How much under valuation to offer on Victorian house needing full renovation?

[sunshine240778474]

Hi,

I'm a first time buyer. I'm looking for advice. I've seen a house I like it's £260,000 It's 3 bedroom house. Old Victorian house. It would be absolutely gorgeous when it's renovated.
Currently it's needing completely renovated. Boiler doesn't work. Needs updated electrics, new plaster board. Holes in the walls ect. It's doesn't have much of a kitchen just the basics. It will need a full new kitchen. It's a 3 on the home report for damp. The home report is full of 2s, a few 3s and two 1s. It will need a lot of work done to it.

How much lower would you offer? Or is all this work cost taking into consideration with the valuation?

I don't want to offend the seller by offering less. It does need a lot of work done to it.

Any advice would be great. People's experience with the same situation would be helpful.

Thank you so much

Don’t know the area but that’s a very cheap house. Compare the asking price to other houses in the area recently sold. For a full renovation offer 100k under the going rate for an up to spec house.

Depends what renovated houses cost in that area, prices vary so much

To an extent its price should reflect the work required. So I wouldn't be expecting it to go down enough to cover the work you are talking about.

Unless you are very handy or know a lot of tradesmen i would reconsider. Renovating is very expensive at the moment then it all needs properly managing. It's incredibly time consuming and at times frustrating especially when you get let down or simply can't find someone willing to do the work..

Is it priced to reflect the work that needs to be done in the first place
houses are generally valued relevant to there condition when they are put up for sale

For £260k unless it is in a particularly affordable areas, that’s already priced for the renovations - it’s certainly at least £100k under what an up-to-spec house would be around where I live.

It will be priced to reflect its condition. So you might be able to make a slightly lower offer but you’re not going to be able to knock the full price of the work off. Don’t underestimate how much full renovation will cost, there are bound to be hidden surprises as well as the obvious.

Lots of people assuming that it has been priced to reflect its condition when none of us know that in reality.
@sunshine240778474 you need to carefully research your local market and see what similar, renovated properties have sold for. Bear in mind that he market is falling-stagnant in many areas and likely to fall more rather than rise soon. If you are thinking of making an offer, please view with an experience builder who can give you a realistic idea of costings. Then add another 50% as you are bound to discover more things in need of fixing. Don't worry about offending the vendor, you can't control their reaction to an offer. All you can do is be armed with lots of knowledge as above and make a prudent offer. Do not get carried away and over pay, especially not at present.

A Look at the prices of comparable homes nearby.
B Assess and estimate the cost of the renovation.
Subtract B (and a bit more) from A = could be about right.

Assuming you're in Scotland, since you mention the home report, if you really want the house I would offer the valuation as a starting point. If you're in a popular area (or anywhere in Edinburgh but I am guessing not at that price!) it will go for way more.

Are you in Scotland?
If so, all this would have been taken into consideration already when valuing the property.

This is a very important point. It could be an ex rental with a greedy landlord who is trying to cash in with a kite flying price. There are a lot of these on the market at present. You absolutely can't assume its priced to reflect the current condition. If your not in Scotland. Even if you are in Scotland you can still offer lower.
For a finger in the air budget a full renovation could easily cost you 100k. Is it really 100k cheaper than comparables ?

Thank you everyone. It's in a small town in the Highlands of Scotland.

Oh, just like my username then 😆

Also consider how easy it is going to be to find people to do the work- on these renovation programmes the ones in rural areas always cite lack of tradespeople to be a massive issue- sometimes they end up importing them and having to pay lodging. You need to get an estimate for doing the work, add 50% to account for the impending energy cost crisis and surprises and then compare that to a "done" house in the same area.,

@Highlandtown what highland town are you in?

It might be priced to account for the work needed, but you can offer what you like, they will just refuse if they're not happy and won't be offended as such.
It sounds like a lot of expensive, major work though, so unless you have a lot of money to spend on it then I wouldn't offer asking price. It also sounds like a lot of hassle - it's not only the money, unless you can live somewhere else whilst work is being done.
You'd need the most in-depth survey - damp can be easily fixed or cost thousands, depending on the cause.

Our DS has just offered on a two-up, two-down Victorian in a West Midlands town, which has been renovated pretty well by a landlord selling up ahead of renters rights reform. Similar asking price, and price agreed at a few thousand discount.