Hey there. This is the thread that finally made me sign up to the site to comment.
It's not too hard to figure out the house you mean, Joe5791.
I considered it also, looked into it but did not go so far as to go and view it.
The house has actually been for sale by owner since 2009.
From what you describe:
old photos, shock of the owner that you'd bid that high, etc,
it sounds like it's a forced sale. Maybe previous posters were right about the phantom bidder against you to prevent the sale of the house at all.
If you go onto Google Maps Streetview, I believe the image is still there showing the for sale sign outside when they passed a few years back.
Given that the one behind it sold last month for €190k and that has room to drive down the side of the house on a bigger site, I do believe that this one is overpriced, even though the fit out is very nice. It's nice but not €40k nice.
However, all these things aside, you do sound set on it. In fairness, if we found the right house we'd probably pay a bit more for it too (maybe not €40k though
). So I wish you luck with it. You might update on if you get it or not.
Cheers.