A couple have infuriated house hunters online after listing their home for almost £2million over the average sale price of their street.
Residents reacted with ‘shock’ and ‘disbelief’ after the ordinary looking property in Hove, East Sussex was put on the market for a staggering £2.5million.
The asking price for the smartly presented property has caused consternation among potential buyers who have claimed it is ‘overpriced.’
They claim that although the red-brick home has a sought-after seaside location, it actually backs onto a block of high rise flats and sits on a busy road which has a high crime rate.
The owners – who are in their late 80s – bought the property in East Sussex in 2010 for £750,000 but have now put it on the market for more than three times that amount.
According to property experts Purple Bricks, the average cost of a house on the street where the couple are looking to sell is £600k.
One resident told MailOnline: ‘I’m shocked. It’s incredible how much house prices have risen in the last 15 years but I’d never expect a house to be on the market for so much – it’s a King’s ransom.
‘It’s unbelievable really. I understand it is in a desirable location but this road is very busy all the time and the back garden looks out over the flats – not exactly a beautiful view.’
An elderly couple looking to downsize from their three-bedroom home have drawn the ire of some house hunters online
The £2.5million house sits on Third Avenue in the upmarket Hove and is just 100 yards from the pebble beach
The house sits just 100 yards from the pebble beach.
The elderly couple are understood to be selling it so they can downsize away from the seafront.
Hove is a well-heeled and desirable location to live where the average price of a detached house is £846,600.
Neighbour Barbara Crafts, said: ‘They are a lovely couple but they’re getting on.
‘Although the house only has three bedrooms it is deceptively large and the bedrooms are huge and have walk-in dressing rooms.’
Mrs Crafts, who is in her 70s, who lives in a spacious three-bedroom flat on the street, said: ‘Although it looks quite ordinary from the front it is a lovely house and very spacious and they’ve spent some money doing it up.
‘I’ve lived here for around eight years and my children who live up north are always telling me to sell. They tell me I could buy a fantastic property near them for just a fraction.’
The house, which boasts a drive and a garage, also has a study, dining room, sitting room, four bathrooms and an attic games and media room.
Rachel Dent, a mother-of-two who lives in a two-bedroom flat on the street, said: ‘That is an awful lot of money but that house is like a tardis – it is absolutely massive on the inside. There is 250sqm of living space, which is huge.
‘It is deceptive as from the outside it looks like it could be in any street in Britain but it goes back a long away and is really very big. It might not have the wow factor on the outside but the inside is a different story.’
Viewers checking the online listing questioned how the ‘modest’ home could command such a high price
Others said the presence of the tower block behind the property would have an impact on natural light
The property is immaculately turned out inside with a host of homely fittings
The compact garden is also stunning and beautifully cared for
One of the main bedrooms in the beautifully presented house
The clean and spacious kitchen is also filled with modern fittings and fixtures
Viewers checking the online listing questioned how the ‘modest’ home could command such a high price.
One said: ‘Those flats overlooking the back would be an instant no for me even if dirt cheap. Half the house is the master suite. Seems unnecessary.’
Another said: ‘£2.5m is insane money for this. Surely its not worth even close to that. Even at half, it would be steep, no?’
Another viewer said: ‘How much!? And why does that main bedroom need two dressing rooms and such a huge bathroom?! Should have just made one of the dressing rooms a guest room instead.’
Yet another said: ‘Faaaaar too much.Front of property faces west, back faces east. Front faces a row of guest houses/hotels including a God awful 60’s(?) 5 story guest house directly opposite.
‘Back faces an 11 story block of flats. So, no privacy and no sunlight in the morning or evening.’
It’s an ambitious asking price, but not the most audacious in recent memory.
Last year, a Russian millionaire who tried to sell a London ‘council house’ for £3.5m was forced to concede defeat and make a drastic u-turn.
The ordinary-looking four-bed suburban property had attracted widespread mockery due to its eye-watering price tag when it was listed last year.
But owner Lukov Nikolov refused to bow down claiming the fee was justified because he spent £1.4m renovating the property.
When MailOnline visited the house, more than a year after it was put on the market, neighbours revealed the wealthy businessman had been forced ‘move in himself’ after failing to find a buyer.
The house was built in the late 1950s and used by police officers relocating to work in London for the Met Police.
But in every other respect it’s equivalent to nearby council housing in style and size.
Despite being unable to find househunters with deep enough pockets, Mr Nikolov then listed another property on the same road for £3m.
One resident told MailOnline: ‘He’s got another one too, just up the road, which has been on the market for a while.
A Russian millionaire who tried to sell a London ‘council house’ for £3.5m has been forced to concede defeat
He said spent £1.4m renovating the property in the leafy neighbourhood
Despite being unable to find househunters with deep enough pockets, Mr Nikolov has now listed another property on the same road for £3m
It is believed Mr Nicolov and his wife split their time between the two properties
‘The [second property] is huge. It’s got a basement, a cinema and all the rest of it. They’ve probably doubled the square footage.
‘I think he probably moves between them.’
Mr Nikolov bought the first property for £1.2m in 2015 and began to renovate inside.
He was able to dig down and create a new spacious basement ‘flooded with natural light’, which increased the properties’ square footage by a third.
The home now deceptively spreads over 3650sq ft of interior space and has four floors as well as its own cinema room, which, in the view of Mr Nikolov justified the £2.3million increase in value.
Mr Nikolov’s second property was bough for the cheaper fee of £878,000 before renovating it too.
Properties in Canonbury sold for an overall average price of £934,290 in the last few years, according to RightMove, with the majority of sales being flats, which sold for an average price of £633,512.
Terraced properties sold for an average of £1,659,972, with semi-detached properties fetching £3,873,333 – placing Mr Nikolov’s property slightly below average.
