Searching for a forever home - help and support needed

[HouseBuyStress]

We are looking for our forever home.

Looking for advice and opinions on this specific house.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/153113879#/?channel=RES_BUY

I don’t think it’s worth £335k because inside some areas need modernising, mainly the upstairs bathroom and en suite. The kitchen houses an under counter fridge and the utility an under counter freezer. This isn’t ideal but we can’t afford to have everything changed all at once so the bathrooms would take priority.

What would be a sensible offer?

What would we need to consider before buying this property? The gardens are lovely but we don’t have the time nor knowledge to maintain so we would want to pull all the plants out and just have grass. Does this look like it will be expensive?

The house is 24 years old built old and built by persimmon. The boiler is 4 years old.

We don’t love the house as it is but we like it a lot, we can see ourselves living here, we love the space and the floor plan and we can see potential. We don’t have a massive amount of savings at all, so the work to be done is quite daunting.
Any advice or help with this is much appreciated.

I think it looks like a fair price given the recently sold prices in the street. Just because it doesn’t precisely fit your requirements doesn’t mean it’s worth less. I’d try 10k/15k under as a first offer taking into account the bathrooms but wouldn’t be surprised if they said no. Oh and please don’t rip out that lovely garden - the trees will be low maintenance and you’ll just have to find a bit of time for the rest.

That’s about the lowest maintenance garden you could possibly have. It’s insane you would want to pull up the plants. If you don’t know what to do with them look it up online. What is wrong with people?

Wouldn't describe the property as in need of modernisation, it may not be to your taste, but that's different.
If you pull out the trees the conservatory will become a goldfish bowl and you will have lost all the privacy that garden had currently.
The house is liveable if it is a forever home you buy it and gradually change things to your taste.

I wish my bathroom looked as good as the ones in this property!

There's absolutely nothing wrong with any of it, I doubt they'd accept a low offer.

It may not be entirely to your tastes but as has been mentioned above, it wouldn’t really be reasonable to describe the house as ‘needing’ modernisation. You could try a slightly lower offer, but honestly it looks as though it’s very fairly priced already based on area and recently sold houses nearby.

This.

The garden adds so much character to your home and will lower the heat on a hot day and bring the birds to your back yard. To pull out the plants would be to devalue the property enormously. Hire a monthly gardener for a day and watch and learn from them how to maintain your garden. It is merely mowing, and some pruning at set times of the year. Weeds can be kept under control by weeding at set times, spraying at other times and mulching the garden beds well.

I wouldn’t accept low offer if I were the vendor. The house is immaculate and you could move in immediately. Not 100% to your spec? That’s on you and you need to pay on top. If you want everything to your spec buy a run down house which will be priced accordingly.

Why on earth would you rip out the plants? Can’t believe this is serious.

The house looks fine. I like the layout.

You're going to put plastic grass in, aren't you?

That’s a lovely house and a good price. The garden is already low maintenance and you’ll hugely devalue you house if you remove the trees and plants. Nothing wrong with the bathrooms either. The fact that you want to make changes has nothing to do with the current owners. They’re not going to fund the changes for you, and why should they? You could offer 10k below and see what they say.

I think it’s a gorgeous house. Love the layout. I had a previous house very similar and this layout worked so well. Just offer what you think it’s worth to you after doing your research. I wouldn’t mention what you want to change to it. It can sometimes piss of the vendors!

The house is in good condition. There isn’t a requirement for everything to be new and modern and the price of a house is largely set by its location anyway. My house wasn’t in great shape when we bought it but they still refused a lower offer.

Hi OP,

I'll be honest, the kitchen and bathrooms look in very good condition albeit not your style, fair enough. But in need of redecorating doesn't equal price reduction. The price is very fair going by recent sales and location. If you want it, offer asking. If its a forever home for 20 years plus, what's ten grand over that long?

The garden is lovely as is. Most of those boarders will look after themselves with a little pruning in thr winter months. There's hardly any room to add more turf anyway.

This is a great idea. I would definitely consider this. I have tried to grow plants previously in my current home but between working full time, very young children and a dog that likes to dig them up and eat them it’s been impossible. The dog is older and more settled now though so hopefully he wouldn’t do this anymore.

We really appreciate everyone’s insight. Definitely didn’t consider the privacy aspect either from the trees. I think our biggest worry was the likelihood of the big one falling down in a storm or invasive roots or how big it will actually grow that could be a problem long term but I’m not even sure what the big tree is called to do thorough research and was hoping this thread will help spot any potential long term issues. Most have said it’s low maintenance so that sounds really promising.

It’s a nice house. As others have said the garden is already low maintenance and looks lovely. Shrubs and trees are easy to take care of.

My current house hadn't been updated since the 80s, they wouldn't budge off asking price so I doubt they will take anything off because you want to change the decor as it's pretty tidy.

The fact it says offers over means they probably won't entertain anything under asking price and they've already reduced. But you could try £10k under, as an opener and see.

Also as others said please don't rip out the lovely plants and just replace with a soulless lawn (especially if you want to replace with the ugly environmental horror that is astroturf like one of the other sold houses on the street has done) 😅 Those plants will be very easy to care for.

That is not a difficult to maintain garden. It appears to have very narrow borders and mostly shrubs - they will look after themselves. If they get a bit big cut them back - maybe once every two or three years. Trees grow slowly. Please don't pull everything out, there's absolutely no need.

It looks like a nice house and a reasonable price for the area. By all means offer under but be aware they may not accept it if they have more interest 🤷

Lovely house and garden. It does not really need modernising, just a change of decor to your taste.

Most people can’t afford to buy their forever homes and have it looking exactly as they want it as soon as they move in. You save, do a bit. Save some more, do a bit more. It takes time but does that matter if it’s your forever home?

I really like this house. Leave the garden ALONE!

I'm not au fait with prices in West Yorkshire but on looking at other houses in the area, I think the price is fair, even if you think work needs doing.

Honestly, as a vendor I wouldn’t accept a lower offer just because you don’t like the kitchen layout or the decor. As I said to the estate agent, “if the house needed a new boiler, I would have replaced it and had the benefit. I won’t accept a lower offer offer because he fancies a new one in a few months time” Same goes for the under counter fridge and freezer in the utility.
Its a lot more work looking after grass than those shrubs and plastic grass is a bit harsh on kids knees and dogs paws.

It’s similar to my house and it was that price over ten years ago (albeit not in the north).

By today’s house costs it seems well priced. I see no reason why they’d accept a lower offer unless they were in a rush to sell and didn’t need the money.

Trees need better PR. They are basically the only thing standing between us and the planet frazzling and people want to pull them up because of the roots. Bloody insanity.

The house looks fine. Maybe not to your taste, but nothing wrong with it.

I think it’s a nice house. The garden looks a bit small particularly if you have a dog. Don’t know Castleford very well but the market is not very strong in Yorkshire at the moment so I would definitely go in a bit lower and see what happens if you like it.