de sac of mainly privately owned ex lea but still a fair few council owned.

I would not have afforded the newbuilds on offer or would have had to lose a bedroom and the garden/drive.

Mine was about £70k cheaper than your parents, in a v expensive part of country. But it has needed a full refurb.

Greendale, what is putting you off? No smell of dog as they aren’t allowed anywhere but the room off the kitchen, and my mum baths them weekly, told you she was a clean freak. The road is a typical country village, all the houses, bar the ex council have their front doors on the road, so all parking is behind them. Most of the houses are at least 100 years old. The bungalow they are buying is in the next road for 180000 and needs lots doing. Garden backs onto a wood and river.

The market is slow, so if you want people to buy there needs to be a reason - either a fabulous house (that's difficult), or a fabulous price (that's in your control).

The fact that they need a certain amount for their next place is entirely irrelevant to buyers.

Not going to lie it's a really lovely looking house but I would be put off by the ivy as I would be worried about any damage to the house as it looks really thick.

I wouldn’t buy next to a council house. You don’t know who might move in. My DM lives next door to a council house and had no end of trouble when they moved an alcoholic in. Noise, peeing on the front lawn, smoking and dropping cigarette butts, fights, knocking on the door at 2am to ask her to call an ambulance/pizza/friend because he had no phone credit. He was followed by an unemployed drug dealer whose supplier got the wrong house and put my DM’s windows out. She currently has a mum with two kids next door so all is well, but they could move at any time.

Gardens backs onto a river? What does the environment agency flood risk map say?

Even if I loved a house, I wouldn't buy one which was flagged as a flood risk..... flooding will only increase with climate change imo.

The forest growing across the front of the house would totally put me off. What damage is or could it cause? What is it hiding? How much to remove/repair?

There is only the 4 council in the road, no pavements, no street lights, so typical hampshire village

I did think about the front of the house, but it gets cut down every year, so shortly it will be gone.

But people are viewing having seen the ivy on rightmove - that can't be putting them off. And a decent survey (not just the basic valuation) would flag up any issues due to ivy. It wouldn't put me off offering, although I would ask my surveyor to double check that brickwork.

I wouldn’t even go and view cos of the ivy but you are getting viewers. What does the council house next door look like - is it tidy or not well
Maintained?

By a next to council wouldn’t bother me as at least you know you can harass the council in the event of anti social behaviour - would be worse living next to a private let with students

OP - 3 viewings a week for 18 months is in excess of 200 viewings. That means people are interested in the village / road at the price it's offered at.

Not a single offer, not even a low one, in all of that time means that after viewing, they don't want it. At any price (hence no offers)

There has to be a reason for that. Have you asked an honest friend / relative to give you an objective opinion?

The rooms are a good size but it is very dated. They need to take into account the cost of refurbing it when pricing it. There's no picture of the bathroom so I'd assume that needs doing as well.

It's difficult to price because there's nothing comparable in the area. The other properties for sale are beautiful character properties, this one is a perfectly nice but bog standard semi.

I have been looking in Hampshire, i have seen 3 bed detached houses which need a bit of updating for 325k. How much is the bungalow 180k or 280k. I think it depends where it is, transport, schools, shops, leisure, plus does it need any work to be done.

(Sorry, automatically saw the pic and Googled it. Not sure now if you wanted us to look. Apologies.)

Sorry, bungalow 280000. Bathroom is actually the most modern. That is something I hadn’t thought of , no photos of the most modern room. But viewers must have seen the bathroom. In real life it doesn’t look dated, not sure why the photos look like that, I think I might ask the estate agent to re-take.

They have priced it compared to the period properties, Not everyone has 800000 to spend surely.

The layout of the lounge makes me think it's a small room (all furniture seems cramped in one corner) - is there a better position to take the picture from? Garden looks nice. Agree with posters that it looks dated - the wardrobes for example - could they be removed to show off the room to its actual size & to make it look more modern?

The ivy for a start- I have seen the damage ivy can do to houses. Heaven knows what damage has been caused.

I wouldn’t buy next to a council house. You don’t know who might move in

Whereas if it's a non council house you're guaranteed perfect neighbours. No-one in private houses ever have problem neighbours.

@user1471461798

When i was looking for a property recently i came across this house; i thought it looked pretty from the outside but a little dark and outdated from within, and the shed/ split layout of garden wasn't appealing to me but others may like it.

I would have to say price would put me off; we went for a 4 bedroom detatched house in Fordingbridge in the end, this was up for £340,000 and was more spacious by far than this one (up with same EA too).

I had a look at it on google search image as well, the only thing I can think of is it's very dated but then they can see that from the photos anyway before the viewing. Can you ask the estate agent to make more effort about getting feedback may be? Also a pic of bathroom should be there.

Wouldn't bother me to be next to a council house. It looks really pretty.