Unsure what I want, plus couple of houses opinions requested

danlightbulb

Shower would be fine with me, but could affect future desireability a little?

Anyway, I am in the process of trying to work out the floor plan from the room dimensions, as one is not supplied. I have a funny feeling that the round window in that bathroom may be pointing out into the rear living room extension! Which might explain why they appear to have made the window smaller from the original rectangular opening.

Im not sure how I feel about this. What would the effect be if I made the bathroom windowless?

This is what ive come up with from the room dimensions provided. May have found out why its 'only' £175k!

Doozergirl

danlightbulb wrote: »

Shower would be fine with me, but could affect future desireability a little?

Anyway, I am in the process of trying to work out the floor plan from the room dimensions, as one is not supplied. I have a funny feeling that the round window in that bathroom may be pointing out into the rear living room extension! Which might explain why they appear to have made the window smaller from the original rectangular opening.

Im not sure how I feel about this. What would the effect be if I made the bathroom windowless?

This is what ive come up with from the room dimensions provided. May have found out why its 'only' £175k!

Decent lighting and a proper extractor fan that runs on humidity, there is none. You could also look at getting a velux above in the loft area, borrow high level light with a 'clerestory' window or have truly opaque glass in a normal window.

Presumably your soil pipe is already buried if that is the accurate floorplan. It would just need to be extended slightly to accommodate the bath next to the toilet. And move the doorway over to the left.

Or just remove the cupboard door and surround, and build a sink with storage into the space that used to be the cupboard. Less faffing.

I'm presuming that you can have a new combi boiler without a tank somewhere less intrusive.

There's a million things you can do. Move the bathroom altogether or borrow space from another room... It's not like there's no room!

There's certainly no need to replace with a shower!

danlightbulb

Alot of work again, mounting up, and not just cosmetic.

Its got good space, but:
* Detached garage at rear so not easily accessible and less secure.
* Needs a front driveway building - house is slightly elevated so that means retaining walls.
* Potential risk with probably 2 or 3 decades old rear flat roofed extension.
* bathroom needs strip out and replacement.
* Older (likely) cylinder hot water system needs replacing with combi. Would have to go in kitchen.

Things are mounting up with it...I'm not gonna have £20k free after buying this.

Doozergirl

So then it isn't as good a value as you thought, although bungalows are always more expensive than houses and anything detached is more expensive than anything attached. Price per square foot you would expect to be much higher.

I think you need to reset your expectations if a fully detached bungalow with three double beds at that price is too expensive (as well as everything else on the market). It has great potential.

Fact is, it is pretty cheap where you want to be. We're probably only 15 miles away in a 'nice but not spectacular' area and I'd expect that to be knocking on the door of £300k quite easily!

danlightbulb

I don't know what it is, I'm worried about ruining myself. I need to buy because renting is not secure and a waste of money, but I want to buy something that won't ruin me.

This is why I'm also considering far cheaper 2 bed houses. Although its not really what I want deep down.

I just don't know what to do. Im overthinking everything.

I don't mind doing work but my lack of capital means it needs to be mostly cosmetic. I am continually disappointed at the lack of maintenance than many houses on the market have. Why has someone not bothered replacing a boiler in nearly 30 years, or if they were having an extension built why did they not go for a proper pitch roof? These are silly choices that I now have to pay to resolve, whilst not really getting the house for any cheaper because of it, in my view.

I would say that that bungalow, done up, would not sell for much more. Whilst I wouldn't be planning to move, still have to feel like Im not throwing money away.

Tiglet2

I do get that you want to get the right house at the right price and that this is the reason for being picky. Totally understandable that you want the best that your money can get you. However, most people restricted by their budget will have to compromise on something, whether it be waiting a while before being able to extend/do up, or settling for something already done up but may not have scope for extension/enlargement.

If you are intending to stay in the property a long time, then improvements can wait until you can afford to do them to your taste and standard. If you intend to move again in a couple of years, a property that is not quite perfect but is well priced for your budget will serve you well until you can afford to move up to the next rung on the ladder. Generally, most people buy a property with compromises to start with and would have to move several times over the years to buy something more suited to growing families and the need for more space. In my area, your budget would only stretch to a studio or 1 bed flat.

The house I linked to above said "offers in the region of £180k", which I take to mean that an offer of 10% less than the asking price is not too cheeky. While the property is being advertised for £80k more than it sold for last year, it is not a guarantee that it will sell at that price..... unless of course other potential purchasers do think it offers good value, in which case it will sell. If it sells quickly then I would say that the price does reflect a realistic price today. Of course, you could wait and see if the price gets reduced over the next couple of months, or new properties come on to the market that are more realistically priced, but could be risky if prices start rising rapidly.

The bungalow does look pretty good - I would suggest going to view so you can see it in the flesh.
You might be able to work out how you can improve the layout, add a loft extension in the future etc.
The property I'm in at the moment I didn't want to view as I didn't like any of the photos on Rightmove, but the Estate Agent was pretty relentless trying to get me to view it! So glad I did - layout was perfect (no floor plan available), rooms were spacious (but very cluttered in photos) and it has needed total refurbishment but has been done to my taste and standards. Good luck!

Doozergirl

Even if you purchased a new build it would come with maintenance costs over the next 30 years. And those houses come at a premium.

Fact is, most houses a FAR worse than they look, at least you know what you're getting with one that obviously needs some work. It doesn't all have to be done at the same time.

You're talking about introducing someone else into the home in the future. I don't know how old you are, but maybe not at peak earning potential either. Many people cannot even get onto the property ladder alone, so you're in a good position.

With somewhere like that, you could easily rent a room if things got tight for you at any point. You could introduce an ensuite fairly easily too.

There's no point looking at 2 beds if you want three. The cost of moving is massive in itself.

Anywhere else in the country, a bungalow really would be more than an equivalent sized house. And that is a really good sized bungalow!

danlightbulb

I just drew this out for a bit of fun:



I could design houses I reckon. I wouldn't skimp on space.

Then I stepped back and thought, would I want to buy that, for one person? No, it would be silly getting something that big for one person even if I could afford it.

I think what is missing from many houses is just the right amount of space, not too big not too small, but still something interesting about its style. The appeal of big older houses, for me, is not the space per se, but the maze-like nature of them, and the different shapes. As a kid I enjoyed exploring corridors and rooms in family members houses. My nan had an older house that was quite large (council house, she never bought it and is dead now). It probably wasn't that big really but I remember it feeling big as a kid, lots of odd cupboards (it had a pantry) and nooks and crannies all over the place!

Even a very small house, if it had a cellar and a loft room for example, could still have exploration potential. What I don't like is boring square boxes. One room down, one hallway, one square kitchen, one set of stairs, three beds upstairs all off one landing. Its boring! By the time you've been in there 5 minutes you've seen it all.

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll keep looking. I think I know what sort of thing I want, just a risk I may never find it in my budget.

danlightbulb

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-84576620.html

Ha Ha!!!

How great would that be!

GDB2222

danlightbulb wrote: »

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-84576620.html

Ha Ha!!!

How great would that be!

It’s a nightmare. I don’t know if I’ll sleep a wink.