Intrigued by this house - PurpleBricks and selling after a year?

[IntriguedPotentialBuyer]

Hi everyone,

DH and I are looking for our next house, which will ideally be our family/‘forever’ home. We’ve seen a house which would be ideal - great area, period property, spacious, lovely garden, off-road parking etc.

It’s on with Purple Bricks, which we’ve never used (we bought our current house through a local high street EA). It’s also being sold after just a year (last sold for £425000 in March 2022, I think), and has already been reduced this time from £475000 to £450000 (or OIEO).

As far as I can see from looking on Zoopla, the neighbours both sides are long-standing, so it seems unlikely to be neighbour issues (prior to last year, the house was last sold in 2002, so the previous owners were there a long time). There’s been no extensive work done in the past year that I can see, so it’s not likely to be a case of ‘flipping’ the property either?

It looks a brilliant house for us, but I’m a little worried that it’s being sold so quickly after its last sale. With it also being sold through PB, I’m not sure how easy it will be to find out why, or whether there are any issues potential buyers should be aware of.

What would your thoughts be as a potential buyer?

link is here (hope it’s OK to share) https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/137259164#/?channel=RES_BUY

😄

I think the rules have changed so it is allowed.

But it's not particularly pleasant.

Strange that actually it cold be fairly easily reformated to get round that.

I also find the cutout in the kitchen strange.

The three Ds - Death, Debt, Divorce. Don't worry about it too much.

Given the current economic climate it could literally be the increase in interest rates was too much.

It's lovely :)

It’s a gorgeous house and would suit us down to the ground, I think. Thank you all for your help 😊

I think it's a split or a relocation where one person has stayed behind to sell. For £3 you can get the Title Register from the Land Registry which should list the name(s) of the people that bought it.

The house looks lived in by a bloke currently.

The shoe rack in the lounge is 1) in a ludicrous place (why not the hallway?); and 2) only has mens shoes on it.

The dining room bookshelf looks just like my husband's bookshelf at home.

Solitary toothbrush in the bathroom (incidentally, I'm assuming the bloke is very tall by the height of the shaving mirror!).

If you think it might be the perfect place for you OP, definitely go and take a look. Selling with PB means you'd likely be dealing with the vendor, who will hopefully have an answer as to why they're selling so soon as I'm sure everyone is going to ask the same question.

That was my exact thought too - it’s haunted! I’ll head back to my woo threads…. 😂

Pil's house is up for sale 10 months after buying it due to them divorcing, so maybe something similar

I think it's still lived in, but they've done an extreme declutter! Appliances and wine on the side in the kitchen, per bowl on floor, shoes on shoe rack... Still some signs of personal stuff - photo frames, books etc. I reckon they've cleared everything out for the photos and gone too far - it looks so unloved!

Check whether it's also showing as available to rent. It's possible someone bought it as an investment and rented it out, but is now finding their sums don't add up with the rise in interest rates, etc.

We have similar. The quote for a cat flap in the patio door was awful so dh knocked some bricks out the wall and put a catflap in. 🙈. Works fine.

Seller has been made redundant/become long term ill/couple have split up.

Most likely reason for many quick sales is someone has bought if and cannot afford the new payments with the sky high mortgage rates. Has happened to a number of people I know. They took the maximum of what they could take out 2-3 years ago, and left no wriggle room, and have almost gone under with their mortgage payment doubling. So had no choice but to sell.

DD and her fiancé took a 7 year fixed rate deal in mid 2021. Best decision they ever made. Mortgage payments have stayed the same - obvs! Clearly the new payments will knock them a bit when it ends, but there's 5 years left on it yet. So they may come down. Also, they took a mortgage amount based on his income only. (They wouldn't take hers into account as she had only been in the job she is in now, for 6 months, when they bought the house.) So even if their mortgage is double in 5 years, they will still easily afford it. Plus, they are both on high salaries, and are saving loads of money anyway.

As for that house @IntriguedPotentialBuyer it looks very 'private let' to me. Just painted throughout, very bland, roomy kitchen, and OK downstairs, but over priced for a semi in that area. Nearly half a million?! Nope. And the generic and bland shiny new paint job suggests to me that they are covering something up. I know someone who bought a house very similar to this on the inside, and the new paint job was hiding a myriad of damp patches, mildew, and fractures in the plaster.

Agree with pps also, saying who has a shoe rack in the lounge?! You'd have to walk over the beige carpet with your dirty shoes to get to it. Suggests a damp patch. Also, no bath, and a poky shower room that has a huge mirror to try and make it look bigger! The master bedroom is big, but the other 2 are small. One is tiny - barely bigger than a walk in wardrobe.

Also, house is too close to a college with 2000 pupils aged 11 to 18, and on a fairly busy main 'through' road.

Wouldn't be for me.

That could be a lovely house, with new kitchen, bathroom, resiting the cloakroom and possibly a bath as well as a shower.

@PurpleButterflyWings I’m interested that you think the house is overpriced - my gut feeling is that it is too. There’s another (detached, but not big detached) house the next road over that we’re considering too, and it’s on for £385000. Another on that road is on for £375000. So £450000, considering the work we’d want to do, does seem steep, especially OIEO. It doesn’t seem hugely realistic with the way the market is at the moment.

The college and main road don’t worry us, as we’d be buying for the location and know it well. Potential damp/bigger structural things would be a worry, though!

Why not go look at it@IntriguedPotentialBuyer ? £450K for this when a detached is £375K seems a lot doesn't it? Your choice though.

I think it's a nice looking house, a bit tired but that's ok if you want to put your own stamp on it. Could be a dozen reasons it's back on the market but that wouldn't put me off as it's probably just life stuff like a divorce or new job somewhere else.

If it sold for 425k last year then I would imagine it's worth somewhere in the region of 400-425k now depending on what prices are doing in that area.

Yes, they have over priced it. The market has fallen since last year and it's a pretty standard semi in Exmouth going for a lot of money.
The other hugely off putting thing is that it is on with Purple Bricks. They are meant to be terrible to deal with. I would continue to look personally.

I hadn't noticed the cat flap previously but I've gone back and looked now. What is intriguing is that the kitchen looks to be on a higher level than the garden, so I'm not sure where the cat flap goes out to! It does look very low down inside, so maybe there is a bit of a drop to the side return. The poor cat must have to do a belly flop/limbo to get out lol!

We had a cat flap installed in a glass door prior to last winter in the hope that it would allow us to close off a cold part of the house and keep the heat in better. It certainly did, but I'm not sure it's currently saved us the £400 it cost!

I hadn’t noticed the cat flap at all, so that was a really good spot!

That’s my worry about Purple Bricks 😕

Re. the price, as PPs have said, the interest rates are a concern for us as they are for many people at the moment, and I’m not sure we could justify huge repayments with the work we’d also be doing to the property. This house is exactly what we’re after in terms of character, location etc, but the virtual EA and the high price, especially OIEO, is making me wonder. It could be that the vendor is looking to sell quickly and could be amenable to lower offers. There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there? 🙂

Yep, I would offer what you think it's worth, if you pursue it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The cheap furniture is mostly IKEA. Pretty standard for people starting out and some of it even lasts a long time.

The garden needs a tidy up but it looks like an earlier owner was a keen gardener.
Would the steps down to garden be a problem?
House looks like a rental, completely furnished from ikea. Zero character. They've repainted to make it look fresh but the kitchen and bathroom are builder grade 20 years old.
It's very elegant house and if structurally sound, could make a lovely family home.

Yes, it doesn't hurt to put in a low offer as long as it's not insultingly low. What amount are you thinking of?