To ask for your opinions on my house?

[StylishMummy]

We're in the stressful and expensive process of moving house, next door have just sold for £170,000. We're on for less and have slightly less space and less than all agents suggested (165-170). But we're not selling!

Collective brain of the vipers nest is my next place for feedback - be as brutal as you like!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70481371.html

@yumyumpoppycat, I did think that this morning when DS burst into our bedroom at 5.30 shouting “Wake up Mummy and Daddy, it’s morning, it’s light!”

But I like to open DS’s window every day to air the room. I dread to think how stuffy that third bedroom will get in summer. Plus while it’s ok to class it as a bedroom legally because it has two doors, the door into the master bedroom really shouldn’t be blocked by furniture!

@Romax we have paid 300k for it. Once renovated it should be worth around 350-370ish mark. It was originally up for 325k but she couldn't sell it

@WBWI
I’d be cautious with your expectation post renovation
If she couldn’t sell for £325 and you brought for £300, unlikely you’ll make £££ because if there was significant £ to be made local developers would have snapped up

I live very close to you op and I think it is too expensive

I think it's lovely inside. Anyone buying will fill it with their own things and decorate anyway.

I also think it's a bargain. But our area is very expensive!

The downside is the outside for me, not sure what you can do but that would put me off looking at more picture or having a viewing.

Agree that some flowers would help.

Good luck!

@Romax were not buying it to sell it. We are buying it as a forever home. We have done our share of buying and selling 3 houses in the last 4 years, this is it for us now that we have a little one. I want to pay my mortgage off by the time I'm 50 and I'm 24 now so this is the forever home now.

My dad lives two doors up and his bungalow has a dormer, so an additional room upstairs and dressing room, plus an outdoor heated pool and 'sun room extension' and was valued at 420k.

The house isn't in disrepair, its functional just absolutely stinks and needs modernisation and we will be going up a floor too. I think the shrine to her late husband in the garden put people off too!

I think the big issues you have are ones that aren't so easily fixed. Compared to next door the pebbledash is ugly and the brown windows would be ££ to replace. The 'conservatory' doesn't look fit for purpose - neither fully an 'indoor' room or an 'outdoor' room. It's kind of inside but with those awful flagstones it isn't cozy & would need ££ one way or another to sort out. In the garden that wooden white wall looks peely & the grass area looks unloved. I'd also clear the stuff off the patio save a table & 2 chairs. The animal cages would put me off too. There's much that could be done outside with planting to make it look loved/welcoming. I agree the downstairs looks too bland. The brick fireplace is also more ££ to remove. The kitchen & bathroom tiles both look dated. On the upside, I think the bedrooms both look cosy & appealing. Overall though, there are too many things that need changing & that takes money. I think a more realistic price in the current Brexit market is somewhere between £140,000 - £150,000. A house is only worth what someone's prepared to pay, if it isn't selling, it's overpriced.

from the rightmove details I was not clear about parking. It mentions off road parking but no further details or photo that I saw

It mentions in the body of the blurb that the back garden has double gates and can be used as a parking area. It's stretching the truth to the max since that would mean parking on the lawn, though no doubt a hard pad could be put down (and immediately affect its family house potential by leaving little room for kids to play)

I've just watched the video. You've got to get it changed. I take back what I said about the bedrooms. The master is nice but still cluttered behind the door & the others put me off. I never understand why estate agents don't put it crystal clear to sellers what is needed in terms of presentation.

Great you are doing some changes, but I am sorry to say that I would just walk 0.25 miles to this one
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70725856.html

Have you had a look at other houses than just your neigbours?
I don't know how you could justify charging more (or even same as a matter of fact) than this one on a same road to you.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-59750379.html

You might really have to rethink your price. Unless you do a complete refurb (or finish it since you said you already did something), which is understandable that you won't now you are moving.

It is worth noting that both of those look to be ex-council/ex-local authority, and that can put some people off. And probably if you count square footage, they’re smaller than OP’s. But crucially (for me anyay) they do both have windows in the third bedroom.

The first house linked by Inspector looks well from the outside and has a lovely back garden and yes three actual bedrooms.

I bought ex authority so I am one of that people whio don't mind. It actually worked out great because council insulated it before they sold it to previous owner.
I don't know why someone would mind ex authority, house is a house, but I am not originally from UK so that's probably why I don't get it.

Even with slightly smaller foot print, they look in better condition and that's a plus. And yeah... The window...

I want to see the new pics...

It’s snobbishness, really. Some people don’t want to say they live on a council estate. And others are scared of what the neighbours will be like. It’s stupid really as often the house are in great repair and have lovely big gardens esp if they were built in the 60s or 70s. And you never know what kind of neighbour you might get, wherever you live! But a three bed ex-council semi will often go for less than a three bed semi that’s privately built.

@StarlingsEverywhere ah ok. Tbh I think this makes it really quite hard for people, because majority of houses I've seen look like an ex authority? They all looked the same.🤷‍♀️
I love my estate and our 30s semi 😁
Especially because of that insulation. Which is btw another bug on OP's house. The EPC rating... But tbf one of the houses I linked has really crappy one too.

Jesus, they’ve painted a St George on their satellite dish....

I chose to believe it was done for football. Not Tommy Shitbinson support😁

There’s a look to council houses. Not more recently-built local authority ones - they look like most new builds. But there’s definitely a look to th older ones. The arrangement of the windows is different, there’s often a flat canopy over the front door, there’s often a sort of brick built shed attached to the side of the house. The bricks are sometimes different. I can usually tell (though not always) from a photo of a house is an ex-council or not, provided it’s from the 70s or older.

Didn't local authority basically build everything loooong time ago? So basically everything before certain perriod is ex authority? 😁

No, not all. There’s privately built/owned housing stock from every decade of the twentieth century. There was a massive housing boom by councils in the fifties and sixties, due the need for new social housing following bombing raids in the Second World War, and the gen real slum clearances in that era.

Watching with interest to see your updated pics.

Very pleased you’ve tackled the conservatory!

The white sofa/room I think looked good as do the bedrooms and bathrooms.

Good luck with it!

In fact, houses built prior to this period are pretty unlikely to have been built by councils. Houses like the OPs (eg Victorian terraces) are very unlikely to be local authority, unless they’re been bought to be rented out in recent years. That does happen but not often.

Just looked this up (instead of going off what I “knew”) and there was council stock being built from the 1920s but it really did boom following WW2.

@StarlingsEverywhere thank you! Interes5ing.
Apologies for derailing the thread though. 🙈