First time buyer: three bedroom in Belper

zeroRPM

Not sure how old the loft conversion is - is there any way to find out aside from asking?

Hectors_House

The ceiling you mention that is sagging with a square shape to the cracks sounds like the ceiling in my 1890s house.

Mine had the original ceilings throughout that eventually start to crack. We’ve had large chunks of plaster falling down revealing the lathework underneath.

Since buying the property in 2009 we’ve replaced three of the ceilings.

Modern central heating and successive coats of paint weaken the plaster and gravity does the rest.

hazyjo

PS I lived in a four storey house once. It was a pain to go answer the front door from the bedroom (top floor) and you'd have to pause to yell at people to wait from a window on another floor lol. Okay, I could live with that again (or get a buzzer system), but to go all that way down for the loo? Not in a million.


What if you're sick? Or worse (do I really need to spell that out?!)? You joke about bedpans, but do you really want to have (let's be polite) 'an upset stomach' and have to s*** in a bucket and carry it down to the basement, maybe stopping again en route (I can't put that any politer lol)? Even using the second floor to sleep, it's a pain.


And I can't begin to imagine what a nightmare it would be getting ready in the mornings or having people stay over.


Forget kids!

sal_III

need_an_answer wrote: »

Is it in a conservation area that would prevent the windows from being upgraded or as I said earlier have they refurbed cosmetically rather than paying attention to things like windows,electrics,heating and the roof.

Adjacent properties look like double glassing, so probably not a conservation area.

Agree that it's daft to spend so much effort/money on interior and neglect fundamental things like 2nd loo and good windows.

There is even a 3bed detached for £200k nearby again with a garage and off street parking.

This one is definitely not worth £230k

skint_chick

If you're considering a family then the bathroom situation is totally impractical - kids have to go down 2 flights of stairs before bed. You also want to consider that you'll be using the kitchen sink for water for cleaning up babies if there's a nappy situation during the night that needs more than wipes. Or if you just want a glass of water in the middle of the night you'll be going down and up 2 flights. The no parking is OK if you don't mind carrying your groceries round the corner no, but imagine trying to do that in the rain with a buggy/car seat, small crying/sleeping child and some bags of shopping. Plus if there's 2 of you will you have 2 cars at some point? Then it becomes more of an issue. In your situation I would be looking at a total project where you keep back as much as possible from deposit, upgrade the house over 2-5 years then remortgage at a lower LTV. Or go for the higher end of your budget where everything is completely done. Period features are lovely, I have them in my own house, but would love off street parking and not to have to tackle 2 flights of steep stairs from my office to kitchen every time I want a drink.

need_an_answer

I've just had a look at the link to the house that Sal posted...I get that its similar but it doesn't for me have the character appeal.

I understand character appeal...I live in a character house and over the years we have enhanced the character to how we want it....after buying a shell that was unloved and in need of a slow refurb.

OP...forget this house its been modernised in a way that clearly doesn't suit you and your lifestyle going forward...that's not to say that there wont be another little gem of a stone cottage around ...probably £40k less and in need of lots of love and care...


Wait for that one...not this one

Personally I would compromise over parking and be on street but there is no compromise for a bathroom that is so far away from the rest of the house.

zeroRPM

So I think in summary of some of the drawbacks:


1) Bathroom

Massive problem is the location of the bathroom, there's no nipping to the loo from bed here.
Moving it is incredibly difficult, cost a room/half a room and not worth it.



2) Prettyness/price

Generally it is a beautiful house but that's distracting from the poor layout and giving it a high price tag.


3) Loft conversion
Is it safe fire-wise, when was it done? Did that lead to the cracks on the ceiling of the bedroom below?


4) General

Other upgrades like wiring for extra plugs needs doing but you're better off doing that in a house that needs doing up completely. (I didn't see any extension leads though - where did you see the non-kitchen one hazyjo?)



5) Conservation area
That means even minor modifications would require planning permission


6) Steep hill
Potential for subsidence so need to be really careful about cracks.



Other outstanding questions would be:
Why no EPC update?
What work has been done since 2011?



Phew - thanks for all the feedback so far!

Murphybear

Bathroom in basement, no!

No matter how fit and healthy you are now, you never know what the future brings. A nasty tummy bug or you could do what I did in my 30s, ripped the cartilages of my knee, 3 operations, 5 months off work and crutches. Luckily I lived in a small flat, no stairs

The area looks nice, if you like it then find something more practical

zeroRPM

I just found this in the Belper and Milford conservation area article direction:
PLEASE NOTE

Where a property already has traditional single glazed windows, permission is very unlikely to be granted for double glazed windows even if they are constructed in timber.


So much for being eco friendly.

need_an_answer

So far then its been a unanimous no on the bathroom...

I think its quite fair to say that's a big hurdle not just for you to get over but in the future a potential buyer when you are the vendor might just feel the same.

Have you had a good look at the selling details via zoopla and rightmove for pictures of when neighbouring houses sold to see what their bathroom layouts are like..sometimes seeing how a neighbour has tackled the problem can give an insight to a possible solution....

However I'm still of the opinion that you need to walk away from this one unless you really are prepared to put in serious money to take it back to basics and redo it.....

You mentioned £10k...i'll raise you to £40k to achieve something much more practical...but then you will have spent far more money on it than the ceiling prices for similar houses in the area and you'll be very hard pushed to sell on for decades...at that point it will need to be your house for life.