What’s wrong with this property…

[MellowMint]

Looking for some advice…

We’re interested in buying a house from a developer (only 5 houses were built in total, high standard, great area etc.)

Two bigger houses are at the front of the plot, three smaller ones at the back – the two large ones in the front and two of the smaller ones at the back were sold a long time ago, only this one is left. All of them are detached and very similar (the differences are only cosmetic, e.g. the color of the front door).

What makes us wonder is that this particular house has been on the market for almost a year, even though the others sold quickly. Recently, the listing was taken down and reposted (same photos, just arranged differently). This has happened twice already, and now the developer has also added another agent to sell it.

I called today and tried to ask the agent what’s going on with this house – he said that supposedly there are interested buyers, but they first need to sell their own properties. It sounded a bit like an excuse and an attempt to put pressure on me, especially since I’ve told him that we’ve been watching this house for almost a year. But in the end, I don’t really know what else he could have told me, certainly not the whole truth 😂 I know the market is slower at the moment, but still, the situation seems suspicious.

Tomorrow we have a viewing scheduled. It’s not our first purchase, but it’s the first time we going to see a house tha that hasn’t sold for so long. Honestly, I’m confused – houses that stay unsold for a long time always made me think of old ones, in need of major renovations, requiring a lot of work and investment, etc. But here it’s the complete opposite…

My question to those with more experience: what else is worth asking tomorrow apart of the obvious questions, what are we missing here?
Something feels off here, but I can’t put my finger on it 🤔

The viewing went really well. Weather was absolutely glorious, it was nice standing in the garden in the sun, easier to imagine how would it be to live there ;)

The house is so spacious, pictures don’t really do the justice.

I asked about the road, and it turns out it won’t be adopted by the council. However, at the far end of the tarmac section there’s another plot of land currently going through the approval process, where the same developer plans to build three more bungalows. Once that’s complete, the entire stretch will become a private road.

The road itself is 6m wide, and although the older house at the front has some line of sight into the gardens, it’s set back enough not to feel intrusive. I mean it’s hard to find a home where parts of the garden aren’t at least partly overlooked. Unless you go completely away from dense residential areas and have no neighbours at all. Plenty of space for parking, some designated parking bays as well.

The real showstopper was the size of the master bedroom, never seen such big bedroom in a residential home, it was just humongous like from hotel suite, with mini bar under the tv 😂 There is designated area for fitted wardrobes, plus so much space to put some furniture on the wall if needed. En-suite looks very different in real life, the shade of the tiles totally different, and that glass wall is not as big as it looks on the pictures. When you inside you can’t see the bed at all and vice versa, it’s all in the angle.

Apart of that it had all bells and whistles - cctv, build in sockets in the kitchen island, quart worktops, underfloor heating, speakers in the ceiling etc etc.

OP, I think you should buy it if you want it, as you don't see any of the issues identified on this thread as problems. It sounds like it's a house that lots of people would find off-putting, waiting for someone who loves it (you) to come along. The only thing I would be wary of is if there is a chance you might want to move in the next few years. A friend of mine recently bought a newbuild which ticked no-one's boxes except hers (like this one: a bit out of town, would be considered overpriced for the area, layout not ideal for everyone, etc.) then unexpectedly got a job offer elsewhere. She's now been trying to sell it for ages and has had to drop the price to over £50k less than she paid and there's still no interest.

You've stated you only buy terraces - you don't need to worry about how close detached houses are to each other when you're literally glued to your neighbour. It doesn't get worse than that.

Yeah, I get that—it’s all pretty subjective.
My original question was more out of curiosity: what are the things that actually put people off? Because when I looked at it, I couldn’t quite understand why it takes so long to sell, when all other properties have sold long ago(looking the same inside) It made me wonder if we’re missing something seriously wrong…

From what I gathered, the main feedback was around the décor which makes sense, since taste is so personal. I’d never expect everyone to love the same style. Some people adore cottage-style properties, for example, whereas that’s not really my thing and that’s totally fine.

The second big factor seemed to be the road and parking. Sure, it’s not a gated property with ten spaces right at the door, but realistically, once you’re there, there’s more than enough space.

So if those are really the top two “dealbreakers,” that’s actually great news for me 😂

4 bed and 2/3 parking spaces is probably putting people off.
its not long before children become teens and then drivers themselves.

I don't really like it either (esp the glass bathroom wall!) but to me the things that stood out in the feedback were more the location and price - it's not as central and it's more expensive than other local options. But if you like the location and you've got the money...

Yes and that’s so subjective… I’m thankful for everyone’s feedback, it’s good to get different perspectives, random people tend to be more honest than friends and family 🤗

We don’t want to be central and exposed to the traffic at all times, and definitely done and done with properties that need renovation… our current house which we renovated from top to bottom had wallpaper even on the ceiling 🙈🤭

This was my immediate thought after seeing the photos.

Other than that the bedrooms are all a good size and even the smallest is a decent size.

It sounds like it's the one for you OP, you have definitely fallen for it! I can see it would be lovely to live in.

Given it's been on the market for a while, might be good scope for a haggle?

Anything you have to share with neighbours is a big no-no. It's fine if they're decent, reasonable people but so many people are idiots and shared access can quickly become a living nightmare.

Glad you had a good viewing. What did you think of the garage access though? I think that was the main MN problem. If next door have deliveries, tradespeople and possibly months of building, renovation etc they will block your access to a certain extent.

Yeah, we really like it.

Yeah that’s the thing…. When I first saw this house, I’m fairly sure it was listed somewhere around 900K. It’s since dropped, but I’m not 100% certain of the original price. The original listing has been removed, so I don’t have any proof hence our initial suspicions about this place 🤔.

We didn’t want to discuss a specific offer with the agent yet; we were just trying to get a sense of the latest situation with the house. The agent was really nice and not pushy at all, but based on the way he described the house and the price drop, I don’t think they’re likely to budge much if at all!

Have there been sales that fell through? It might just be bad luck (or good luck for you) that it hasn't sold. a couple of failed sales could take quite a while to conclude.

Garage is not obstructed at all, next door would have to have multiple vans/large cars there to block us and vice versa, their drive is pretty big so they wouldn’t have to park at the road/in front of our garage - if that make sense. Realistically, how many times a year you’d have something bigger than DPD van going in in there, probably not many.

On the way home we did discuss who removals lorry would get there but I guess all these people moved in there somehow, the road is really wide.

Thats a lovely house. Could it be the most overlooked on the plot with the smallest garden? I bought a new build and wish I had put in a lower offer actually. So if its been on a year and you go and do like it then put in a good offer and see. New build prices rise a lot slower than older houses so anything you can shave off is going to be a big help.

Yes, he said that one sell fell through, there was issue with the chain somewhere down the line. But I don’t remember this house being taken off the market as sold, I’ve been watching it since January 😅

You'd need a load of pleached trees in the garden to get some privacy and loads of blinds in the house but its liveable.

Your house looks bigger than next door. They have a skylight in the dining area where you have the master suite over.

OP if you’re really keen on it, haggle hard. The market is going one way right now. I’m in zone 2 London and can see semi decent period properties for 850-900k that would have been £1.1m a year ago (admittedly not detached and smaller than yours - but still a half hour commute max to the City).
Not many are brave enough to buy before the Budget when we will know if reports of new property taxes on properties over 500k will come in (let alone the £1.5m which will catch out many too).

You’re 100% right to ignore the decor. Even internal layout can be changed. The only thing that can’t is the size of plot and what way the garden and property faces (and who the neighbours are!)

Ah… I remember those days when we lived in London and it only took 30 minutes to get to the office, 5 days a week too 🥲😬

You’re right, the speculation around property tax, stamp duty, council tax, etc., is definitely something I’ve been thinking about. I was hoping we could use it to our advantage in the negotiation process. My husband seems to think these changes won’t happen, that it will be too drastic and would kill the property market, blah blah. Still, I do think at least some of it is likely to happen… running out of taxes to raise 🤷🏼‍♀️

I would definitely haggle hard too. The EA is just trying to talk the price up, it's their job.

If the developers bought the neighbouring land and are about to start building on it, they will be keen to have some cash coming in to use - possibly however low that amount is. It’s been on the market since January. That’s a long time…New builds are known for depreciating so go as low as you can in a falling market. Even if the taxes don’t happen, most of us feel poorer. The truly wealthy have fled or are not coming for now as the govt has sent very anti-business signals. As you point out, they’re running out of people to tax. Wages are falling, inflation though remains high so interest rates can’t fall properly. Don’t feel guilty about low balling it - 700k?? There are lots of threads showing prime property is tumbling by 30% so the next tier down - like yours - could be next. That’s what I would point out to the EA anyway.

We found it helpful to use Brickwise, which was a free tool could upload a listing or photos and really helped with questions to ask on the viewing. It said we were in an area which was prone to subsidence so to check for cracks carefully in the floors/walls, which was very helpful. It also then gave us a bit of confidence in what we were buying but wasnt expensive like the big full survey which is helpful at an earlier point in the journey.

Thanks for this some good pointers there 👍🏻

This house has actually been on the market since before January, probably as far back as November! I only noticed it in January, but the fact that two estate agents are now appointed suggests there hasn’t been huge interest so far. With the budget coming up and all the speculation around taxes, things can really only get worse for them…

As for the old house in the middle that people pointed out it’s actually the original house that’s been on that land for who knows how long. All the surrounding area where the five houses now stand plus the bit where developers want to build bungalows used to belong to that property. Back in the day it even had a tennis court, swimming pool, etc. Eventually, the original owners got older, secured planning permission, sold the land to a small local developer, and finally sold their house and moved out. I can only imagine how much the original neighbours must have hated them 😬

You share a driveway with the house on the right so you can only park two cars?
The porn star toilet would be a no for my DH!