A Surveyor Came Calling

For the last half hour or so I've been escorting a surveyor through our house, as he did an evaluation of it. The reason being that our landlady Anne Parfitt wishes to take out a second mortgage on the house, most likely to fund something in the city of Bath where she lives (she works there as a University lecturer). Before she can get the mortgage, the house had to be evaluated and valued, as I imagine that that hadn't been done in quite some time.

The man was late, he came from the town of Wellington and couldn't find parking, and then he couldn't find the house. Still he got here at about 10:40am. I didn't ask his name and he didn't give it, he just went about his work, starting at the top of the house and working his way down. We chatted about this and that, the usual kind of smalltalk, he was mostly interested in what life in this house was like, which was to be expected.

When he was done I bid him goodbye and shut the front door and went to walk upstairs, and then suddenly remembered I wanted to ask him something. So I darted back to the door and opened it, and he was measuring the width of the front of the house. "How much is this house worth?" was my question, something I'd wanted to know ever since we first moved in. My curiosity had grown after next door went up for sale for £230,000 (next door comprises a two bedroom maisonette flat above a shop).

"About £175,000, give or take" was his reply. I looked surprised (because I was), and he went on to explain that the buildings odd design worked against it in some regards. Being next door to a pub, few would want to buy it as a residence, and as it lacks a good garden it is unsuited to being a family home. Also there is no parking, and our front door opens onto the pavement of a very busy road. While the building is ideally situated close to the town centre, and thus could appeal to someone wanting to buy it to rent it, the buildings odd design again works against it.

It would be difficult to have more than three tenants here (or three couples), which means that the rent limit is roughly what we are already paying. Which is a bad investment, as the average mortgage wouldn't be paid off over a 25 year term, by the rent alone, meaning an investor would lose money, or have to charge considerably more rent, and thus price the house too high to attract tenants.

I love this house, I really do. So now I just need to win the lottery somehow and convince Anne to sell it, because I'd love to buy it.