Your opinion on this house...

[Andeh13]

Hi guys,

Girlfriend and I are looking to upsize into a 4 bed detached property in the Banbury area. We are both very very fortunate in our jobs/pay and family helping us contribute towards a house.

We have found a house we do like, but it is at the very limit of our budget, it is quite dated inside, house was obviously built 15 years ago (first sale date in '98 for £125k) and nothing has been updated since then.

It was originally put on the Market for £285k in March last year, and the price was reduced to £269k in August. general neighboured goes from £250k - £290k for detached houses it seems.

In terms of value for money, offers etc... do you think £249,999 to beat stamp duty would be beyond reasonable? The current owners are down sizing. We are 100% cash buyers.

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/16690318

Just an outside opinion would be very grateful received!

[Phage]

7.4 % seems a big drop on asking considering they've already dropped the price once. It all depends on how desperate the vendors are.
Nothing to stop a cheeky offer.

[Andeh13]

Yeah, that's the general consensus from people. I might try our luck, but as they are downsizing and from the sounds of it no hurry there is a very good chance they will just gradually lower the price every few months and wait till they get a good offer before moving out.

1 month of solid looking and so few houses have come up. When is the best time for sellers to put properties on the market?

[Phage]

Historically spring. Not sure if that's still true though.

[Saracen]

7.4 % seems a big drop on asking considering they've already dropped the price once. It all depends on how desperate the vendors are.
Nothing to stop a cheeky offer.

I'm not so sure about that.

It's not the type of seller's market it was a few years ago, and "100% cash buyer" is a very strong negotiating factor. if thst were me, I'd be looking to milk that for all it's worth.

But having said that, it is, as you say, all down to the vendor. If they have a place to buy all sorted, they may well take 250k. If they aren't in any hurry, they may not.

A friend of mine offered an extremely cheeky £285k on a place on the market for £430k (and no, there isn't a typo in those numbers, I meant 285k and 430k) .... and it was accepted. That was about 15 years ago though, and there was a bit more to the story than that).

[Terbinator]

It has nice windows, assuming they're not rotted and need replacing as a priority.

From my purely un-educated POV, it looks like a really nice house and Banbury is a nice area (some Uni friends from there).

Also, detached. Time to crank the volume up!

[Rob_B]

Looks nice, decent sized garden area.

Doesn't look as dated as I expected from your OP! With all of their stuff removed a bit of paint should do most of the job (ignoring the kitchen of course) It looks well looked after which should hopefully mean there will be no nasty surprises.

-Whats the area like?
-I know you're moving in with your girlfriend but what are local schools like?
-Any new developments due in the area?
-Asked any neighbours about the house (with the real intention of scoping out the neighbours !)
-Checked the local crime reports? http://www.police.uk/overview/?q=Banbury+OX16%2C+UK

[g8ina]

Agree with Saracen on this, CASH BUYER (ie "first time buyer") is extremely powerful. Just go make the offer

[flearider]

myself .. looks like one of those houses you cant fence or change your garden .. private roads and all that ..and only being 15 yrs old will prob have walls in it that you can hear everything in the next room(ie:just plasterboard) ..with a cash buy you prob could get somthing better ..
but if you two like it .. why ask anyone else ..

[Smudger]

I think that what you're seeing as dated is the previous owner's furniture. With that removed, as Rob_B points out, decoration looks OK. The Kitchen is quite dark with the current cupboards, but it's liveable. First thing to do would be swap out the bathroom, that looks like it's been there a while...

Oh, and I see nothing wrong with making an offer at £249,999. It's within the realms of possibility for the asking price. In fact, £269k says to me 'We'll ask that, but we'll take £250k...' The seller knows that the threshold for Stamp duty is there too...

[scaryjim]

Personally I wouldn't mess with the £999. Offer £249k. They're unlikely to quibble over £1k, but that'll go a long way towards your solicitors fees

We recently offered £65k on a house the was marketed at £75k and got it accepted*. It's pretty much a buyer's market still £249k as an offer from £269k sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

*before anyone congratulates me, we had to pull out after a second viewing - the back wall had mushrooms growing out of it. Genuine, actual, mushrooms (jelly ears or a close relative, if anyone's interested). Whilst free food is normally a good thing, when it's growing out the house it's a bit of a worry

[Andeh13]

Thanks for all the replies guys. This situation would be easier if the estate agent wasn't a total prat. From the minute I spoke to him he was condescending towards me, every phone call felt like I was trying to sell him something. He is from an 'independent' agency with himself and another as 'partners (their names in the title).

He hung up on me the first two times I called (hung up on me mid sentence then when I rang back picked phone up and put it down again) for general information about the property (when the other 5 estate agents I spoke to that day were brilliant over their respective properties).

Even on the day of the interview with myself and girlfriend he was uninterested, and gave the attitude of having better things to do. We both got in the car and said the same thing, both had picked up on the 'vibe' he was giving out - wasn't even me just being a bit sensitive.


Hopefully he will ring me this afternoon for my views (hah!) and I can discuss the situation with him, realistically though I want to tell him ill speak to him tomorrow after we have had a bit more time to think about it <-- anything gained by playing 'uninterested' prior to offer?

thanks again guys

[Smudger]

I would see if you can cut him out of negotiations. Deal direct with the seller. The estate agent still gets his cut, but your deal isn't reliant on that muppet getting his 'arris in gear... Or ask if there's another agent you can deal with, as you think he's an idiot. Make sure the seller knows he's an idiot as well...

[ik9000]

Turn up on their doorstep and make the offer directly. Make sure it's conditional on getting the surveys done + approved though!

[Andeh13]

It's tempting, however as they are 'down sizing' now that the kids have all moved out I imagine they are just waiting for the right offer to move them out. This puts me in a less then fantastic situation I fear, as they are clearly not short of time, so have no reason to get on board the fast train to expedite proceedings. I would think their response would be 'deal with the estate agent, that's what he is there for'.

It is an option if he fobs me off the next time we speak though. It looks like we will be in the area this & next Saturday...


My only hope is that with me being able to move as fast as they want, with less baggage as a cash buyer and being quite happy to delaying completing (providing the exchange is finished) until June/July time - giving them time to house hunt and move out, that I can lure them with the £249k offer.


Oh man....

[kalniel]

Depends on your competition really. Sometimes a recent price drop can attract a attention that was missing before. We saw one house that had been steadily being reduced, thinking that most people would expect it to continue being reduced, only it just happened that this round there were loads of interested parties. For the house we ended up buying we got it because we offered quite close to asking, where the competition didn't. When the competition subsequently upped their offer the sellers had already decided we would be the buyers because we weren't trying it on.

If it's the right house then offer what you can sensibly afford. We might have over paid by 10k by not being cheeky, but we've got the perfect house we wanted, and I'd happily pay 20k over the 25 or whatever years for that.