Having doubts after offer accepted

seradane

danlightbulb wrote: »

Had a quick sketch up. Was this what you were thinking? I have also incorporated stairs to loft conversion. I think with this work, it would also make sense to extend the hip roof over the flat roof extension.

Yes, potentially something like that could work.

Only thing to be aware of when locating the stairs is that they likely won't have enough head room at the edge of the hip roof (and for cost reasons you don't want to modify the roof if you can avoid it). Ideally you want the top of the stairs to be in the centre of the plan where the roof is highest to make best use of what's there currently & minimise circulation space upstairs. But of course you won't know exactly how much room/where you can come up until you actually get into the house and can measure the sizes you actually have.

danlightbulb wrote: »

Problem is I don't have 40 grand spare. Its this kind of major work that should have been already done by now, and the price I am paying certainly doesn't reflect this kind of work.

Ah, but see if it had already been done the house might have been 40k more expensive and you wouldn't be able to afford it.

Consider it this way - it looks like it works well enough as it is at the moment, so you can live in it just fine for now and spend a few years saving up (or meet someone with a bit of savings) and then carry out the modifications if/when it suits.

danlightbulb

seradane wrote: »

Ah, but see if it had already been done the house might have been 40k more expensive and you wouldn't be able to afford it..

Unfortunately I can't see it. I think it would have been better for whoever built the extension originally to have properly thought about the layout and done it then. Now, the marginal benefit from doing it is tiny so I don't think doing it would generate much of a return over and above just the straightforward modernisation. So the poor layout persists indefinitely because unless someone absolutely needed to do it, or had money to burn, it will never get done.

babyblade41

Just catching up with this thread and probably going to put my foot in it .

I love bungalows and my next move will hopefully be one but this one for me doesn't tick any boxes .

Renovations nearly always throw up curve balls so a financial contingency plan is a must . What you budget for expect it to cost far more .

I'm doing one at the minute and not wanting to throw shed loads on it as I will be moving on . So after many years someone gave me good advice on these very boards... work with what you have .

This bungalow does nothing for me and has many pitfalls but purely an opinion

danlightbulb

babyblade41 wrote: »

This bungalow does nothing for me and has many pitfalls but purely an opinion

Can i ask what you dont like about it?

The problem I have is that i havent found anything better for what I can afford.

benson1980

40k for renovation, redo-ing extension roof, loft conversion, staircase etc- massively optimistic even with a fair bit of DIY? I'd say just that for loft conversion.

If you want a place where there is scope to do this, and to get your money back, I agree- this isn't the place. What you are proposing isn't too dissimilar to what my parents have recently done. Run down bungalow with slightly awkward layout, and conservatory extension. Renovation, converting conservatory into 2.5 x8m extension, plus converting a garage into bedroom and ensuite- 113k. They thought it would be half that when they were offering, despite my advice to just buy a better house in the first place. They'd be lucky if they got 40k of that investment back if they had to sell (luckily they have no intention/need to do so). They like it which is the main thing, but boy did they overpay compared with what they could have got for their total outlay.

If its just a basic renovation you do, and you'd like it, probably worth it, but again if you ever needed to sell, not having designated parking will put a fair few people off, as well as bathroom/slightly unconventional layout, as well as flat roof extension....

danlightbulb

Ill likely never have 40k spare let alone 100k.

So am i overpaying given those limitations? Or maybe not overpaying but settling for too many limitations that i can never realistically rectify.

Do I want a standard house, perhaps already reasonably rennovated, with a common and well established layout?

What I want is a house that has fundamentally good bones, on a good plot, that has non structural rennovation potential.

How do i find that?

babyblade41

danlightbulb wrote: »

Can i ask what you dont like about it?

The problem I have is that i havent found anything better for what I can afford.

For me I don't like the layout and the costs needed to improve and update would be far too high especially if looking to sell on in the not too distant future ..
If funds are limited then I think this would be a project too far

benson1980

danlightbulb wrote: »

Ill likely never have 40k spare let alone 100k.

So am i overpaying given those limitations? Or maybe not overpaying but settling for too many limitations that i can never realistically rectify.

Do I want a standard house, perhaps already reasonably rennovated, with a common and well established layout?

What I want is a house that has fundamentally good bones, on a good plot, that has non structural rennovation potential.

How do i find that?

Compare with the bungalow behind it that recently sold, which is slightly better condition with parking and (as picked up by someone else, the ad for your house seems wrong on this one as in yours in north facing?) better orientation garden. What are you offering- maybe this should be the same-ish, taking into account it has an extension of sorts, but no parking, plus some minor rise in the market. I'd just look to do a minor overhaul, sort parking if it annoyed me which would be the big ticket item- lighting in the bathroom could be sorted easily enough presumably. Then if you wanted somewhere bigger later on and you had the spare cash, just consider moving.

oldernonethewiser

danlightbulb wrote: »

Ill likely never have 40k spare let alone 100k.

So am i overpaying given those limitations? Or maybe not overpaying but settling for too many limitations that i can never realistically rectify.

Do I want a standard house, perhaps already reasonably rennovated, with a common and well established layout?

What I want is a house that has fundamentally good bones, on a good plot, that has non structural rennovation potential.

How do i find that?

You keep looking until you find a property that has more positives and fewer negatives than this one seems to have, for you.

danlightbulb

benson1980 wrote: »

Compare with the bungalow behind it that recently sold, which is slightly better condition with parking and (as picked up by someone else, the ad for your house seems wrong on this one as in yours in north facing?) better orientation garden. What are you offering- maybe this should be the same-ish, taking into account it has an extension of sorts, but no parking, plus some minor rise in the market. I'd just look to do a minor overhaul, sort parking if it annoyed me which would be the big ticket item- lighting in the bathroom could be sorted easily enough presumably. Then if you wanted somewhere bigger later on and you had the spare cash, just consider moving.

Yeah this one just over a year ago sold for £158k: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=74108126&sale=8821141&country=england


I am paying £166k, so similar as you say. That one has got a little flat roofed utility box extension on the back, and otherwise I assume has 2 beds, living room, kitchen and bathroom inside. The garden is smaller, but still a good size and south facing (yes the ad is wrong on mine I picked up on that immediately), and as you say they have paved the entire frontage but its not particularly pretty.


Im not entertaining spending tens of thousands on restructuring the entire house, couldn't even if I wanted to. Just trying to understand what's wrong with the layout that might make it not feel homely. What I can't decide is whether the layout that it currently is, which isn't optimal, is a deal breaker or not.

I think the house is reasonably priced in fairness, relative to the area and other houses that have sold or are for sale. And it offers a detached, large plot, good sized rooms. But it needs work, and the layout is not ideal and will not be improved under my ownership, and it has no driveway.

But I keep coming back to the fact there is !!!!!! all else worth buying.

Perhaps the question I have to ask is "is it the best I can get for £170k?"

And then "if it is, should that be reason enough to buy it given Im wasting money on rent at the moment?"

oldernonethewiser wrote: »

You keep looking until you find a property that has more positives and fewer negatives than this one seems to have, for you.

And if there were lots of houses coming up for sale then fine, but there isn't much choice around. What if what I'm looking for will never be within my price range and I'm not seeing that?