Recap: the estate agent's art has been on full display in the attempt to shift a pair of costly new-build white elephants down the road from Schloss Drew, replete with misleading CGI images and hilariously inventive euphemisms.
Now, perhaps because there has been no obvious movement on selling these large, smart, luxurious but hopelessly impractical properties (seven bedrooms but no garage, very difficult vehicular access, built into the side of a hill on a busy main road), a new estate agent has joined the fray. And - all credit to them - they present honest images! Here's the photo they honourably display of the right-hand property as completed; and below, for comparison, the risible CGI we showed before.
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| In the flesh: steep, narrow front with retaining walls |
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| In the first agent's blurb: broad, gently sloping driveway |
And here's the steep back garden, which didn't previously feature at all.
And where the first agent quoted a steep price but artificially lowered the front aspect, the second agent accurately shows the steep front ... and quotes a lowered price. (see what I did there, hahah). Yes, the price has been dropped! Well, well. At £1.65m, though, still pricey - relative to what else that money can get you in the same neighbourhood (i.e. level plot, quiet road, big garden, expansive drive, big garage etc etc, and still very large & fine accommodation).
It must be said, some of the rooms look splendid indeed, and new-build is new-build, all mod cons and warranties too. Maybe somewhere there really is a very large family of wealthy, hill-climbing hermits who ride only bicycles and public buses, don't need anything delivered to the front door, and very much want to live in spacious luxury on a main road. In Croydon.
Maybe. I'll keep you posted.
ND
6 comments:
Warranty - LOL. Good luck with getting any sort of recompense from the builder (likely a one off shell company to liquidate) or the warranty provider for any problems. A big house built into the hill has a strong likelihood of shifting and cracking walls because it'll have been thrown up as cheaply as possible.
Miserable. My friend has just sold her three bedroom house with mature garden, two reception rooms and two loos (!) for £185k. At least she had on street parking.... I have been trying to sell Mother's house but both buyers pulled out. One didn't want to pay the extra council tax a second home would attract and the other was a he/him idiot who thought he could fall out with the neighbours and interfere with our roofers. How do people flip houses for a living?
Quality always sells otherwise not, esp at £1.65M.
Perhaps a little cost benefit analysis before knocking up two monstrosities would have been an idea.
OT but on cost benefit. I see some fool wants to put solar panels on all new house builds. The question is who benefits?
The housebuilders may be willing to put a few panels up and install the electrical gizmos. Then there are the maintenance contracts to consider - and whose panels are they anyway. Can I buy cheap after 20 years and chuck them away?
But even the housebuilders might suck their teeth when the selling price is forced up and the buyers baulk at the price - and the compulsory maintenance contracts and forced (low) feed-in prices. And our friends the insurers, surveyors and certificate scribblers will be looking to wet their beaks as well.
To say nothing of the overall ROI. Solar leccy looks the sort of thing best done on large land areas by big companies - Bodmin and Dartmoor and Northumberland look good, just ignore the whining and the ponies. Spreading over a load of newbuild houses looks a lousy idea to me.
The houses will be used for "asylum seekers" i.e. invaders. Eventually their e-bikes or scooters will burn them down.
UK is a dreadfully bad location for solar PV. Most of Germany is, too, but they have installed just so much, it has a material impact on the grid. (Sorry, "makes a major contribution")
We're fortunate with solar, we're high up enough that I have to boot starlink satellites out of my way, face south, and, unless someone plans to knock down the houses lower than us and build some 7 storey replacements, aren't overlooked, and even in winter get sun near enough from dawn to dusk, so it'll be worth it for us.
As to new builds - if you're not buying detached, check the sound insulation, and get a builder to do a snag list, and have a war chest for the next few years of minor and medium problems.
IIRC it was the Tories who reduced the regulation on that, which having had a new build town house in the recent past, they deserve another kicking for. It's not just good fences that make good neighbours, but good insulation too, especially if they have kids.
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