House on a corner plot

onix22

We found a house on a corner plot with a larger than usual garden. It does ticks all our boxes except the garden being overlooked and offering little privacy. Also, the house is on the market from January and the buyers haven't received any offers for it yet.
However, the house sits on a quiet road with no traffic.

Are people really put off by the exposed garden?

The house looks solid with great potential to extend on the side and at the back.

The fence on the side is 6'. Could we make it higher? Do we need planning permission from the council? Or plant some shrubs?

What are your views on that?

Also, we are thinking on offering 10% lower than asking price based on the fact the seller's haven't received any offers on it yet.

Could a corner plot lower the value of a house?

Thanks,
Ella

Pixie5740

I'd have thought a corner plot would add value. Bigger garden. More space to extend if necessary.

Regardless, make an offer and take it from there.

onix22

I thought as well, but I read threads with people wanting more privacy in their gardens.

Pixie5740

A corner plot has fewer properties overlooking them.

System

Around here gardens are a huge selling point. Houses with small, strange shaped or exposed gardens tend to hang around.

But I have lived in other areas where it doesn't seem to matter. It depends really if a family is most likely to buy it because they would likely want privacy for their children more than the other benefits of a corner plot.

Hoploz

You could plant some fir trees - but it's essential to keep them under control by trimming them a couple of times a year. I maintained a hedge about 8 feet high for five years after we planted them on our boundary as we couldn't get a fence put up. Have moved out since so I hope for the nieghbour's sake the new owners keep it cut as well. They get out of control very easily.

onix22

The garden is overlooked by the neighbours from the other side of the road, the ones at the back, and other houses on the left. So it is very exposed.

newscambank

We used to have a corner plot, was massive!, but was very private

Andypandyboy

I would never buy a house with a garden that was overlooked to the extent that you describe. What is the point of a large garden if it is not private? It is one of the first things I notice when watching the house programs on TV.

Do you have a link?

Mickygg

My last house was a corner plot and overlooked. It didn't bother us. We planted some trees and about 5 years later they started to shield quite nicely.
It had the biggest garden.
If house has been on since January that could be down to loads of things, we wouldn't know of course. Most new build houses these days are all overlooked, and they sell.

ellie27

I would never buy a house that was overlooked as much as you describe.

If it was one house on either side of my house then I would be ok with that, but not with other houses looking over the back fence.

You said the house ticked many boxes but it was very overlooked.....you can never change that, you will have to live with that. An awful kitchen/bathroom etc are easy to change but the outlook at the back is not. That would be the dealbreaker for me. But I have 2 toddlers who are out in the garden almost everyday of the year and I like privacy for them. Folk without children might not bother as much.

The thought of sitting out on the patio with a drink with windows across the fence looking straight in at me would be a big no!