We’re in the process of relocating for schools (and also to be closer to family) which means a move across the country.
We had an offer accepted on a house last week but I have some concerns about whether we’re overpaying. Prices seem particularly high right now and I don’t want to end up losing money or struggling to sell when the time comes.
We’re buying in Cheshire, south of Chester in a small village which is very pretty but quite quiet. It does have access to an excellent secondary though and several outstanding primary schools.
We’ve found that the houses close to Chester are very expensive for our tastes hence why we’ve looked further afield.
This is a four bed house (advertised as 4 doubles but two rooms would struggle to fit anything other than a double bed) newly refurbished and almost doubled in size by the owners. They bought it for £160k 12 years ago. It has a relatively big garden but not the nicest outlook to the front (not bad just not great). It has underfloor heating, mod cons and a lovely finish. We’ll be paying £470k which is “cheap” compared to what we’ve been looking at and it’s bigger than anything we’ve seen. I’d say we’d be looking to pay £600-£650k for the same house outside Chester.
Our worry is the houses on the street don’t sell often so it’s difficult to see whether we’re paying a fare price for the village. The house a few doors down sold in 2018 for £320k. It’s practically the same size (slightly bigger but negligible) no mod cons but refurbished to a pretty good standard (kitchen not as big but has a conservatory and a little old fashioned ). The bedrooms are configured better so it’s 3 doubles and a small double/ single. Zoopla says that should be worth around £450k now. Similar houses that haven’t been refurbished or extended (so 2 bed) and need a lot of work are going for £250k.
I don’t know if this is enough information to give an opinion but if anyone has any thoughts I’d be grateful to hear them.