Advice on offers please

[thebestbarbara]

Hi looking for advice please?

We’ve got an offer on our house and have seen somewhere lovely however it’s a total wreck and the asking price doesn’t really reflect that.

The house we like is in a good area however requires - not just a matter of taste but actually needs- new kitchen, new bathrooms x 2, new heating system and quite possibly rewiring as well as decorating throughout plus new carpets. Asking price is 300k and the house is empty as the owner has died. It’s a 3 bed semi with a just ok sized garden so not a lot of land to justify the price.

Just wondering what people’s thoughts were on an offer.

Also forgot to add whilst the location is good house is in an average town in the midlands so not in a very expensive area if that makes any difference

Three things to think about here. Firstly is it already correctly priced to reflect the work that needs doing? It sounds like you think not - so if your going to offer you need to be sure you get your sums right and getting the work done that you listed has become eye wateringly pricey of late. That's if you can't do yourself.
Secondly it's a probate sale, there's a good chance of getting a bargain if the beneficiary or beneficiaries have already mentally decided what they will do with the money and want to get on with it.
Thirdly the market generally is still adjusting to the new cost of mortgages and likley values will settle lower than they are now over the next year or so.
I would try to push a heavy discount personally if you are in a good position to proceed quickly. You don't need to worry about offending the owner as they have passed. Probate sales have to be treated with much more due diligence by all parties. So put your business head on and bargain hard if you really want it.

Thanks @DrySherry it’s definitely going through probate and I do think it’s overpriced. Unfortunately our skills end at decorating so we will have to pay others to do the majority of work.

My partner feels we should offer 240k? What do you think? I don’t want to alienate the sellers, think there is family involved, however it really does need a lot of expensive work doing on it. The estate agent they have gone with have got form for massively over pricing houses and then they creep down.

You need to check out what comparable houses are selling for, both those that are 'done' and those that aren't. Obviously the ones that are up might not sell for that price and the most recent ones that have actually sold will have been 3 months ago.

You can't cost all the work needed and take that off the price, as I'm assuming it's been priced reflecting at least some of the work needed. If you were buying a house in better condition, you'd obviously be paying more, but it's likely the kitchen and bathrooms won't be brand new and you'd possibly be looking at replacing carpets etc anyway.

In a nutshell, this house should end up costing you more once it's done, than a similar house which was done already, but it will be to your taste and new.

I agree with @DrySherry's advice.

I think people are much less willing to pay for houses that need £££ of work now and they have become less desirable than they were because the cost of work has gone up so much. There isn't a rule that you can't deduct all the cost of the work. You offer what you are willing to pay. Have a look at similar properties, try to cost up the work and take into account all the time and stress.

We had a somewhat similar but reversed situation. Our house was on the market for £350,000. It's in great nick, has a lovely garden, energy efficient stuff, insulation, new windows etc. It's totally walk into and livable. Someone wanted to buy the house gut it and reconfigure the inside; they offered £260,000, Needless to say, we turned down the offer. I thought they were either naive or cheeky but I wasn't alienated or upset by the offer and I would still have looked at another (sensible) offer. A house similar to ours but needing renovation (I think it had last been updated in the 60s) came onto the market at £280,000 and was sold very quickly I still wonder if it was the people that offered on ours :-)

No rule obviously and OP can offer whatever she likes.

It's unlikely that the house has been priced as if it needs no work doing though, so making an offer as if it has isn't likely to be successful.

That does sound pretty cheeky and very wasteful too.

It's impossible to know how much work has been taken into account, perhaps some but not enough in OP's opinion.
She needs to offer whatever she is willing in to pay taking into account the local market, etc

Just a word of warning- we have just bought a house with a very similar amount of work needing done to the one you have described- EVERYTHING costs WAY more than you think. It can be great but calculate your costs carefully Good luck!

Depends how much inheritance the relatives want.

It’ll cost them a fraction of the houses value to keep it empty. So they can wait, and wait, and wait, until some naive person overpays.