Gutted new neighbour paid less for his house

[newyorkdonuts]

I know it’s too late now, but AIBU to feel a bit gutted?

I bought my house at the end of last year. I’m very happy here and have 0 regrets, but my new neighbour, who completed last month, paid 10k less for his house. To be fair it does look like his needs a new kitchen / bathroom and it also has a conservatory that looks very old (it’s open plan and connected to the living room) and like it needs knocking down. He has a garage though and I don’t. His house also has new windows / doors and mine will all need replacing at some point.

I’ve already spent around 8k (new boiler, rads, driveway repaired, plastering, painting, carpets and flooring). Luckily I managed to get things a bit cheaper as I know a few people in the trade. The previous owner also put a new bathroom suite in, although no extractor fan so I will need to get one installed at some point, and also new kitchen cabinets and drawers, so I guess I’ve saved money in that regard.

The neighbours house actually came on the market whilst I was in the process of buying mine but I dismissed it as I preferred mine. I know 10k isn’t a huge difference in the grand schemes of things but it’s still bugging me. Nothing I can do now, of course.

Anyone else experienced the same thing?

@Missy198005 where did I say I begrudge him?

@ThisSillyFoxjesus, bit of a stretch. I should have posted in AIBU since you want to be so nasty 😂

Thank you for the lovely and helpful comments.

I’m not too sure why some of you have taken my thread so personally and felt the need to attack but hey that’s mumsnet for you !

As I said, I’m very happy here and love my house, but as a first time buyer, I think it’s normal to have doubts and wonder if I’ve overpaid. I’m sure I’m not the first person to feel this way. I don’t begrudge my neighbour in any way, I don’t even know the man (I said in my post his house needs a lot of work) so fair play to him getting some money off, but, it’s hard not to compare sometimes.

Thanks again!

I wouldn't let £10k difference ruin your day. We've just moved into a house and paid over £700k for it, most of the neighbours have been here forever and paid about £150 - £200 k for theirs.

The garage will add value to his house so understand you being a bit miffed.
his potential spend on kitchen/ bathroom vs your spend on boiler etc does probably even things up a bit though

We probably paid £10 k too much for our house 8/9 years ago as it was a private sale and there wasn’t anything else on the market. We felt a bit annoyed at the time but it’s now worth over £100 k more than we paid for it so really it wasn’t a big deal in the long run.

Like PP I think if you are very happy in your house and have no regrets, then it's ok to have this as a fleeting thought but ultimately forget about it and enjoy your new home.

Not the same situation but we sold our last property, a 1 bed ground floor flat with large garden, for £310k. Then found out our upstairs neighbour with no access to the garden and much older interior (we'd updated a lot of bits including a whole refit of the bathroom about 2 years before we sold) got £325k for her flat. It did jar a bit, but the way we thought about it was that if we hadn't sold at the time we did, and pushed through with the frankly frustrating buyer, then we wouldn't be in the current house we're in now and absolutely love. We look at it as it was meant to be. £15k looks like a lot on paper but I'd rather have "lost" out on it (which we never had in the first place) and be in the dream house now.

Are you better off than if you had continued renting?
Property is really tricky, we bought our first house in 2007 then had negative equity very shortly afterwards. Some people bought in our street at the bottom of market for 20% less. In the end we moved to our second property at the right time for a good price.

@Notreallyme27 oh wow, that’s awful. That does put things into perspective. I’m sorry that happened to you.

Depending on where you are, prices have dropped since the end of last year. Unless you have absolutely identical houses, with identical fixtures and fittings, there are going to be price differences.

Love your house; change what you want to change and enjoy your home.

On the positive side, we’ve been here a few years and the house is now worth a lot more. That’s what you need to hold onto. £10K is a lot right now but you’ll soon make it back.

Houses sell for whatever the buyer is prepared to pay, op.
Even apparently identical ones.

Exactly.

the houses aren't identical. You had the choice which to offer on, you choose yours.

i don't understand your problem at all?

Its also what the seller will take for it and what you will pay for it. Each house even if identical is going to sell for a different price.

@AmelieSummer25I was just worried in case I’d overpaid on mine, but as most of the other posters have pointed out, his house needs more work than mine

Would you rather of spent £10k less on the house and be needing new kitchen, bathroom plus the other bits you mentioned? If you love your house why even give it head space? Just focus on your home

We bought our house at the peak of house prices 3 years ago, since then 4 houses from the same close have sold for significantly less, over £50,000 less! Of course I felt a bit gutted, but there is no sense getting down about something I can't change. On the up side, I love the house and am super happy and intend to live here for decades to come, by which time the difference in purchase price probably won't mean too much.

Take a minute to feel a bit gutted, but then push it out your mind. Enjoy your house, if you're happy there, it was worth whatever you paid for it anyway.

Now THAT I can get understand being well pissed off about!!

if it was possible would you swap houses ?

would you have chosen to buy the other house at the price they paid if you'd had the option??

Im not sure I could stop giving her filthy looks!!

I bought my house at auction after the vendors turned down my offer (only slightly below asking). I paid less than I'd offered (that gave me a small thrill). Although more than I nearly was able to pay due to a few last minute bids thati wasn't convinced weren't a set up!

(The owners owned a business locally & other bigger houses & a tax dodge business. They left a lot if broken shit in the house 'for me, as a favour' 😳. I told them they had an
hour to clear it or I'd be contracting someone to do it & charging them!! They left it until the last minute but did come & get their crap)

Thank you and yes that’s true. To be fair I probably wouldn’t have used the garage anyway, although it’s always handy to have extra storage lol

I’m a massive fan of Mo Gawdat who has an “acceptance flowchart”

He did a great podcast with Steven Bartlett – Diary of a CEO with Mo Gawdat:

This is a summary of his flow chart:
Beginner’s level: Ask ourselves “Is what we are thinking true?” If it’s not true – drop it. If it’s true go to the next level:

Black belt level: Ask ourselves “Can we do something about it?” If we can – do something. Take control. If we cannot do anything about it go to the next level

Jedi master level: Ask ourselves “Can I accept it (not surrender) and start to do something to make things better despite/because of its presence?

Helps me with all sorts. Great way to help us accept the things we can't change

I think talking generally about house prices isn’t that helpful - it’s very regional, e.g Derby, Manchester, etc have been rising 10% per year for many years now. Where I live in east london, at least 4% per year.

You're not comparing like with like OP. The property market has changed, so has stamp duty, so have renovation costs. Anyway, your house is nicer so there!

But you could have had his house and chose to go for yours because you liked it more. You liked it £10k more and that was your decision. Even identical houses rarely sell for exactly the same price, sometimes there's competition for one and the price goes up.

Enjoy your home @newyorkdonuts

Houses sell for what they’re worth on the day. It’s a speculative market.