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 🤔

Pornstar toilet haha ! Love it 😁 if we buy it I’m getting a plaque above the door 😂😂😂

Not sure if you have seen details of any of the other houses that have sold for comparison? This is one on the main road - very similar in size, slightly different bedroom layout. The pirvate frontage is nice but probably nosier as it is right on the main road. Back garden also very overlooked. Listing price a lot higher too.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/147971258#/floorplan?activePlan=1&channel=RES_NEW

We’ve seen that house, we wanted to view it but got sold. This is one of the 5 houses that was build, this one and another one on front are two bigger properties, the one next door to it sold for 1mil I think.
The “main road” is actually not the main road, it’s super narrow, quite few turns to side roads to get there, that area is extremely quiet without any ongoing traffic apart of local residents. The end of that road doesn’t lead to anywhere, it’s a dead end pretty much with only footpath available to the public.

Also this one
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/161809250#/?channel=RES_NEW

I think your plot looks relatively good value and you are much better off being back from the main road.

The initial listing here states £1.3m
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/148132121#/?channel=RES_NEW

Yup, that’s the two “larger properties” thay sold for much more, hence I don’t think they will be willing to haggle much as the house we want is already seen as good value in compare to other properties sold on that mini estate.

Oh ok, just seen your update about the road.

I agree about the haggling. The listing also states offers in excess. I suspect they have reduced it already to get rid of it so you might not have much haggle room.

It looks good value to me for the spec and size you get compared to other sales locally.

Things that would put me off:

• v overlooked - worse than my house in zone 2!
• shared driveway
• non adopted road
• small garden for the size of house

Like others I think the decor is awful but obviously could be changed.

if I’m going to live somewhere that rural I definitely don’t want a shared drive or being badly overlooked. That seems to me to be the worst of all worlds!

Totally agree. I could live with the house but the access to the next door property would be an issue for me. Without that access, you would have space for 4 cars, with it, you have access for 2. It's a large house that in time could accommodate 2 adults and 3 grown up kids. Where does everyone park?

I can see those points about the garden being overlooked, although to be honest we don’t spend much time in the garden anyway. Lesson learned from our current house we actually bought it for the garden (60ft long!) and hardly ever use it and so much maintenance needed…

No plans for three children, but thank you for the insight. I can definitely see why this hoise setup wouldn’t work for some, for the reasons you mentioned :)

These kinds of things are what remind me of my friend who is stuck with a house she can't sell - she and her partner didn't want to maintain a garden, for example, and didn't have a car. But the main target market for houses that size and in that location would have been families, and most families want different things to what her family wanted. So I still think you should go for it if it's a forever home or at least very long term, and not if there's any chance you will need to try and sell it to a market of buyers who are mostly not like you.

The en suite looks appallingly badly set out and the family bathroom is tiny for a house that size. I also don't like the downstairs loo next to the living room and for £800K I expect a separate kitchen.

It has kerb appeal (at least from the front) but I wouldn't have it at that price.

Sounds like the one for you!

the searches might show up that building work is planned but doesn’t mean they will get the go ahead

I reckon you could put in a sensible offer and see what happens

Sometimes I think houses just get over looked as there’s better alternatives at the time

Interestingly @Clockface222 second link shows a mock up of the 5 houses and op's neighbour's driveway is on the corner of the plot and wouldn't impact op in the way it does now it's been built.

I know it's difficult to tell exactly from pictures, but it looks very good spec. The flooring downstairs won't have been cheap with the inlaid edging.

I see the bedroom is divisive, but if you really don't get on with the glass doors it's likely not a difficult fix.

I'd be more annoyed with the assumption that I want a TV in the bedroom! 😂

Is there an extractor with the hob? Seems unusual for it to be in the island without one, but it could be an extracting hob.

The neighbour's access onto their driveway is a bit awkward and could potentially cause issues, but unfortunately no matter where you live you could end up with nightmare neighbours.

It does look like you can get two, if not three cars across in front of the garage and one car along the fence line on the left (plus the garage obviously, if it's actually big enough to house a car). How many cars will you have on a regular basis? Do you have kids that will likely end up with their own cars while living at home? How many people do you have visiting? If everyone's families turned up on Christmas Day, is it going to be a pain?

Overall I really like the house though.

That is interesting, I wonder why it changed. The original plans seem to show access halfway between the two photos so I guess they did not bother with accuracy when building it.
cdp.maldon.gov.uk/planning/planning-documents?SDescription=22/00540/FUL

There’s a downdraft extractor fan in the island, which is a nice feature.

What’s interesting about the driveway is that, while we were there, it didn’t seem like there would be any issues unless we or neighbours deliberately parked sideways and completely blocked the road. The road and access are actually very wide. We have two cars and don’t plan on more. We have one child who may eventually drive, but I highly doubt she’ll be living with us into late adulthood 😂, so parking isn’t a major concern. On top of that, there are parking lay-bys, so visitors or extra cars can park easily. People do visit, but it’s not like we have 20 people showing up at once.

What’s been really interesting in this thread is seeing how many people made comment about road for example, makes me wonder, out of potential buyers how many may have potentially passed on the listing without actually seeing it purely based on the photos. Aside from the decor- the size of the road, the spacing between houses, and the older house it’s so much bigger than it looks like

The private road would worry me because my understanding you'd all have to chip in to repair it? As it's new maybe it's not such a big concern?

I'm loving the bedroom and the garden. I wish mine was like these!