We like a particular housing estate and we want to live on it. Houses on it have, in the last 12 months sold for between £135k and £155k as originally built. 2 double beds, 1 single, lounge, dining room and small kitchen. The lower of those prices needed refurbing, the more expensive ones mainly just neeeed decorating.

There is only 1 house in the estate for sale at the moment and they want £210k. Upstairs is identical with the 3 beds and bathroom but downstairs has been extended with a single storey extension to provide a single garage, dining kitchen, and small toilet and utility (dining room is still separate to kitchen diner). Decoration wise it’s really nice and the kitchen/bathroom are nice too.

They bought the house just before the 2008 housing crash for £191k – I am not sure if they did the extending themselves but I don’t think so.

How do I go and see the house and what do I offer? I don’t think it’s worth more than £180k at the moment and the zoopla house estimator agrees with me.

Make an appointment to view and then offer what you think it’s worth or what you can afford (these may be the same amounts).

If Zoopla suggests it’s worth £180k then it might be worth mentioning that to the agent…

You phone the estate agent and go see it, you offer what you think it’s worth to you. From what you’ve described, it sounds like they’ve priced themselves out of the market anyway unless it’s really head and shoulders above everything else

I think 180 sounds about the top price tbh, 155 to 180 is a big jump just for a garage and a downstairs toilet and slightly bigger kitchen (dunno what the area is like tho)

offer what is reasonable and be prepared for a knock back because they’re expecting to break-even

surely the answer is to buy one at 140k ish and do the extension yourself ??

Is a zoopla estimate reliable, historic data for houses in area which may be totally different build and/or not extended plus generic variable for inflation . The only reliable price guide is what people are currently will to pay for it

Zoopla estimates have been insanely low IMO, they’re £30-50k short of what houses are going for locally to me.

From your info – They bought it for 191k in 2008. You say it’s nicely done and presented.

Is a 10% increase over 7 yrs unwarranted where you are – Do you think it won’t sell at 210?

Only you can decide the value of course, but availability of other similar houses is also a factor. As the old saying goes, price is what you pay, value is what you get..

If I could secure houses locally for 2008 sale price + 10% I’d buy a few without looking!

There is only 1 house in the estate for sale

There’s a clue.

But of course, they still need a buyer.

Good luck

If I could secure houses locally for 2008 sale price

sure about that?

It’s this one
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50260924.html

Same house as 32 or 90 (both sold recently) but with extension. Sold in Jan 2008 for £191k WITH extension already built. I think they paid too much.

Prices haven’t returned to the peak we saw in 2008 as far as I’ve seen in Hudds area.

Seems very fully priced vs the non-converted houses. IMO it never pays to have the nicest/highest value house in terms of price appreciation. Zoopla valuations are pretty worthless, most useful feature is ability to look at actual sale prices. I would feel quite uncertain at paying up for this one.

In London prices are 20%-30% above 2008 so you need local context to look at valuations.

BTW there are a lot of houses on Westcroft that are huge 4 bedroom ones which go for £220k+ which aren’t comparable to this one.

Sold in Jan 2008 for £191k WITH extension already built. I think they paid too much.

Easy to say that in hindsight.

And anyway what difference does what they paid for it make?

They might not want to sell for less than they paid.

I think it all boils down to how desperate they are to sell!!

Wow – Cheap up north innit!

We are desperate to buy now hence looking at all options. We’ve sold our house and just can’t find anywhere to live.

We’ve sold our house and just can’t find anywhere to live.

I’m in exactly the same boat. It’s rubbish, the agents just don’t seem to have any stock.

Looks nice, hills just down the road and a garage to fill bikes up with.

Buy it and put your least favourite child in that green bedroom.

Don’t miss it for a couple of K

Wow – Cheap up north innit!

Yeah it is. TDF passed close to this house and Honley is in Holme valley, awesome riding and lovely countryside.

I have no idea why people live darn sarf. 😉

Our max budget is £180k. Which is what I think this place is worth.

Just going to have to visit it and make the offer I suppose – i keep hearing stories of people getting houses really cheap with cheeky offers, I want to be one of those people!

The zoopla estimate is meaningless.

Offer what you think its worth now to you, it doesnt matter what the current owners paid for it, but dont be too surprised if they decline your offer.

You should be able to value it by looking at similar sized houses in the same vague area, If the same house( but minus the extension) generally sell for £155k in good condition, and this one is up for £210k, Is the extension worth £55k to you ?

Is there anything else about the house that justifies a higher price? A larger garden for example, or a south facing garden? You may not value a large south facing garden, in which case save some money and buy a house with a smaller north facing garden.

If everything about this house is almost identical to the others except for the extension, then It probably wouldnt cost £55k to build that extension judging by the description you’ve given. So the cheapest option could be to buy a house without the extension and get an extension built, but then you’ve got the stress and hassle of doing that, so what price do you put on not having to do that?

I think Zoopla overvalues my house by 5 to 10% and Mouseprice by up to 20% – nice Surrey village.

And anyway what difference does what they paid for it make?

+1

I think I got a good bargain when I bought mine (desperate seller) but don’t expect me to pass on my good fortune to the next buyer.

Stop being a tightarse and move to Holmfirth.

Honley. Pffft.

Zoopla price estimates get more and more flaky the longer the period since the last sale. You can have two identical houses next to each other and Zoopla gives them completely different estimates…

Jambos graph stops a whole year early and of course is for ever where

If you have an upper ceiling it makes the negotiations much easier, so go for it.

In my limited experience an asking price means nothing. It might mean if I get more that £200,000 then I might be able to retire to Spain so I’ll see what happens. To my amazement not all houses are on the market because people are planning to move

sure about that?

Of course, that is why I wrote it. If you can supply them *locally* I will buy them.

Now I see your graph I might reconsider and sell my own house, it suggests a loss (!) 😉

If you need/want the space – it’s worth about the same as another house in simlar condition + whatever it would cost to build the extension + the hassle and inconvience of getting an extension built. I dont think its a massive jump, but I’d be asking questions RE building regs, underfloor insualtion etc. now…

Just out of curiosity I looked up the street we’re moving to on mouseprice and found something similar that was sold in 2008:

A home that was bought at around the same price and time as 18 Grazeley Road, RG7 1BJ, was sold again for £885,000.00 on 01/08/2012. The Old Exchange High Street, RG4 6UP experienced a price change of 18.4% per annum, given that it was bought for £431,000.00 on 02/05/2008. This change applied to 18 Grazeley Road, RG7 1BJ would imply a current property price of £1,468,000.00. Of course this is too simplistic to form the basis of a property valuation as it ignores many factors unique to both properties.

We didn’t have £1.4million to spend!

Given that mousprice, zoopla, etc all use the same simplistic algorithms I’d take them with a punch of salt!

Stop being a tightarse and move to Holmfirth.
Honley. Pffft.

😀

I don’t wear the right fashion for Holmfirth, I wouldn’t fit in!

It’s a bit too far out too for me working in Leeds.

I use a google chrome addin called appraised! it is as below, more details on the other tabs:

Mortgage valuation would surely have more influence on what you offer than the zoopla valuation…

In London prices are 20%-30% above 2008 so you need local context to look at valuations.

Similar in Bristol.

My flat (£140k in 2005) was valued at £185k when I remortgaged just before it all went pear shaped and was valued last year as £200k and this year I am seeing smaller properties on nearby but less desirable roads for £220 and there is a lot of them at that price. Only flat nicer is up for £250k. for a chuffing 1 bed flat!

Depends on how long you are going to live there…

If there is nothing you want or need to do to the place in terms or updating kitchen/bathroom/wiring etc. then this could be taken into condideration.

I am assuming that the extension is the size of the shaded area on the floorplan. If so it might add 25% to the overall floor area and then in someones brain 25% to the value of the property…

If you plan to live there for a long time because the lower extension is already there you could expand above it and make bedroom three the master and put an ensuite in on the garden side….

The purchase will be as much emotional as it is based on sense. The same goes for the sale. Unless I was desperate to move selling for less than I paid would not be a very bitter pill. ALso as it is priced at 210 changing the first number to a 1 may not go down well. Just look in the shops at all the prices. How many are 2.03 rather than 1.99?