Finally got watching the episode, and while I don't know a lot about property prices up there, I do think the final offer from the seller was quite reasonable. Unfortunately, I think those property shows sometimes give people a false idea of what is achievable. When you have sellers coming down from £242k to £211k in fifteen minutes after getting an offer of £190k, it certainly encourages people to think that asking prices are just a jumping-off point, and emboldens very low offers. On top of that, I've seen people make insultingly cheeky offers of 55-60% which get accepted, and since that's so memorable, people tend to recall them most often, and come to believe it's the rule rather than the exception.
That house has sold now, so somebody bought it, anyway! Hope buyer and purchaser are both happy with their outcome, and who knows— maybe the final buyers were that same couple after having looked around a bit and realised it was a pretty good option?
However, I could absolutely see how you could spent £20k+ on renovations, so if they wanted it done sooner rather than later, I can understand ruling that one out on the basis of price. It's certainly always been my preference to buy something under budget and do it up before moving in, versus buying at top of budget and living in it while finding the
Money to renovate and doing the work later. While there is a lot to be said for getting a feel for the area and local traders, for me that benefit is off-set by having to live in a home you don't love despite forking over a lot of cash for it, and having to undertake works on a place that's full of all your stuff (or worse— moving in, out, and back in again).