Anyone who needs to commute to London with s budget of 1.2 million

[MrsDarcy4092]

Hello

If you need a good commute to London (26 minutes to Waterloo) and have a budget of 1.2 million then please can you tell me what you look/ed for in a home? What is on your essential list and desirable list and list of definite no's?
It will really help me with renovations .

[MrsDarcy4092]

we have a home which we bought knowing we could stay here forever but lately have started considering moving in a few years time. we bought it as a probate sale in need of a lot of work. we have started that work and are now a third of the way through as we have decided we prob wont stay forever we want to have in mind what potential buyers will be looking for in terms of the house so that we don't make any huge errors with the work we are doing.
just knowing what people in this area and price bracket are looking for is really helpful.

[whois]

Not that I have that much... but:
Off street parking
4 or 5 good size beds
Garden
Separate utility room
Nice big light kitchen diner that has been wel designed
At least 1 separate reception room from the kitchen diner, preferably 2
2 bathroms + a downstairs toilet
Decent water pressure! and showers you can have on at the smae time

[whois]

If you are renovating with the idea to sell you won't make back the money you spend on designer bathroms etc so I would go for clean, plan nicely designed bathrooms over spenidng £k on a designer bath. Half tile rather than full tile. No one will choose your house over another becase it has a fully tiled bathroom, that kind of thing.

[MrsDarcy4092]

thank you whois. we tick all of those boxes so thats a great sign!! were not fussed on making a profit as such we just want to have a house thats easy to sell so want to make sure we dont do anything silly or miss an opportunity.

[whois]

I think just keep it all really neutral and clean and don't do anything that you would love to have but a buyer wouldn't pay you for.

Don't bother building in wardrobes.

Things like beautiful shutters on the Windows would make me love the house more but I wouldn't pay you the £1k per window for them in the asking price. Although might be worth putting in eg if you're a Victorian terrace with a front room close to the road to create privacy. Not worth it if privacy isn't an issue.

I think the key is to just go for a good finish but not super amazing top quality designer on everything.

Keep all building regs, fensa, certificates of completion, guarantees, that type of stuff

[MrsDarcy4092]

thank you.

Anyone else recently bought one in that budget or looking? be really interested to know how many beds, receptions bathrooms you want for the money and size of garden etc

[MrsDarcy4092]

also, if garages are essential these days?

[whois]

Anyone else recently bought one in that budget or looking? be really interested to know how many beds, receptions bathrooms you want for the money and size of garden etc

Surely that depends on how nice a location you are in?

[WhisperingLoudly]

As pp says it depends where you are as to what people's expectations are.

[fairgroundsnack]

depends how nice the road is, how near to the shops you are and what the walk to the station is like... but I would be looking for 5 beds, 3 baths, garage and garden for that price. For me a garage is pretty essential but for some people it's not so important, especially if the house is in a town centre.

[WhisperingLoudly]

In a great location you'd expect three beds with a small garden.

In other areas the expectation would be 4 beds, 5 bathrooms.

If you're not interested in making a profit why not sell on and move now?

[MrsDarcy4092]

Oh I'm sorry I thought less than half hour into London was enough of an idea on areas to know what people be looking for. I guess areas are all so different. But it's a 5 minute walk to station. 10 minute walk into town. Close to motorways without being too near. Good schools. Nice quiet road. It's outside of zone 6 though.

We don't want to move for a few years yet. It's expensive to move and while we don't necessarily want to make a profit we don't want to lose money either.

[whois]

Aren;t the numebr of bedrooms and bathrooms a little bit pre determined by house and layout?

Personaly I had squeexing in en suites into bedrooms and would rather have a bigger bedrom - but I know that isn't a universal view.

Probably the best way to know is what are simmilar style and simmilar sized houses selling for near by? If they all have 5 beds and 2 bathrooms cos they've done the loft, you don't want to be competeing with 3 beds and 1 bath.

Equally you don't want to be mucking about splitting a room and making two crap rooms out of one nice room.

[whois]

God my typing has gone to shit.

[MrsDarcy4092]

Ok. Obviously this isn't as easy as I thought. I was thinking that when we bought this house our search had criteria of being half hour from London, short walk to station, big garden at least 4 beds and 2 receptions plus kitchen. So for us schools didn't come into it, town didn't, garage didn't and bathrooms didn't. But I no others have different criteria. So it's not really about specifics of our house more about in this price bracket what are people after. So I assumed others like us wound have a set of criteria in mind when started a house search in this budget and I was curious to know what those criterias are. But I was obviously thinking too simplistically.

Thanks for your help.

[minipie]

Honestly, you should ask an estate agent local to you. They usually don't mind giving a view on proposed works (ie will they appeal to buyers or not) - they do it in the hope you will come to them when you eventually sell. It's worth their while, especially for £1m+ houses.

They will have a much better idea of what buyers in your particular area tend to look for.

Suspect a lot of your buyers will be moving from a smaller place in London so they will be looking for a really nice garden and more space generally - but will have "london tastes" so may prefer more modern style than trad country style? But that's just a guess - speak to an estate agent!

[WhisperingLoudly]

Get on right move and look at similar properties in your area - what do they offer and what do they cost.

I have a house 30 mins out if London - about your budget and it's a very unremarkable 3 bed Victorian terrace. Barely room to swing a cat and no off street parking never mind a garage

[TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams]

I'd be looking for decent wiring, double glazing sympathetic to the age of the house, [insulation generally though] a modern boiler appropriate for the size of house. A nice kitchen and bathroom(s).

If £1.2m is average for a home in that area / or is your target selling price then you need to see what homes comprise of that sell at that level.
You are unlikely to get it if you are short two bedrooms or if you install a £200k kitchen you are also unlikely to see that in the sale price of your home.

[crazyhead]

As big, nice, glam location as I could get for the money! Everyone wants the same in my view - big garden, good bedrooms, desirable period building, near amenities - and we choose what we can afford.

If you have fairly neutral, not brutally expensive tastes, I'd go for what YOU want.

[W8woman]

This is going to sound snobbish, but the sort of people who buy a seven figure house are probably going to be upper-middle or middle-middle class and will be turned off by a lot of home 'improvements'.

Restore or re-instate period features, such as cornices and chimneypieces.

Overhaul, but don't replace, original windows. If they can't be repaired, exact replicas of the original windows in hardwood double glazing only, never uPVC.

Good joinery in a style suited to the age of the property - solid (ideally original) wood doors and generous skirting boards.

Wooden floors. Ideally the originals if you can restore them; if not, top-quality engineered wood.

An Aga or a Rangemaster. If you want built-in appliances, and will be leaving them behind, Miele appliances.

Don't overspend on your kitchen. Everyone has different tastes. But you can't go wrong with a painted Shaker or Spitalfields (Shaker with an Ovolo bead detail) style kitchen for this demographic.

Bathrooms are again very personal but if in doubt, go totally classic. Lefroy Brooks Classic range will never date.

[W8woman]

I forgot something really important: really good plumbing! If you work in the City and are commuting, you are getting up very early in the morning. so hotel-quality water pressure (upgrade your mains if required) and plenty of hot water from a large Megaflo, and a Worcester Bosch boiler.

[whois]

Restore or re-instate period features, such as cornices and chimneypieces.

That is the kind of thing you do yourself becase you love the house - not sometihng you would get back £ for £ tho?

otel-quality water pressure

yes yes yes

[bemybebe]

At this budget I would be looking for location first and foremost.

[W8woman]

Whois 'Posh' folk always want period features, which is why they are so important to keep or restore. You probably will get your money back, unless you replace with historically incorrect ones! A cornice is relatively cheap to restore (£3k for a large room including casting the original) and has a very impressive effect on this demographic. Restoring a chimneypiece is expensive - £5k for Chesney's - but again it will have a disproportionately appealing effect on the incoming viewers. Original features is why estate agents in London are able to sell crumbling terraces in dodgy areas for a fortune - the gentrifying classes want charm, not tellies in the bathroom

[W8woman]

bemybebe location is less important than you'd think at this price - at this level (which demands a household income of around £200k a year) most people can afford private school.

They will prioritise a short journey to the transport hub and a house that they love (which is seen as compensation for the commute) ahead of schools or a status area. (Although obviously a smart postcode and an Ofsted Outstanding school in the mix is the dream!)