Which house would YOU buy? Compare 2 bungalows in SE London

ridin8ude

For a bit of fun, and potentially to help me make up my mind, I would appreciate MSE member's thoughts on 2 properties.

I'm a FTB buyer in the UK, and experiencing the wrath of the London housing market. Any properties in good condition have 30 viewings within 2 days and are selling above asking price at least in the areas I'm looking in SE London (Bromley/Orpington). So I'm starting to look at properties which have been on a bit longer and need more work to make a home.

These properties are both in the SE London area of Pett's Wood.
Nearly equidistant from the train station, are both within Ofsted Outstanding cachments for schools, and would be generally considered to be in a good area. Both require quite a bit of modernization, and I'm trying to decide which one would be more 'liveable' straight away if I had to wait awhile to do the work.
I assume both of these properties would have ceilings of up to 600k if fully extended and modernized well.

Property 1 - Bungalow @ 445k ~100sqm (excluding garage)
Plot size ~8800 sqft, exceptionally wide for this part of London
Assume for this scenario that the vendor would consider a price closer to property 2 upper guide price.
My Take: I wouldn't expect to need to extend or go into the loft immediately, but would want to make some internal layout changes.
http://www.edmund.co.uk/Property/Residential/for-sale/Kent/Petts-Wood/Towncourt-Lane/EEV13376.aspx

Property 2 - Chalet Bungalow @ 375k to 400k ~100sqm (excluding garage)
Plot size ~6000 sqft
Assume for this scenario that the vendor would expect [STRIKE]the high end of the guide price.[/STRIKE] just below the guide price of 375k.
My Take: I'm not sold on the layout, especially the upstairs, the plot is smaller/narrower, and to make it work for my lifestyle would probably need a rear/side extension to make it work. But I like that it's quirky and unique for the area. It would be much more attractive at the lower end of the guide price.
http://www.jdmonline.com/index.php?option=com_propertysearch&view=full_details_adv&propertyID=566483&Itemid=97

Ultimately I'm curious what impressions people have so please sound off! :T

Thanks

Lou67

ridin8ude wrote: »

For a bit of fun, and potentially to help me make up my mind, I would appreciate MSE member's thoughts on 2 properties.
Property 1 - Bungalow @ 445k ~100sqm
Plost size ~8800 sqft, exceptionally wide for this part of London
Assume for this scenario that the vendor would consider a price closer to property 2 upper guide price.
My Take: I wouldn't expect to need to extend or go into the loft immediately, but would want to make some internal layout changes.
http://www.edmund.co.uk/Property/Residential/for-sale/Kent/Petts-Wood/Towncourt-Lane/EEV13376.aspx

Property 2 - Chalet Bungalow @ 375k to 400k ~100sqm
Plot size ~6000 sqft
Assume for this scenario that the vendor would expect the high end of the guide price.
My Take: I'm not sold on the layout, especially the upstairs, the plot is smaller/narrower, and to make it work for my lifestyle would probably need a rear/side extension to make it work. But I like that it's quirky and unique for the area. It would be much more attractive at the lower end of the guide price.
http://www.jdmonline.com/index.php?option=com_propertysearch&view=full_details_adv&propertyID=566483&Itemid=97

Ultimately I'm curious what impressions people have so please sound off! :T

Thanks

VERY hard question... They are both OK. I like how much land the one has (the single storey,) but I sort of prefer the other bungalow.. I think I would go for the one that is the cheapest. You sound like you have already decided on the other one though, from what you say.

richardw

The bungalow for the garden, which way does it face?

Dunroamin

I wouldn't think either of them would need a lot of actual modernising, more personalising. I think the bungalow is lovely, the other, less so.

banwa

Towncourt Lane.

If they are both of a similar position, land, location and you are purely looking at how liveable they are, then it would drive me nuts to have my bedroom and bathroom on different floors. The garden looks nicer and the house is prettier too. Towncourt Lane every time.

ridin8ude

Interesting replies so far.
I'm going to edit my original post to suggest Property 2 below the guide price of 375k to make more of a cost difference between the properties - would that influence the decision more?

Few more details:
Property 1 Towncourt Lane is a main road and relatively busy, although the bungalow has a nice driveway area and is set back and secluded well from the road.
Property 1 is a stone's throw away from Crofton Junior school but I don't think noise from the playground will be an issue.
Property 1 has a west facing garden which is wide but relatively shallow
Property 2 has a north facing garden which is relatively narrow but deeper
Property 2 is #15 on Chesham Avenue, a nice quiet residential road. #19 Chesham Avenue was recently demolished and replaced with 2x executive houses that each sold for 500k+.
Property 2 (for me) would definitely need to find a way to get a shower room with toilet upstairs, but assume I could only do that with a double story extension to the rear.

I really like the idea of taking on either property as a project and look forward to more thoughts here!

paulineb_2

The second one. Much nicer I think.

phoebe1989seb

Initially I preferred the look of Property 2, but on closer inspection, Property 1 would be my choice - it has some lovely parquet floors, good sized garden and potential to extend upwards. We bought our current (project) house despite its location on a main road (albeit in a village) because it has an amazing garden and space to add a large extension - amongst other things that drew us to it

Additionally I wouldn't want a house where the only bathroom was downstairs and there was no obvious potential to fit one in with the current available space. We've previously owned a house that only had two bedrooms upstairs, but one of these was 24' long with two walk-in eaves cupboards. We partitioned off 8' at the cupboard end (that also happened to contain one of three of the bedroom windows) and opened up the cupboards, creating a good sized ensuite. Without building a two-storey extension it doesn't look like this is an option with Property 2........

worked_hard_for_the_money

I'd go for the first bungalow purely on the reasoning of the much larger plot and the major factor of having a South facing garden ( believe me this makes all the difference in the Summer if you like being outside ) ... my wise Uncle always says '' they aren't making any more land ! '' .... Good luck

Mozette

I much prefer the 1st one. I wouldn't touch the 2nd one, I really don't like it at all.

LEJC

I have no idea about either area...but its an easy choice for me...it would be property 1 as that has the most space .

Neither has the decor or layout that would appeal to me at present but IMO there is more scope with the first onein order to create an inside and outside space.