Your thoughts on this type of house

mariad2004

Hi all,  we are thinking of making an offer on this house, but I know very little about these type of houses. Are they of decent construction quality? Do they have a particular name?  It is about a 110 sq meter house and we feel to go 5% under asking price of 500K is not a bad value for money.  Would appreciate any tips on what to look for in this kind of property.  Thank you.  
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/55696390?utm_source=v1:5bWFDybfWx7C7AGpeagt7mP3PgcqjuqJ&utm_medium=api

Davesnave

I think it looks like a typical characterless box of 70's construction, opened-up on the ground floor to accommodate  open plan living. To me, that just means relaxing in the kitchen!

Oddly, it appears that to access the downstairs toilet/shower, one has to pass through a study or bedroom, which is therefore a corridor and looks like one. I like the kids' play house.

My parents owned one of these. The construction isn't great and they often have poor insulation with all the ticky tacky flat roof bits and big window areas. Personally I'd pass on it and find something more traditional and solid. Sorry!

[Deleted User]

I actually like the styles of 1970's houses and have owned several; have always found they're spacious and have larger windows (than other decades) and large gardens - all qualities that i look for.
What is, for me, a negative is garages in blocks, had that before and it's irritating having to traipse out to it - that said, i don't use my garages so it wasn't really a big deal !
The garden looks disproportionate to the house but if it's older kids or no kids that won't be much of an issue.

RelievedSheff

I'm not a great fan of 1970's houses so this one would never make it onto my list. That layout just wouldn't work for us either. 

But it would be boring if we all wanted the same thing and if this house is what you want then go for it. Get a structural survey to check that the work carried out to the inside has been done properly.

[Deleted User]

....and it's all this that makes the buying and selling houses market such an unpredictable one ! 
There's often threads with tales of woe about length of time it's taking to sell and the 3 replies to this one just epitomises that

daveyjp

Late 1960s, early 1970s dormer bungalow.  Wimpey built tens of thousands of them.  The roof bedrooms can be cold and the flat roof is always a weak point.

Open plan living is a personal choice.  You need to see the building regs certificate for the wall removal works.

sst1234

OP, personally I just don’t understand this style of house. Why build a house with poky bedrooms and pretend first floor with the former windows, why not build a proper first floor with proper eaves height. Other than that it’s just a standard 70s build like the other day. I would avoid it but there is no structural reason why wouldn’t buy it. Good luck. 

silvercar

Dressed to sell.
The kitchen  will be the big attraction and why not.
Those flat roof bits on the upstairs will require more maintenance than average and I suspect the insulation will be poor. Anecdotally the rain makes a noise on those roofs, though I suspect if you could improve the insulation that would help.

Scotbot

A seventies dormer, lots of them around me. The biggest issue is the upstairs rooms are in the roof soace so minimal insulation. As a result they can be too cold in winter and too hot in summer. There will be no roof storage space. They are usually a bit cheaper than traditional 2 storey houses for this reason
It has been refurbished very nicely. If you don't like open plan you could reinstate the wall between living and dining area. The downstairs bedroom is actually a reasonable size and but the photo is poor, agree it looks odd.

Scotbot

sst1234 said:

OP, personally I just don’t understand this style of house. Why build a house with poky bedrooms and pretend first floor with the former windows, why not build a proper first floor with proper eaves height. 

Cost. Cheaper to build

FtbDreaming

I don’t like the front of the house but the rest of it is lovely. It looks well maintained inside and people have probably managed to live in it for 50 years with various weather conditions so it looks like they’ll have already addressed sufficient heating. 

If that’s what properties are worth in that area then it’s nice. Although like I said I’d be looking to spend some money recreating the fascia.