Tempted by a house but small courtyard garden....hard to sell on??

minibbb

Hi

We've seen a 3 bed victorian house which we love, its in a great area and has a garage which is v rare for the area. It needs some updating throughout so we would offer accordingly. Agent says it has been on the market five weeks but no offers yet.

The issue is it has a small courtyard garden, others in the area have courtyards too but this is rather small. See here:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39322411.html

Me and my partner dont have children yet but would love to get a dog in the future. The house is close to a park so plenty of places to walk the dog.

What we're worried about though is whether the garden would put a lot of people off? Its a suntrap and has room for a BBQ, table and chairs and the fence could be altered to also enclose the front corner of the front garden to make it bigger.

Any thoughts on the house and my concerns?
Many thanks!

ValHaller

Picture 3 shows a ladder, presumably going to scaffolding, because it does not appear to be resting against any obvious part of the house.

I suggest you find out what that is about.

Nikkster

ValHaller wrote: »

Picture 3 shows a ladder, presumably going to scaffolding, because it does not appear to be resting against any obvious part of the house.

I suggest you find out what that is about.

On the other hand...

If you look on the streetview, and go round the corner to where the garage is - there is a set of ladders resting against the side of the house. Looking at pic 3 - it looks to me like there is a porch to the back of the kitchen which also fits with the streetview.

So I would guess they've been there for a while! Whether it is because there is a recurring problem or just that there is nowhere else to store the ladders (personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving them there) I have no idea.

DRP

minibbb wrote: »

Hi

We've seen a 3 bed victorian house which we love, its in a great area and has a garage which is v rare for the area. It needs some updating throughout so we would offer accordingly. Agent says it has been on the market five weeks but no offers yet.

The issue is it has a small courtyard garden, others in the area have courtyards too but this is rather small. See here:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39322411.html

Me and my partner dont have children yet but would love to get a dog in the future. The house is close to a park so plenty of places to walk the dog.

What we're worried about though is whether the garden would put a lot of people off? Its a suntrap and has room for a BBQ, table and chairs and the fence could be altered to also enclose the front corner of the front garden to make it bigger.

Any thoughts on the house and my concerns?
Many thanks!

where we live, 90% of houses are victorian, mostly terrace, virtually no garages and tiny gardens. The area is booming in terms of house prices and most decent places go SSTC within days or weeks

What i'm saying is I think it all depends on context - if the size of the garden is comparable to other houses in the area then it won't be a problem at all.

gld73

After realising that the only time I go out to the gardens of houses I've had was either to cut the grass or sit on the patio, I realised that a house with just a small courtyard is probably better for me as it saves me spending an hour cutting grass every fortnight and still gives me somewhere to sit out if I want to.

So no, not everyone will view it as a downside,we haven't all got greenfingers

Moonraker71

Blimey, you get SO much more for your money in Eastbourne than you do in Brighton *sulks*. From what you've said about your situation, I'd go for it. It's a useable outside space that you could make look really attractive with the right furniture and pots and stuff. When you come to sell, emphasis the low-maintenance aspect, which a lot of people desire. Plus it's fine for a dog to mooch about in between walks in the park (there's even a dog in photo 2 isn't there?) Personally, I like it, nice bright house with a lot of potential.

namecheck

I agree with Moonraker71. I think it could be lovely - and you get a garage, too.

For all the people who like having a garden there seem to be many more now who just want enough space to sit outside. It might be different if the surrounding similar houses all had large/larger gardens but you say this is not the case here.

Davesnave

Eastbourne is old fogey territory, so the lack of a garden won't be an issue for many prospective purchasers, just as it isn't for you.

SG27

Of course it won't be any harder to sell. It just needs to be priced accordingly. The fact that it has a garage may make it similarly desirable to houses with larger gardens.

SeaSpray

My aunt has a very big garden and used to spend hours in it. Now she doesn't have the time because she has to look after my gran, who lives with her and needs full time care. So the garden isn't getting really looked after any more, except for the minimum. She was actually thinking of fencing part of it off next to her neighbour's house, but I don't think that's a good idea.

So a small garden can be a bonus

minibbb

Morning!

Sorry for my late return to the thread, early night before a v early start!

Thankyou all for you replies- its great to have other people's opinion on it!

We really like the house- granted you can get much more for your money in Eastbourne such as a larger garden, garage etc but the area is great and the house has loads of character.

The garage, downstairs WC/utility room etc are rare in these sorts of houses so make it even more appealing.

I emailed an estate agent friend who advised me that due to the house being near to the 250K stamp duty threshold we'll never make much on it- something we were aware of. I think that as long as we got it for the right price and didnt go OTT with what we spend on it we'd be fine.

Work wise, new kitchen, bathroom, boiler and electrics would be needed as well as some new flooring/decoration.

As long as we're not buying something which will be hard to sell on then I think we are very tempted to make an offer......