Was there anything you didn't notice as quite common until looking to buy?

p00hsticks

bouicca21 wrote: »

No JonB I don't think that explains it. When I was young ready meals were only just being invented (anyone remember Vesta?) and cooking from scratch was commonplace. Today lots of people can't, don't or won't cook without ready made sauces, microwave ready meals etc. What's changed (I think) is the attitude to women and the nature of family life. Mum isn't expected to slave away over the stove on her own, and produce fabulous meal for hubby and kids sitting at the table in the dining room anymore (ah that's another missing item - lots of places I looked at didn't have a dining table). It's all being together.

I think what has also changed is the number of appliances people need / want room for in a kitchen these days. My parent's house was built between the wars and the kitchen is tiny, as they are in most pre-1950's houses I have seen. All a kitchen would have been expected to house was an oven, a sink and a bit of work surface (not a great deal needed because a kettle would be boiled on the stove and toast made under a grill). There would have been a couple of cupboards for crockery etc and - in my parents case - the cupboard under the stairs acting as a separate 'larder' area for canned goods. Washing would have been done in the sink, although my mum did acquire a spin dryer in the sixties which was also kept under the stairs.

As more and more gadgets have evolved, we've seen room having to be allowed for first a fridge, then a washing machine - which is about all the extras my parent's kitchen can accomodate.

Now kitchens are expected to have room for freezers, dishwashers, tumble dryers, massive double door sided American Fridges plus sufficient work surface to accommodate microwaves, kettles, toasters, coffee machines, toastie makers, smoothy makers etc....

lessonlearned

This thread is so funny.

We all have our likes and dislikes and "must haves" but what I do not get is just how many houses are so badly neglected and unloved. Why do that to your biggest and most expensive asset.

Now I appreciate that a probate sale property is, by definition, going to be shabby at best and, in some cases, where the vendors became too old and frail to do much, then there will be a fairly extensive list of remedials.

My parents home, God bless them, was in a sorry state. We have just sold it, but the price did reflect the amount of work needing done and the purchaser is happy to be taking on a project.

Even so my sister and I did our best by making sure that it was as clean and tidy as possible and we tackled the overgrown garden, at least keeping the worst of the weeds at bay.

But why oh why do people neglect their homes and wipe thousands off its value.

The sights you sometimes see and the odours you smell.......and these are houses where people are still in residence - not "fixer uppers".

But, worst of all, are the houses where people have made disastrous "improvements" - some so called modernisation work is nothing short of vandalism.

I can look past other people's tastes in furnishings and decorations but I have recently seen several properties where vendors have made their properties virtually unsellable with their improvements - where the new layout just doesn't make any sense and where you would need to spend around £20k to just put things back to rights.

A recent howler was a delightful olde worlde cottage in a gorgeous little market town where properties sell like hot cakes. It had its innards ripped out and had been given an upside down layout. The new kitchen/dining/living room arrangement has been moved to what was originally two bedrooms and a bathroom. Leaving the new kitchen through new french style doors you now step out onto a new platform decking area - why? This means the downstairs rooms now have hardly any daylight.......it's been on the market for over a year........£10k knocked off the price and still no takers. It's going to cost more than £10k to sort that out.

Another one was a traditional 30s build 3 bed bungalow. Again the hall, first bedroom, lounge and kitchen all knocked into one hideous cooking/eating/living area which is now little better than a long, dark, gloomy corridor. They had even sliced some off the bathroom so that that it is now little better than a pokey shower cubicle - no room for a bath, with a slimline loo across a corner.. why on earth. Plus of course they slashed thousands off its value by reducing the number of bedrooms......Its languishing on the market for months, the price has been reduced but not nearly enough.....

And my old favourite - what is it with black - black Tiles, black fake leather furniture, wallpaper with black backgrounds.

I Recently spotted a beauty - a nice little semi which had been modernised. It had a small kitchen/diner with black kitchen units, black wall tiles, black floor tiles and a black "feature wall" at the dining end for luck.......The bathroom had a nice new white suite with black wall tiles and black floor tiles. Every single room in the house had black furniture - oversized black fake leather bed in the master bedroom, huge black fake leather sofas, monster sized plasma TV on the wall, and a full length black entertainment/gaming centre taking up an entire wall. And, just for the finishing touches, every single room had at least one black feature wall. So there's £10k to put that little lot right.....and yes it was ridiculously overpriced because of its "improvements" ........

In all three instances the Vendors have gone to a lot of trouble and expense to end up with properties that are practically unsellable. The only way they are going to be able to offload them is to drastically reduce the price.

Which is why I prefer to buy fixer uppers......although my ultimate goal is to buy a plot of land and build my dream home.

moneyistooshorttomention

One of my pet "cant understands why they did it" too is using black as a house colour. So few people would choose it that it simply doesn't make sense for a house there is the slightest chance you might subsequently sell.

Re the layout and one house I know is still part way through its modernise/renovate. Now it wasn't an "old-fashioned" house and the room layout was fine as it was imo. Now walls have gone and one or two other structural changes that caused me to think "How would you sell that one on if you change your mind about keeping it?".

To me - well the basic intention/probability is that I will keep the house I recently moved to from here on in. However, when it came to making it fit to live in/renovating it - every single thing I've done to date has been very much slanted towards an outlook of "Not just as I personally might want - but as most of us would want" and its being done in accordance with a wide range of peoples tastes/requirements in mind (not just my own). Basically - my viewpoint is "Make it suitable that I would expect it to sell within weeks if I did go to do so".

silvercar

bouicca21 wrote: »

I have a small bet with myself that avocado bathroom suites will come back into fashion in the not too distant future.

These are the same people who having been saying that London house prices will crash for the last 15 years.

[Deleted User]

staffie1 wrote: »

I noticed that the majority of living rooms have a guitar propped up in the corner.

Ours has a banjo - the guitars are in the other room ; )

[Deleted User]

Person_one wrote: »

Its the 'instructions' I hate.

"Wash' above the sink
'Cook' above the oven
'Dream' above the bed.

I'm waiting to see one that says 'S**t' above the loo.

I keep threating to buy some of those daft letters. I suggested to my husband that we have 'ar3e' in the bathroom (think Father Ted) and 'b ollocks' for the living room.

bouicca21

Oh my I remember all those open plan houses when I was looking. Some builder is going to make a fortune soon by putting walls back.

Contessa

CathA wrote: »

Another thing my hubby commented on is the trend for 'subway style' tiling (rectangular tiles set out like brickwork). He always says it looks like public toilet tiling and he hates it!! He thinks in 20 years time it'll be like the avocado bathroom suites-what were people thinking!!

So, it's not just me then! I loathe "PTT" and wonder why people spend a lot of money on this look.

Jhoney_2

Spider_In_The_Bath wrote: »

Ours has a banjo - the guitars are in the other room ; )

Leaves a better impression than a fiddle would, I imagine.

Jhoney_2

Art_Contrary wrote: »

Good god, the pink ones are awful. I saw a studio flat a couple of years back: pink suite, pink tiles, pink carpet. WHY?! I've never seen a brown one! :shocked:

Since I'm going to be buying at what I'll tactfully call the "lower end of the market", I'm undoubtedly going to have a lot of grotty kitchens and bathrooms in my future.

Yup all but pink carpet! Same with the brown one.... this was once the height of modernity - a cautionary tale to those who live by the whims of fashion,:). Though all fixable thankfully.

It when people start ripping out period home features, fireplaces and god forbid chimneybreasts, then have the cheek not to wish to live in it any more that gets me:mad:.