What would you offer

[Neron]

Torn between 2 houses and not wanting to insult the owners, but need to be realistic. EA said offer what we feel they are worth. We are FTB in SE, everything in place after last purchase fell apart on day of exchange:

House 1
4 bed detached, been on 3 months, owner desperate to downsize. Had 1 sale that fell through so is open to sensible offers. Asking price 425k, but needs overhaul as not touched in 30+ years. New boiler, kitchen, bathroom, decorating plus garage roof is leaking which would need to be a priority because of the tools and motor bikes we'd store in there. Would also need new windows at some point.

House 2
Detached 4 bed. Originally wanted 425, now offers between 400 - 425 as also on for 3 months. Needs new kitchen and decorating. Bathroom and combi boiler needs to be done in time. We'd also have to widen the drive but obviously that's a personal preference thing. On a main road.

Any suggestions please?

Having lived on a main road, I'd never do it again. How much is it worth to you not to hear road noise? What about the future, are you planing children? How do you feel about them living on a main road?

1st house around £20-30000 needing spending on it so i would start offer at around £380000 which is around 10% but then that means you are spending back up to value only , second house around £10000 spend so same would offer £380000 and that leaves £10000 in value, at the end of the day it will come down to which house you like better, and what the sellers are willing to accept

We live on a busy road now and right next to the train station so it sounds weird, but the main road house will be quieter then where we are now. House is set back a bit.
We're not having children so good on that view.

Very true, it is all down to them I suppose. I think they are a decent starting point, I just don't want to go too low but at the same time I have to think of the work