How much to offer? Help me get this please!

[LadyHalesBroach]

We’re about to put an offer of the house, but we have no idea which amount.

• perfect location, heart of a village next to outstanding primary school.
• period property needs a bit of renovation but structurally sound.
• old lady lived in it all her life so it needs modernisation
• second bedroom only accessible from first bedroom.
• garden is an overgrown forest/dump

It is a probate sale and the daughter (vendor) was advised by her EA friend to value at £490k. The EA representing the property has told me he thinks it is overvalued and she has been ill informed, he’d have marketed at £450 and says she already wants to reduce to £475. The property went on 1st July, and all other viewings have been horrified by the amount of work needed. We see it has a long term project and will renovate and extend over time.

A developer has offered vendor £330, which she has obviously refused.

We are FTB with a DIP already in place, so can move swiftly.

So you can see there are lots of £k flying about and not one crystal clear number to go by.

What would you offer as a starting bid and go up to? There aren’t that many detached character 2 beds to compare it to.

This could be my dream house after all is done.

This is the house:

[link removed by MNHQ at OP's request]

I've no idea, apart from I know the area a little, £490 seems massively over-valued.
As you have children I assume you want to extend?

I'm in Scotland where we have home reports that cuts out this out but wouldn't it just be easier to get a qualified surveyor in to get a proper accurate valuation.

I wouldn’t leave that link up as someone else will snipe that house from under your nose if there is money to be made!

If I were you I’d be cautious about what I offered after the £330k offer from the developer. They will probably have calculated costs quite carefully. But if you absolutely love it and want it, try £400k?

Start at 430? That’s 100k more than the chancy developer so it might win it for you. Go up to 450? Or even 475! Depends how much you want it!

It’s got a gorgeous plot OP and it sounds like position is perfect.

I’d check who has access to the garage. It’s going to take some work to get it liveable. The living space is very small.

I think look at house price history of 3 and4 bed character cottages, would you be looking to extend? You could easily spend £100k. I'm thinking £450 would be better maybe offer a bit lower and emphasise how proceedable you are, and want to restore/update it sympathetically to a lovely family home.

Wow OP. At first I thought you were describing a house we almost bought! Sadly the vendors were set in their ways and refused to lower the price and it's still on the market 18 months later.

Also, I wanted to say, that's an impressive Bush! I'd go in at 455 with a view of being pushed to 465. And I normally say if you want the house, just offer the asking price. Agreed in this instance it's worth a haggle, good luck!

Who does the adjoining garage belong to? That rings alarm bells for me. Upstairs is tiny - I can't see how you can make it any bigger without completely remodelling the back of the house and rebuilding the current extension, as you can't go sideways.

£330 may be well below the asking price, but tells you something about how much you'll need to spend to make it liveable. I'd be wary of offering too much - it looks like a moneypit, and not big enough to be a long term option. UNLESS.... the land is big enough to build a proper family home on (and if you'd definitely get planning), in which case that makes more sense.

Omgosh not what I thought it was going to be.
I assume you basically want to hugley extend? Half a million is an absolute joke. I'd offer 120k 😂

If you really really want it, then offer 420k

It’s got the same square footage as a new build 3 bed (they are small!) so you are paying through the nose for the location -‘a period character.

Looking at what you’d need to spend-
Re-wire, new kitchen new bathrooms and the energy performance is very poor so may need insulation and new heating systems. Before extending that’s £30-40k so I wouldn’t offer anything beyond £425 personally

It really doesn't have 'character' btw.

How do you access the front if the garage is not included in the sale? Does someone else have right of way on/over the drive?

Are you sure you want to buy it? By the time you’ve put the bathroom upstairs, you’ll have one bedroom left. You also have someone else’s garage in the way. With the school so close, you’ll get lots of noise at break times

From what Rightmove is showing me, there are far nicer and bigger properties on for the same money. I think the developer offering 330k was on to something. Probably not worth more than 370-380k even if you’re only looking to break even and not add any value.

Where is the character? Old, yes, period property, no. You won't be destroying any original features because there aren't any, but it could be a very nice home. I wouldn't touch it though. It should be sold as a plot.

I saw this property on another thread a few days ago - maybe it was you OP? We're you viewing it with a builder? You wanted to extend it but the error triangular shape of the plot was going to make it awkward? There was another house close by you wanted to make it look like?

You will lose so much space making the first bedroom separate to the second. And why are there cameras? A horrible neighbour?

Ultimately, the house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Not a chance in hell would I pay anywhere near the asking price based on the listing.The house has no real salvageable period features, needs gutting, remodelling and extending. Offer 375. Walk away beyond 420

Who buys a detached house with an attached garage belonging to someone else? Wouldn’t offer on it at all I’m afraid.

WOW! This is absolutely brilliant, thank you so much. I think it's really opened my eyes and stopped me being so blind to the perfect location. We've met with an architect who has suggested extending, so yes the upstairs would be remodelled to include a bathroom and third bedroom (and separate the two current bedrooms).

Interesting what you're all saying that its a period house (built early C19th apparently) but that it isn't 'character'. Which I do agree with.

To answer some questions...

@carmystery yes I have one toddler and hopefully another in a couple of years, we would look to extend.

@Treacletoots thank you for the compliment, its been a long lockdown. Oh you meant the conifer?

@ReviewingTheSituation @ChicCroissant @whenwillthisbeover Yes the garage belongs to the neighbour, including the driveway. The old lady sold it to him years ago apparently. The front does have access (little pathway which we would relocate to the other side) and there is a driveway and parking at the back of the house instead. But yes, that did throw me too.

@hawkmoth yes we wondered about the cameras too. Inside the two massive sheds in the garden are old computers and surveillance equipment, commodore computers, satelittes etc. We could only see a little bit through the shed window, I'm tempted to ask the vendor to keep the contents of the shed so we can have a good nose around! You could seriously have a GCHQ outpost from my back garden.

@didireallysaythat yes that was me! I really should find real life people to ask about property but alas I don't have anyone, no parents etc. And everyone on here is so nice and helpful. Well remembered though! I'm definitely not the vendor advertising the property!

We'll think overnight and potentially put the offer in in the morning. But I agree that it definitely isn't worth £490, and it's bought more as a plot than a house. But I guess that depends if I want a plot or a house (I want a house, I'm not a developer!)

Gigantic it's all about location and the plot size. Very expensive round there.

Erm sure, yes the conifer

I have seen your other thread and both the houses , the one you want and the one you want it to be like after extending
The difference between the two properties in size is your one 87sm and the other one is 200sm so the extension would have to be around 110sm to be similar to the larger property
Build costs per sm are ( for a basic build ) around £2k per sm so the building work will cost you around £220k
The original part of the house needs extensive renovation on top say £100 k
Total basic costs of extension and renovation will total around £320k add minimum of 10 % contingency and that is now £355k
A realistic price to pay for the cottage that you like would be around £400k absolute tops - more than that and you may as well go and buy the finished item

You still have the garage problem stuck in the middle of the front of the plot

On my basic calculations the developer wasn't too far out and wasn't being too greedy