A canary for the (UK property) coal mine - Omaze winners' "£4m" house

[roundhouse]

16 hours ago, Frank Hovis said:

Not sold yet then.

Open house day 12 November.

 

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/omaze-home-sale-cornwall-set-7749368

 

Are you going for a laugh?

Linked in the above article is a page showing the bungalow it replaced... only 20 years old. Can't understand how they got PP to demolish and rebuild! 

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/gallery/omaze-million-pound-house-draw-7123642

 

[Frank Hovis]

12 hours ago, roundhouse said:

Are you going for a laugh?

Linked in the above article is a page showing the bungalow it replaced... only 20 years old. Can't understand how they got PP to demolish and rebuild! 

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/gallery/omaze-million-pound-house-draw-7123642

 

 

I hadn't seen that story but it really brings home just how isolated and bleak is the location. 

Just look at that garden positively blooming with flowers, shrubs and small trees.

Even the greenery in one pot seems to be making a break for it; showing the direction of the prevailing hurricane.  I mean wind.

I bet their heating bill was high and they were cleaning their windows a lot.

No I won't be going.  I'm happy to chuckle on the sidelines but I don't like wasting working people's time.

[spunko]

2 hours ago, Frank Hovis said:

 

I hadn't seen that story but it really brings home just how isolated and bleak is the location. 

Just look at that garden positively blooming with flowers, shrubs and small trees.

Even the greenery in one pot seems to be making a break for it; showing the direction of the prevailing hurricane.  I mean wind.

I bet their heating bill was high and they were cleaning their windows a lot.

No I won't be going.  I'm happy to chuckle on the sidelines but I don't like wasting working people's time.

What do you make of Sennen / Sennen Cove? I had a family member living down there, years ago (he wasn't Cornish), in a house similar to this bungalow, albeit much less well kept. It has since been demolished and and a McMansion type property build in its place.

[Frank Hovis]

5 minutes ago, spunko said:

What do you make of Sennen / Sennen Cove? I had a family member living down there, years ago (he wasn't Cornish), in a house similar to this bungalow, albeit much less well kept. It has since been demolished and and a McMansion type property build in its place.

 

It very much depends which one it is.

Sennen Cove is one of the few decent sized sandy beaches in the far west of Cornwall and the houses there are fairly packed in, but if you had one with some decent garden space around it for privacy and a drive for parking then it's a nice place to live for summer beach life and for watching winter storms.  There is lots of easy coastal walking around there so recommended.

Sennen however is the village at the top of the very long steep hill and some way back.  It's bleak and isolated like most of these high up west Penwith villages (Pendeen, Zennor) with the only real positive being the proximity to Sennen Cove; though you would still be driving there unless you fancy a long steep walk at the end of each day.

I would live in Sennen Cove if I didn't mind the weekly drive to Penzance for the food shop and could afford somewhere big enough.  I wouldn't however choose to live in Sennen.  I would guess that it's mostly inhabited by people who grew up in Sennen Cove but couldn't afford to buy there.

[roundhouse]

12 hours ago, Frank Hovis said:

 

I hadn't seen that story but it really brings home just how isolated and bleak is the location. 

Just look at that garden positively blooming with flowers, shrubs and small trees.

Even the greenery in one pot seems to be making a break for it; showing the direction of the prevailing hurricane.  I mean wind.

I bet their heating bill was high and they were cleaning their windows a lot.

No I won't be going.  I'm happy to chuckle on the sidelines but I don't like wasting working people's time.

Is that a re-purposed (or not!) urinal on the right of the house? 

[steppensheep]

mildly interesting - i see they are advertising on reddit (just a kink to their site). possibly a bell weather as the only other reddit advertiser ive recognised was the basket case, the hut group.

https://www.reddit.com/user/OmazeUK/

 

[spunko]

10 hours ago, steppensheep said:

mildly interesting - i see they are advertising on reddit (just a kink to their site). possibly a bell weather as the only other reddit advertiser ive recognised was the basket case, the hut group.

https://www.reddit.com/user/OmazeUK/

 

Alleged basket case 

Don't want that weirdo from the marketing department signing up here again trying to bump up the share price.

[Frank Hovis]

On 14/10/2022 at 09:27, Frank Hovis said:

I've been waiting for a good example of kite flying to track the collapse and one landed yesterday.

This was won on Omaze recently and valued by them at £3m.  I assume that Omaze uses an independent valuer but they are likely to be generous in their valuation at the very least given that they would wish for repeat business.

To this generous £3m valuation the winners have added £1m to £4m and placed it onto the market.

It's a perfectly nice house but it's some distance from the estuary, right by a road, and it what looks a fairly bleak and exposed location to me given the scrubbiness of the unkept land to the right with its very low vegetation.  The wind will certainly whistle in winter.

The listing says Wadebridge but it's actually the other side of the estuary and set some way back from Rock; not that the side of the estuary would particularly affect the valuation as they are both perfectly pleasant.

I'm not expecting any rapid changes but I will update if and when it does change.  And IMHO after the massive rises in price of houses in seaside areas in Cornwall during lockdown these have further to fall than most.

 

Popcorn anyone? I have lots.

 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127876466#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/omaze-mansion-winners-put-cornwall-7700358

 

Quoting my OP for reference.

Saturday gone was the open day so no changes were expected prior to that.

Whilst the headline price is unchanged this has now gone from "Offers Over" to "Guide Price".

As I noted upthread you can buy much better situated places with land in the area for £1.5m; the current pricing is the pricing of a mentalist.

Tick tick tick.

[Frank Hovis]

Having just had a look what about £4m can buy you in Cornwall this one stood out:

200 acres, 16th century manor house and a range of buildings at the end of a no through road.

Now that's worth £4m.  A bungalow on an exposed plot right by a road and adjoining a caravan site is not.

 

 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/125311634#/?channel=RES_BUY

[Frank Hovis]

They're still kite flying at a £4m guide price for a modern five bed bungalow on a bleak hillside, right by a road and next to a caravan site but I will keep checking.

 

Meantime this has just come up on the local website.

A luxury resort and hotel in Cornwall has come on the market, complete with its very own nuclear bunker. Hustyns Resort in St Breock Downs, a few miles from the A39 and A30 and 11 miles east of Padstow and three miles south of Wadebridge, is a 37-bedroom hotel set amongst rolling green fields and undisturbed woodland.

Not only does that the hotel comes with its own 27 acres of land and extensive facilities including two conference and banqueting suites, a restaurant and brasserie with bar and 37 spacious en suite letting bedrooms, a 20m pool, gym and spa and treatment rooms, but more unusually, it also features a nuclear bunker dating back to the Second World War.

The underground facility, nicknamed the 'nuclear bunker' is located beneath the hotel and is a secure concrete bunker with 12 bunk beds, shower, chemical toilets, kitchen and air filtration system. While the hotel has been on the market for at least a year, Hustyns said it keeps receiving inquiries from holidaymakers wanting to stay in there. So much so that it is considering offering the facility to future guests.

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/luxury-hotel-sale-cornwall-comes-8067334

£3.5m for all of that.

Or £4m for this:

[Herby]

It looks amazing, especially the nuclear bunker. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/129633473

The individual buildings sell for 350k each, as they're fully contained three or four bedroom houses https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/122745017

DOSBODS Island? Accommodation for 20, nuclear bunker for 12. That could be interesting. Lol

 

[sarahbell]

7 hours ago, Herby said:

It looks amazing, especially the nuclear bunker. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/129633473

The individual buildings sell for 350k each, as they're fully contained three or four bedroom houses https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/122745017

DOSBODS Island? Accommodation for 20, nuclear bunker for 12. That could be interesting. Lol

 

I've got a lottery ticket 😹

[Frank Hovis]

Listed 14 October 2022 - Offers over £4m

Changed 15 November 2022 - Guide price £4m

And today....

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127876466#/?channel=RES_BUY

 

[HousePriceMania]

18 minutes ago, Frank Hovis said:

Listed 14 October 2022 - Offers over £4m

Changed 15 November 2022 - Guide price £4m

And today....

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127876466#/?channel=RES_BUY

 

4000 sq ft house....all things being equal, probably worth £1m.

Be interesting to see what it goes for.

[Frank Hovis]

5 minutes ago, HousePriceMania said:

4000 sq ft house....all things being equal, probably worth £1m.

Be interesting to see what it goes for.

 

When it was listed I could find comparable properties, and I've picked these out upthread, for £1.5m and which are to my mind preferable.  Though I accept that I have a bias in that I prefer an older property to a brand new architect-designed house.

I would say that now if they aggressively slashed the price now that they might make £2m, and certainly would make £1.5m.

As I can't see their doing that they will, as so many do, lag the market and remain consistently overpriced despite cuts and it may end up going for the £1m you say.

I don't think that it's terrible but there are plenty of half million pound houses in Cornwall in which I would prefer to live; my primary objection is the specific location of that house.  It's on an exposed piece of higher ground, right by a road and a nearby caravan site.  The general area is fine but I'd live in a sheltered valley or by the river personally.

[Frank Hovis]

It looks like they've given up.

Or waiting to relist when there's a bounce.

Good luck with that.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127876466#/?channel=RES_BUY

[ashestoashes]

19 minutes ago, Frank Hovis said:

It looks like they've given up.

Or waiting to relist when there's a bounce.

Good luck with that.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/127876466#/?channel=RES_BUY

maybe turn it into a tomato farm

[Delboy]

Couple put £2.65million house won in a prize draw on the market (msn.com)

Win a beachfront house in Kent | £2.5 Million House | Omaze UK

Another example of an Omaze winner putting their house on the market at an inflated price.

"Worth" £2.5m when won and now listed at £2.65m

I don't know how Omaze acquire their prizes, but I'd imagine they either pay off the original owners when the draw finishes or they purchase these houses at a knockdown price?

 

[Frank Hovis]

19 hours ago, Delboy said:

Couple put £2.65million house won in a prize draw on the market (msn.com)

Win a beachfront house in Kent | £2.5 Million House | Omaze UK

Another example of an Omaze winner putting their house on the market at an inflated price.

"Worth" £2.5m when won and now listed at £2.65m

I don't know how Omaze acquire their prizes, but I'd imagine they either pay off the original owners when the draw finishes or they purchase these houses at a knockdown price?

 

 

 

The two I've seen in Cornwall, the one near Wadebridge opening this thread valued at £3m and initially marketed at Offers Over £4m, and the one below on the Fowey estuary valued at £4.5m have both been award winning new builds which look good in photographs (how many buying a ticket will actually visit the house?) so I'm guessing that Omaze has an open invitation for anyone building such to approach them rather than putting it up for sale as they will pay a better price.

Each of these two houses is on a poor site - the Wadebridge one bleak and exposed, on a road and by a caravan site, the one below on a tiny scrap of land right up against the fairly friable rock edge of the estaury - so the bulk of the "value" is in the shiny new house rather than the plot meaning massive profits for the builder.

 

Visualise the below with a small bungalow on it surrounded by a garden and think what you would pay.  The site is riverside with good views so maybe a million, maybe a million and a half.  By shoehorning in a funkily designed house right up to the very edges of the plot you have apparently added £3m.

Still, Omaze isn't actually asking anyone to buy it.  Just to buy a ticket to win it.

 

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/gallery/new-omaze-house-draw-cornwall-8159656

[Delboy]

22 minutes ago, Frank Hovis said:

 

 

The two I've seen in Cornwall, the one near Wadebridge opening this thread valued at £3m and initially marketed at Offers Over £4m, and the one below on the Fowey estuary valued at £4.5m have both been award winning new builds which look good in photographs (how many buying a ticket will actually visit the house?) so I'm guessing that Omaze has an open invitation for anyone building such to approach them rather than putting it up for sale as they will pay a better price.

Each of these two houses is on a poor site - the Wadebridge one bleak and exposed, on a road and by a caravan site, the one below on a tiny scrap of land right up against the fairly friable rock edge of the estaury - so the bulk of the "value" is in the shiny new house rather than the plot meaning massive profits for the builder.

 

Visualise the below with a small bungalow on it surrounded by a garden and think what you would pay.  The site is riverside with good views so maybe a million, maybe a million and a half.  By shoehorning in a funkily designed house right up to the very edges of the plot you have apparently added £3m.

Still, Omaze isn't actually asking anyone to buy it.  Just to buy a ticket to win it.

 

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/gallery/new-omaze-house-draw-cornwall-8159656

Some interesting comments in the link you provided (plot cost £2m etc).

I also saw some interesting comments from Omaze about running costs of £1500 pcm, which is partly to explain why they give the winners £100k in cash.

In my photo, taken only two weeks ago, there appears to be a ladder added where the steps to the waterfront are. Not quite sure why it is there.

Edited March 17, 2023 by Delboy
Grammar

[Petatep]

What happens with regards to Stamp Duty if you win a house I wonder.

[roundhouse]

10 hours ago, Delboy said:

Some interesting comments in the link you provided (plot cost £2m etc).

I also saw some interesting comments from Omaze about running costs of £1500 pcm, which is partly to explain why they give the winners £100k in cash.

In my photo, taken only two weeks ago, there appears to be a ladder added where the steps to the waterfront are. Not quite sure why it is there.

Maybe transporting in or out goods or furniture by water, sliding up and down the ladder by rope? 

[spunko]

Quite fascinating how people spend ages fantasizing about buying their dream home. Then they win it but then sell it not long after. It must be quite depressing winning an Omaze prize, as you've now got the burden of selling it. I'm not sure I could do with all that headache.

That house won't sell for anything above £2m I'd imagine. Imagine the wind on a winter's day, you wouldn't be able to stand up outside.

There's also a caravan park (holiday not pikey) next door, so little privacy. I suspect Omaze buy houses that will have the "wow" factor on Instagram but the reality of living in these places is not considered - why would they care?

Explains why nobody bought it before Omaze did.

Omaze homes are really iffy and don't sell on the open market easily, if at all.

[sleepwello'nights]

On 16/11/2022 at 14:33, Frank Hovis said:

Having just had a look what about £4m can buy you in Cornwall this one stood out:

200 acres, 16th century manor house and a range of buildings at the end of a no through road.

Now that's worth £4m.  A bungalow on an exposed plot right by a road and adjoining a caravan site is not.

 

 

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/125311634#/?channel=RES_BUY

The asking price had half a million pounds knocked off on 5th January, tempted? 

It's probably a bit draughty where it's situated. 

Edited March 18, 2023 by sleepwello'nights

[Frank Hovis]

9 minutes ago, sleepwello'nights said:

The asking price had half a million pounds knocked off on 5th January, tempted? 

It's probably a bit draughty where it's situated. 

 

No, it's too much for me on my own but is a good marker for prices.