Going to view a house today that I want badly !

[skidamarinkadinka]

Gorgeous 1930s detached house, needs alot of modernising, huge garden, big drive and garage. It's on a main road into town but all the houses on this road are the same and just so lovely to look at.
We are not on the market yet but plan to get the same estate agents to list us asap. We need to move, we've outgrew this house in the last two years.
They want £450k. It was reduced in October.
Feedback has been the main road putting people off and also the work that will need doing.
How can we up our chances ?
We can probably go upto £430k but that would be the maximum.

They do. So maybe it’s stubbornness on the price? Thinking it’s worth more than it is in its current state

Don’t worry we will!

It’s crazy they wouldn’t accept a relatively small reduction in price when it’s been up for so long!
Then again, yours hasn’t sold so it’s not a viable offer. Perhaps when you are ready to proceed the offer will seem more attractive.

As someone who bought a house in a great location with ‘good bones’ from an elderly couple who had lived there for 40 years and it needed a lot of work (which we budgeted a substantial amount for - £100k), I’d warn you to think very carefully before proceeding and to do a very thorough assessment of the house before putting in an offer.

Things like room size and the size of the garden are often prioritised over looking at things like is there damp, do any windows need replacing, how energy efficient is it, will the wiring or boiler need replacing, etc.. We blew through our renovation budget in no time, borrowed £25k more, and though we completed the inside of the house and the extension, we ran out of money to do other things to complete it like sort the garden out, replace the crumbling driveway, get the pointing redone, and so on.

We hadn’t budgeted for the house having ancient dodgy electrics, needing new radiators and pipes, and the double glazing being blown in most the rooms. It looks lovely now but we have had to live like monks for the past two years to pay off the debts and now have to start saving up to do the rest of the work which will take years. Avoid money pits!

I think we’re going to leave the offer on the table, if they accept we’ll get a thorough survey and then go from there ! Will update

We think it’s priced too high

There's no "think" about it, OP; it's already been confirmed with their asinine remark about basing it on what next door's "now worth", and the estate agent's comment about feedback from others concerning the work needed

IMO you've already offered too much, but really do need to leave the "it's their pride and joy" emotion out of it and return this to the pure business deal it is.
Sould you get the place you'll never see the vendors again, but you'll certainly see all the remedial work and the ££££ draining out of your accounts

I wanted to second this - bought a 30's house that an elderly couple had lived in forever just before covid. Beautiful house.

We had the full survey done so we had a fair idea of what was needed, but it didn't pick up everything. Often with these houses you cannot do it a bit at a time because it's not wallpaper and carpets.

Before we could live in it we had to:

have the entire house rewired (the electrician found that some of the wiring was so old it was a major fire hazard)
have the kitchen ripped out, which then revealed damp. There was an issue with the damp proof course we had to have fixed.
Bathroom ripped out back to brick because it turned out there was a massive leak and the floor had to be treated.
boiler and heating because the pipes were so old they were leaking
water softener fitted because they didn't have one which was rotting the pipes
fireplace opened up and a log burner fitted because the house is so bloody cold
Main roof was leaking and needed repairs/new flashing/guttering
Flat roof replaced on the extension because it was rotten
And that was before we got to the stinking carpets/plasterwork/decorating
It was very very expensive.

It needs new windows and external doors but we're saving for that at the moment, and it needs more work on the roof. The garage extension was very cheaply done and needs knocking down, but again, we will have to save for it.

Did I mention it's freezing so our heating bills are through the roof

That's what we did - they rejected our initial offer. The estate agent obviously thought we would haggle, but I just said that's the offer, if they change their minds let us know. Sold our house v quickly and went back to the estate agent, and it took a few weeks but they did eventually accept it.

Stick to your price and don't let emotion make the decision for you. There will be another house if this one doesn't work out.

I'd have a look at how house prices in your area have changed since 2017 to get an idea of how helpful that comparison price is. In some places things are not much higher now than they were back then. In others they have soared.

I'd also be wary of their reliance on their daughters' opinions. At best they'll be anxious that their parents are not taken advantage of, and at worst looking for as much money as possible, but in both cases they may well not be remotely familiar with the local market and not offering sensible advice.

I’d warn you to think very carefully before proceeding and to do a very thorough assessment of the house before putting in an offer

Excellent post, @wordywitch, but sadly it's too late for your wise words above; they've already made an offer which is far too high based on some nonsense from the vendors about what next door is now worth and they're reluctant to accept even that

For OP's sake I'm starting to hope that the (fortunately free) full survey will turn up issues which will kill this stone dead, especially since vendors so unrealistic about the price are likely to have been equally ostrich-like about maintenance/repairs which were needed

Ha, this sounds similar to the house we bought last year.
Luckily windows and radiators are ok, but we had woodworm as well 🙄
Probably spent £25k on it so far and have barely scratched the surface.

Any idea how I can find this out ?

This is a basic starter (you can enter your local area): House Price Statistics - UK House Price Index

If you'd be comfortable giving any sort of area, there are also people on here who might have experience. Maybe get this thread moved to Homes and Property?

Google house prices ( insert area). Then click on Rightmove. Would be better if you could insert a more specific area.

The Land Registry data shows that the average detached house price has risen from around 300k in 2017 to c 440k today. So depending on close a comparator your 2017 sale is, that indicates something in the low 400s isn't outrageous. but that does depend on quite a lot of information we (and maybe you) don't know.

This is great, thank you so much.
So it seems he may be about right with his price he is willing to go down too, still cannot afford it though with the works that needs doing to update

Without seeing the house you've found from 2017 and the house you're looking at etc, I don't think you should jump to that conclusion. Unless your descriptions are way off, the house next door is clearly NOT one he should be looking to for his value. All the LR data does is suggest that prices haven't flatlined since 2017 where you are really.

I don't know South Staffs so take this with a pinch of salt but just a quick RM search of a five-mile radius of Cannock is throwing up a lot of lovely looking detached period properties with driveways/gardens etc that are renovated for 450k. And quite a few of those have been reduced and are still not selling. Cannock may be well out as a comparator for where you're looking obviously but just do some looking around in the area you're actually looking in to get a sense of how it fits in.

Right, OP. I've found your house (don't worry, I'm not looking to buy a house right now!) and can see why you like the features. There aren't many period properties available. I can also see the sold house and it's clearly a developer's job - it's lost the period features sadly and I far prefer the one you have offered for as a house, but it's definitely true to say yours needs at least a new kitchen and bathroom (40k?) so that ALONE accounts for the difference in prices between the two houses, let alone anything else you might need to do to it, or how people might prefer to live.

The 2017 house was in a similar condition to the one you've fallen in love with in terms of modernisation needed.

Take a look on RM - there is another period detached house on in your town for 430k which is finished and would only need decorating to taste. On the other hand it hasn't got a driveway, the garden needs a bit of love, and the fourth bedroom is a loft conversion.

I think I'd say that 420/430 isn't totally out of whack given what else is out there so long as you have the money to do the work - and fingers crossed the valuation isn't a million miles off.

You’re amazing 😆 please don’t steal my house !!!

Yes I’ve seen that one you’re on about, sadly dh has completely said flat no, he doesn’t like the fact the drive and garage is at the top of the garden, which is annoying but one of those things, we need to both agree.

Do you think we haven’t been cheeky then ? I know I need to emotionally distance myself from the house and vendors but I don’t want to seem like we’re trying to take the piss out of them, number 1 because of their age and number 2 because of how friendly and welcoming they’ve been.

You haven't been remotely cheeky. The house has been on the market for six month at a reduced price and you've offered over 90% of asking.

Thank you for the reassurance. And for all the advice and help you’ve given me, honestly, it’s nice to know there are some genuinely nice people in the world.
All we can do now is wait, get ready for next week and our house going on the market and keep our fingers crossed they come down!!
Also BIL is going to do a valuation for us, that will be really helpful !

Good luck - let us know.