How much to offer on this house?

[isthishouseworthit]

Current vendors live in a different part of the country. They purchased this property for £656,000 in October 2020 and were planning on renovating the property before moving in but their circumstances changed and they weren’t able to do anything to the house. The house has sat empty since then and is in a really bad state of repair. They’ve listed the house at £700,000. Everything needs doing to it- even the garden needs a complete overhaul because of how overgrown it is (worse than the listing photos). Problem is, the house is perfect for us in terms of location for DC schools, station, work and family. We’d like make an offer on it but at how much? There’s very little available locally so the EA said he thought the house might go for well over asking price but that wouldn’t be worth it in my eyes so we’d have to back out. Would an offer of £668,000 be reasonable for this house? Our max is £700,000 but the house needs at least £50,000 worth of work doing to it.

Here’s a link:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/121435343

It was open house on Saturday and had 22 viewings- it was like a conveyor belt of people entering and leaving the house!

You will need more than 50k to renovate that house @isthishouseworthit

Thanks everyone. Houses here weren't going for stupid prices but there have hardly been in properties coming on for sale recently so those that are are going for asking or very, wry over. When I mentioned the £50k for fixing it up- I meant that as minimum- electrics, plastering, kitchen, etc. my understanding from the EA is this house has gone way over asking so we're definitely out. The search continues.

There will be something better for you soon.

We found, whilst looking, that whether a house is done up or needs doing up made less difference to the price than we imagined.

Therefore ideally, one wants a house that is fine to live in for a year or two but could do with some doing up in the future.

Lord, all I'll say is it looks just like our fixer upper that we bought last year. We also thought £50kish to "update/ modernise" it... Then the boiler was condemned as soon as we moved in (£2500), then there were numerous issues with the radiators (£600), then electrics needed sorting (£1100 not for even a full rewire, but just to make it safe / functional!), then winter came and it became quickly apparent that all of the windows in the house needed replacing as they leaked (£12,000). We are literally just about to get our first aesthetic change done of plaster skimming the artex ceilings but we never expected to be paying out £16k+ just to get to the point of decorative changes. And we'd also originally planned a small kitchen extension which our architect predicted should cost between £30-35k. Cheapest quote we've had is £48k and the highest is £60k.
The point I'm trying to get to is don't go with the "offer your max minus £50k) mentality unless you'd be happy to potentially live in the house as it is now for a long time.

Argh sorry, my phone didn't load your update before my huge ramble! I'd say my point still stands for your next house if it's in a similar condition 😉 Good luck OP

I'd go more towards Ruislip if I were you - www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/117434636

Ok - that's probably officially classed as South Harrow or South Ruislip but you get much more bang for your buck just 2 miles away.

The Ridgeway is a really busy road too. It used to be one of my cut throughs to Harrow from the A40.

Offer what you are willing to pay, renovating usually costs more than you anticipate. Good luck OP.

Aww just read your update, onwards and upwards, keep looking, hoping you will find something soon.

Tbh I am clearly way too used to projects, I looked at that and reckoned it was liveable as was...so offer what you can afford to live in the area if it suits then do it up as you go along.

Hi,
can I please find out what you did in the end ? You’re in a similar position to me
thanks

I'm just wondering why there's a white forensic suit hanging up on photo 12..........

House is still for sale 9 months later....

It is sold isn’t it?

”Offer what you are willing to pay” very true.