Would you buy a bungalow/"chalet-style house"?

[Peppin]

I have to relocate next year and am finding that a lot of the properties available in the new area in my price range are bungalows or the mysteriously named "chalet-style houses".

Some of these look quite nice inside, modern decor etc. But for some reason I have a powerful resistance to the idea of actually living in one. Would I be able to sell it on or do other people also feel like this?

I should add that most of these seem to have had lofts done so do have an "upstairs".

So what's it like living in one of these and am I being silly?

[coansha]

I think we associate them with old age, but are common place overseas , I think as long as your sleeping areas are well designed and away from your living areas you should get use to it.
I live in an area full of them, one big plus you should nt have any problems selling, in our area they sell like hot cakes!

[Cookie804]

Bungalows tend to be a little more expensive than a house with the same interanal space as it tend to occupy a larger plot of land. Should be no issue with resale depending on the area(an estate with a bad name) and condition of property.

[EyesDoMoreThanSee]

I lived in a chalet and loathed it, the upstairs bedrooms were baking hot in summer and bitterly cold in winter.

It was a two bed upstairs with a small bedroom downstairs.

[mrsnec]

I live in one and have more outside space than I could imagine. Ours is a strange layout but I like it. Our bedroom is next to the kitchen and has a door leading into the garden which I like you definately have to think about how you'd use the space. Our loft is only big enough for storage. My DGP's had a beautiful chalet bungalow and they split the top room into an art studio and study. Agree on keeping lounge seperate ours is at the other end of the building to the main bedroom.

[WynkenBlynkenandNod]

I live in one, are loads round here and they sell well. We used to have issues upstairs being baking hot in the summer and cold inthe winter but have knocked the layout about and each bedroom has two windows creating better airflow which helps a lot. Think the issue on ours is poor insulation as was built in the 60's. However a friend has one that was built recently and still has the same issue.

Just asked DH if he would buy another one, he says no on grounds of heat issues and less upstairs space.

[OneLittleToddlingTerror]

You can always sell it to pensioners . We are a aging population and more and more of them will want to downsize from a 5-bed family house to a bungalow.

But living in one is not a problem as long as the place is large enough for your family (and well layed out). One storey houses are the norm in New Zealand and we never have a problem with it. But then our houses are huge compared to british ones.

[pickledparsnip]

My mum lives in one and it's lovely. 2 bedrooms upstairs with a "den" area and their own bathroom and 2 bedrooms downstairs. Lovely family home surrounded by garden.

[pickledparsnip]

Won't lie though, upstairs is very hot in the Summer.

[mrsnec]

We have the same problem with airflow too previous owners blocked in some windows thinking it would help with the heat in the summer. We'd like to put them back in again!

[mistlethrush]

I grew up in a great chalet style - it had decent insulation so no heat problems (we put blinds up on the windows mind you) and I loved to hear the rain on the roof when I was going to sleep. 'Chalet' style all have rooms in the roof. The other thing is to consider if you can purchase a cheap one and convert it into a house (subject to planning)

[Imlostwithoutahope]

I live in a converted bungalow. I grew up in a bungalow so didn't want to buy this one but dh was going on about the possibilities so we made a silly offer which was accepted. We've been here now for ten yrs.

We've looked to move as I want a detached house but for space we cant match the downstairs space we have for the money we have at a new house.

Downstairs we have a living room, dining room, playroom, kitchen and breakfast room plus bathroom.
Upstairs we have four bedrooms( no bathroom)

The plus for us are large downstairs living space, as open plan or closed off as needed. The downside is the bedrooms are all odd shapes ie small square or long and thin and no upstairs loo, but that's just the fault of the previous owner who designed it not the causal type of house.

I like the fact our upstairs is warmer, in the spring/autumn I go up here for a warm when dh refuses to turn the heating on :)

[Schoolworries]

I imagine they would be a sensible choice for a young family. Never lived in one though.

[Peppin]

Wow imlostwithoutahope, your bungalow sounds mahoosive!

Have to say am concerned about upstairs heat though. In our house now (regular mid-terrace), DS' room is in the converted loft and is boiling hot all summer even with windows open.

[SoggySummer]

We had a bungalow for 9 years! I miss it. I really loved it.

I'll tell you something really fab about a bungalow is that you NEVER have a pile of shit waiting to go upstairs.

We never had an equivalent pile - in 9 years with 2 under 5's. Its one of the tidiest and cleanest houses we have ever lived in because its just so easy to clean and tidy.

[ElsieMc]

We lived in a chalet bungalow on the edge of a village. It had a huge kitchen, big living room and two good upstairs bedrooms and a very large one downstairs. The minus was when we bought there was only a downstairs bathroom - again large.

I am not keen on bungalows, but prefer chalets. No probs at all with resale locally so long as not too much is added one. One nearby has so many extensions this previously nice looking house looks really odd, lots of little square boxes tacked on everywhere.

I live in a house now - same problems as with chalet - too hot upstairs in summer, too cold in winter.

[OneLittleToddlingTerror]

Elsie I think the same can be said about extensions to houses. I've seen some with really odd bits tacked onto the sides. The house still has to make sense when you extend it!

[mistlethrush]

Our chalet had a large hall, a small kitchen, a dining room, a large sitting room, two bedrooms, a bath room and a utility room downstairs, and three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs.

[PatFigeon]

We live in a bungalow. For the same price as a 3bed pokey new build, here The square footage is massive, the rooms are all massive, it's got gardens on all sides. No stairs!!! ( except it will when we get found to converting the massive loft)

What not to like?

[Margerykemp]

I'd much rather live on one floor.

Definitely the way to go for a 'forever house'.

[confusedperson]

Unlike most of people, I would absolutely love a bungalow with large downstairs space, downstairs bathroom (yes you read it right) and a couple of bedrooms in the loft for children to ?escape?. It my dream, but unfortunately soo uncommon where I live.

[shockers]

We live in a bungalow that has been converted upstairs. We have velux's upstairs rather than a dormer, because the roof space was really high. It works very well for us. Maintenance is a doddle compared to the Victorian house we previously lived in. DH did the conversion and insulated with some really thin but effective stuff, which means we don't have the problems that some other posters have mentioned.

Downstairs we have a big kitchen diner, a sitting room, family bathroom and a bedroom. Upstairs we have a master bedroom with ensuite, another bedroom and a large open plan office on the landing.

The plot we are on is quite big, which is often the case with bungalows built before the 80's (ours was built mid 60's).

I love it.

[mrsnec]

Ours is a 3 bed on a 500 sqm plot. We have a seperate annexe which we use as a workshop an office and utility and it has it's own shower room. I agree about extra space and also about potential too. We could have built up we even considered a roof terrace but we've ended up covering it with solar panels so the possibilities are endless! Have we convinced you yet?

[fanoftheinvisibleman]

We live in a 70's chalet style house. It is exactly the same size upstairs as the non chalet style houses on the street, 2 doubles, 1 single and a bathroom. It just has a steep pitched roof and dormers.

Agree with what others say about hot in summer and cold in winter upstairs. It looks exactly like any other house internally but external it is very 'old lady' for my taste. We've been here for 4 and 1/2 years and have never settled. It feels too middle aged, I don't know why. We rushed to be in the right area at the time.

We've just started to redecorate (again) to try and come to terms with the place as we've taken it off the market after 18 months of trying to sell. I'm not sure if that is due to property style though. Market has been dreadful here. Ours was valued between 130k and 135 and was up at 125k. Top of the market sold around us and a steady flow of similar repossessions were hitting market at 90k and most houses in our bracket were sat. Same houses were going quickly for 145k a few years ago. As we don't need to move we are staying put for now.

[Sushiqueen]

We recently bought a chalet bungalow. Looks small from the outside but it is like the tardis.

Have 2 very large double bedrooms upstairs and even after building in wardrobes still have loads of space for DD to dance around in.

We only had a wetroom downstairs, with just a toilet and large walk in airing cupboard upstairs. We now have a lovely new large bathroom upstairs where the airing cupboard was and the landing still feels spacious.

We have velux windows in the bedrooms as well as normal windows so it didn't get too hot at all.

One of the best properties we have ever bought.

[Imlostwithoutahope]

They can look granny ish from the outside and unfortunately they do attract the older person. That said even though we are surrounded by grannies it means the street is quiet and the road car free. If you go for a detached there's lots of things you can do to modernize it ie adding modern windows, cedar cladding etc.

The good thing is that as they are on a larger plot you can add an extension without losing the garden.

Like someone else Said they are like tardis's, ours from the outside looks like a small double bay bungalow. However it's three rooms deep, so in theory our ground floor is something like 39 ft by 26ft (I'm rubbish at Maths so can't convert that to squared size) what was the original bedrooms downstairs have been converted or knocked through to living spaces and all the bedrooms added to upstairs. We have a dormer on the back and Velux on the front. We had a quote two yrs ago to add a dormer to the front and go further into the loft to add more bedroom space but dh got cold feet over the cost.

I don't think our house is massive but our house is worth £175,000 and to buy a similar sized new build in our area is £270,000 so it's a cheaper option to get the space you need.

Oh I forgot the one fab thing we have too is that as the bedrooms are in the loft in the wall of one bedroom is a door which leads to the actual attic. It spans the width of the house so is huge and so easy to just open the door and throw the crap things not needed in out of sight :)

You should consider the house and think what could you do with it as opposed to how it is now.