Considering buying a show house - how much extra?

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Zulu2002

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We've our eye on a showhouse, which we are currently waiting for it to go on sale.
The agent has advised that there will be a jump in price due to it coming kitted out.

Any idea what we could expect to see in terms of a price jump?
Also, any hints, tips, warnings, advice welcome.

Thanks.
 
AFAIR from our own housebuying days there are advantages and disadvantages, though I'm not sure I can remember them all!!

Advantages:
-The house is kitted out, which helps because allll the little things like toilet roll holders etc. etc. really add up, even if you go for bottom of the range stuff.

Disadvantages:
-You don't get to pick the style. The showhouse for our house was decorated in a lot of lepord skin...
-The house may have been finished up quickly so it could be shown to prospective purchasers, so you may find that a lot of things have to be refinished to get them up to a standard where you can actually live with them, as opposed to just looking right.
-For things like carpets, they may be in poor condition after hundreds of people traipsed through the house.
 
Cheers. Any recollection or concept of the amount extra the house cost? Was it 2%, 5%, 10%...?
 
I know someone who bought the show house, which was wallpapered. A number of years later, they went to change the wall paper and the walls had not been skimmed, just papered onto the plasterboard. I know this was might be exceptional, but I would advise a critical survey to check if the show house is worth any more.
 
Zulu2002 said:
Cheers. Any recollection or concept of the amount extra the house cost? Was it 2%, 5%, 10%...?
Click to expand...
Can you check the property price register for other estates where you know which house was a show house? In the example below taken from the PPR number 28 was a show house.

03/01/2017 €343,392.00 [broken link removed]
14/12/2016 €389,750.00 [broken link removed]
07/12/2016 €343,392.07 [broken link removed]
12/08/2016 €343,392.00 [broken link removed]
 
Zulu2002 said:
Cheers. Any recollection or concept of the amount extra the house cost? Was it 2%, 5%, 10%...?
Click to expand...

No idea, we stayed away from the show house.

huskerdu said:
I know someone who bought the show house, which was wallpapered. A number of years later, they went to change the wall paper and the walls had not been skimmed, just papered onto the plasterboard. I know this was might be exceptional, but I would advise a critical survey to check if the show house is worth any more.
Click to expand...

Can you remember when this happened? I'm pretty sure I heard the same story, but I don't know if that's because the practice is widespread or because it's an urban myth :). I would suspect it's widespread though...
 
Pretty simple to run the palm of your hand along the papered walls (if any) and you'll feel the jointed up boards even though they may have been scrimmed over. Surprised to see the show house in Maynooth making nearly 50k extra. Only a fool would pay that.
 
terrysgirl33 said:
Can you remember when this happened? I'm pretty sure I heard the same story, but I don't know if that's because the practice is widespread or because it's an urban myth :). I would suspect it's widespread though...
Click to expand...

When I bought my first (new) house in the mid-80s, it was standard in the estate not to skim the walls - the builders offered a wallpaper allowance and papered directly onto the plasterboard for purchasers. We only discovered it when we went to change the paper after a few years....
 
gipimann said:
When I bought my first (new) house in the mid-80s, it was standard in the estate not to skim the walls - the builders offered a wallpaper allowance and papered directly onto the plasterboard for purchasers. We only discovered it when we went to change the paper after a few years....
Click to expand...
Ah, we bought in 1998 and the story was still going around.
 
It is important also to be aware that your mortgage lender's valuer will probably give you a valuation lower than the show house purchase price as it won't take the contents / assumed cost of decor into consideration. A nice interior and furniture do not make show house worth , as above example shows, a increase of 40k in the purchase. If you are looking at a maximum loan to value mortgage, this may be a problem for you.
 
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