What is wrong with this house?

[ButterPiesAreGreat]

Saw this house on Facebook last night.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/160791941#/?channel=RES_BUY

Sent it jokingly to DS as it’s not far (15 mins walk) to our team’s football ground and that was highlighted as its selling point. Then I looked through the pics and realised it’s a hell of a house.

Now the area it borders is not great but it’s not awful and a good mile from the really rough parts of town. It’s well away from the ground with most fans staying well away from the house taking different routes back into the centre. It looks out onto the park so it has a lovely outlook and the road in front is not a through road so doesn’t get loads of traffic. It’s also about a mile from the uni, where there are a few purpose built student accommodation places.

The more I thought about it, the more I was curious about the price because the house is in apparently good condition, even if not all of it is all to my taste. You could easily move straight in.

So I looked back at Zoopla price history and discovered it was listed 3 years ago, for £800K! Then it was listed last December for £650K, then listed again in June for £590K. There’s been 4 reductions of price since then, the latest just last week. It’s not sold any of those times, it was last bought in 2006.

Now I completely get that the area is not completely salubrious, and that interest rates have affected house prices but a 50% reduction in 3 years seems excessive. As it stands now, the owners are selling it for £50K less than they bought it for 20 years ago so they wouldn’t get back what they have clearly put into it.

I can only think that there is something structurally wrong or there is a legal problem of some sort, because if you wanted a 6 bed house in Preston, surely £400K sounds like a bargain. Our house is not much cheaper than that and it’s an OK size in a nice but not super expensive area.

What do you think? What do you think is wrong with this house?

Bargain, my 2bed flat is in F!!

The garden's also overlooked by numerous properties. The house is identical to thousands of others and will no doubt be the next one to be snapped up by developers and granted an HMO licence.

Beautiful house. Fantastic location opposite the park. Really good investment. Would make a great family home.

But clearly structural problems as others have spotted. And I don’t see any central heating/radiators. Nor in description. Looks like a portable one in one of the rooms, though there’s a heated towel rail in bathroom.

Plus, looks like it needs a lot of work inside, e.g. new kitchen.

Also, as it’s a family home, what are the local schools like?

Surprised the Home Office haven’t snapped it up as asylum supoort accommodation.

Looks a fab house. The park opposite is getting a 7.5M uplift so presumably this will sort out any park worries.

The garden is easily sorted, I suppose people think they don't need six bedrooms and they might rattle round, but I think it's lovely. I'd buy it! I'm very tempted tbh:)

What it was listed at in the past is sort of irrelevant. Prices on big house outside london peaked in the window just post covid when interest rates were low, people thought they could work remotely forever and people had saved money from not going out for two years so could afford more.

They've plunged since (ive just accepted an offer on mine around 30% lower than what we estimated) it might be worth in 2022 and its in a desirable london commuter belt village). Interest rates are much higher, a mortgage costs far more now and that limits what a bank can lend. Plus property price rises were huge between 2010 & 2016, then they levelled off. People who bought at the peak haven't made any gains so have less equity for onward moves.

The national house price stats aren't showing a fall yet because some areas are ok and volumes are low, but there's no doubt, prices have dropped relative to incomes.

@Peridoteage I agree with that assessment & we really haven't seen it play out yet.

Yes but "it's in the post" as my Dad used to say :/

Gosh it looks wonderful to me.
Dentist for neighbour means NO Night noise from that side ever. Awesome.
Just placemarking in case OP finds out some useful info.

ps: wall mounted radiators (central heating) are visible in multiple pictures.

Yes, I wondered why it said investors dream

@ButterPiesAreGreatso you are a snob about southern snobs? If you were in the south until your 30s I hate to tell you this but you are a southerner still! Moving doesnt make any difference.

Ive looked at this on Rightmove as it pops up on local searches when I’m browsing. The problem is the area. To me it’s not really a family friendly residential area. I may be wrong but my impression is most of the houses round there are businesses of some sort eg private drs or dentists, others would be HMO’s. The park is not great, there is a popular skate park at the opposite end and some tennis courts (which might have closed now) but I wouldn’t let my kids play there unsupervised and wouldn’t want to walk through it at night. Proximity to UCLAN makes it an ideal HMO.

I’ve been looking in Preston and other cities nearby for a house and that postcode won’t be doing the sellers any favours. Crime is higher than average, lots of students nearby. I can’t afford a house that price but if I could then I would want a home of four beds, maybe three and would happily live further out within the city, in a better area and buy a house much cheaper so win win. That’s the typical expectation, not for six bedrooms. Is there any demand at the moment for houses in Preston with more than £400k? A quick look at recent sold prices on Right Move suggests not.

It is a house that will only appeal to a tiny market - most likely landlords or developers. There may be a big family who don’t mind living in that area and can afford it and the upkeep. Bills may be around the £1k per month mark? It will get bought soon, I’m sure.

Idiot comment

Agree, it's a huge drop in price, it's a perfectly reasonable question to ask. It'd be silly not to

it’s the 2006 price though that I think is odd - the current price to me seems comparable with other properties in the area if it has some structural work done

400k nearly 20 years ago seems odd and completely out of place

That is a lot of hojse and at some point it woild have been a lovely solid, spacious family house and could be again. As people have said "investors dream" in the description is a massive red flag for anyone looking for a home. The interior is a bit disjointed and very cheap looking in places. I suspect it has been renovated quickly and cheaply with glizty furnishing covering up some structural sins - all fur coat and no knickers.

Perhaps the surveyor's report has picked up lots of damp throughout the house and woodworm? It does also seem there is subsisidence so perhaps those issues along with the fact that it's a big house (beautiful though I think) has reduced the price.

I wonder if by this they mean it’s a massive house and ripe for turning into a HMO or student accommodation. And if that’s the case is this happening to other houses in the area? Dd is an architect and all her work consists of turning houses like this into HMOs, working out how many bedrooms can be crammed in. I’m sure this changes the neighbourhood.

This. I also know Preston and many Victorian houses of this type around the parks and Winckley Square have been transformed into flats and HMO’s over the years. As a result the streets outside are usually wall to wall with cars as there isnt enough parking. I would expect many of the house on the Park are now flats and a single family home is a rarity. Usually the external photos are taken at a quiet time when few cars are there. We went to view a beautiful property on Avenham park but when we arrived couldn’t park anyway near. Never even went to see it in the end. All the surrounding properties had been converted. Hence why the comment about a good investment opportunity. It’s possible the current owners having put time and effort turning into a lovely family home have been refusing to sell to anyone other than another family.

Oh actually I have looked at the plan - it is an odd layout. It seems the orginal house was a fairly spacious two up two down and then there is thr massiive long one room wide side return extension. Hmmm i stand by my judgement - all fur coat and no knickers

Nothing wrong with the structure, that’s just a Streetview glitch. The owner/developer of the other half of the semi with the half built building sounds like a bit of a twat though - property developer with a string of failed companies owing money. The half built building was not compliant with planning approval hence not yet completed for example. Maybe the sellers have had a nightmare with this adjacent property being converted into flats? Or maybe it’s owned by the same bloke who just needs to shift it?

The immediate location as seen on Street View is grim, but otherwise I like the house. Its age probably means it's a maintenance nightmare but a proper survey would reveal any serious concerns. It last sold for roughly the same price in 2006. Any asking prices in the meantime are usually estate agents' fantasies in my experience.

I really like it and you are getting a lot of house for your money. I am interested now in why it hasn’t sold.

Can’t see many radiators … it would be a nightmare to heat.

It'll be the location. Always is. It's not clear what else is going on in that road but there are offices and a care home .

The decor is quite dated and I imagine a lot of people would want to rip a lot of things out.

The garden is clearly for easy maintenance and extra parking through the double gates.

Also, who needs 6 bedrooms that all need heating?