Anyone looking for a "doer-upper"?

It's this one, isn't it?

Seems to be under offer. People underestimate the cost of the work, I'm afraid. Hopefully, their surveyor will disabuse them, or they'll have the sense to get quotes from a builder.

GB scribbled...

Leeds !

Argh.

It would have to really cheap to even consider looking at it up there.

Yeah, it is that one. I'm surprised it's under offer but I'll be interested to see what it finally goes for.

Artic > afraid. Hopefully, their surveyor will disabuse them, or they'll have

There was one of those round these parts - 3 bedroom terrace, going for about £150K which is half of the rate for one in good nick. You know it's going to be trouble when there's a surveyor's report rather than estate agents' brochure. According to the report it's built on a spring, with associated subsidence and enthusiastic vegetation. Plus old gent owner, lived in it for 40 years, you get the picture.

Strictly a knock it down and start again job, I suspect. Which is a tad tricky if it fronts onto a busy road with no other access, and you have to make sure you don't knock down the neighbours too...

Theo

LOL!

Nothing surprises me any more.

Next-door-but-two went on the market a couple of weeks back - repo sale. It's tiny, it's in abysmal condition - pretty much needs to go back to four walls and start again. It's got a decent size garden, yep - but access is _terrible_ - the only route to the place is through somebody else's garden, then through the single (rickety) carport (the only parking), and there's no scope to gain more.

The price looks tempting at first, but has no allowance for half the work to be done before it gets to full market value.

We were briefly tempted by it as a project-then-let, but there ain't no way it's worth it. For half the price, p'raps, but you've still got the access problem.

Yet it's already apparently had a full asking price offer. Madness.

If you lopped the '1' off it, maybe ...

Theo Markettos has brought this to us :

It seems to be around number 42 Roper Avenue, which is a quiet cul-de-sac.

"First Floor Landing With original decorative stained glass leaded window to the side elevation" Arguably true -- very little left of the wooden frame but the glass and lead are original.

Streetview:

It went on at 185K. A month later it dropped to 175K. Zoopla lists similar nearby properties as worth 190K.

Outside front through arboretum:

Couldn't get a panoramic view of the back because of the brambles and remains of burnt mattresses but here it is in pieces:

Back right:

Back left downstairs:

Back left upstairs:

Side:

There are gaping holes in the floors where the boards and joists have disintegrated through rot and woodworm.

What remains of the kitchen is subsiding into the floor.

The bathroom looks like something out of Trainspotting (or possibly "movie-style bathroom" in estate agent lingo).

The original 1930s plaster seems to be adhering to the wall through the power of prayer --- apart from where a partial re-wire has seen the chases filled (very roughly) with mortar.

Even allowing for offers, does that price not seem hopelessly optimistic?

Wouldn't you struggle to insure something with trees taller than the house just yards away? What would you do with those trees - leave the stumps or try and dig them out?

I ask only out of curiosity.

Do some calculations deduct from good house price and make them an offer a few thou below. Show them your claculations. You need to determine if it's an area on the way up or on the way down. Easy to spot.

You can get a machine to shred tree stumps.

I'm not interested in buying it - just curious. I know you can shred tree stumps but wouldn't you risk heave if you chopped down two trees taller than the house a couple of yards away?

Yes, obviously. But it's a waste of time. Some idiot will say "Bloody hell! £175,000 for Roper Avenue. That's a bargain. I can do all the work myself in my spare time, and it won't cost much. And anything that costs money I can do over time when I get some more money in." And, the idiot will bid £175k for something that's only worth £100k.

Whether he'll get a mortgage for £175k, though? Aye, there's the rub, as Hamlet would say.

Depends what the soil is, but yes.

Yes as a fellow prospective-do-er-upper-then-letter, it's frustrating... I've quite often made enquiries about similar properties locally, and they always seem to go at stupid prices, and it's impossible not to conclude that whoever's bought them is going to get burned. Ain't going to be me, though.

At the beginning of the year sis looked at a property that was a doer-upper because it was what she wanted (a bungalow) where she wanted it.

The old dear who owned it had gone into a home and it was on by tender at "Offers over 300K". Apparently, this price was dictated by the vendor.

I did some searches and discovered that the highest price in the street was

The tender date came and went and she heard that there were no offers and it was now on at "Offers over 250K".

Still no joy.

She didn't follow it any further but I've just checked and can see that it went for 222,022!

Some people have a funny view of what their house is worth :-(

tim

It just needs a selling slogan. "Leeds, further from France than the southerners"

Some old dears are probably trying to pay for their care home for then next 6 months...

They need to avoid it for about a year. They will be far better off once Cameron's deal on care homes starts in about a years time than under the current arrangements.

I don't see how that can be a problem

Once the money's run out the state will pick up the bill

All that getting more for your house does is delay that date.

And even at "stupid prices" 200K pays for a lot of care, we have to assume that this isn't the totally of the individual's income, she wasn't living on fresh air before she sold the house, so her basic needs are already met.

tim

The choice of 'care' homes is rather wider if you have the money to pay for one.