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Original poster

Views and opinions on these two houses please?

17 replies

Sinkingfeeling · 29/04/2012 23:08

Both would make great family homes, IMO, but both need fairly substantial amounts of work (House 1 more so). Both in our search area and both have come on the market this week - House 1 is a probate sale. Any views/advice gratefully received.

House 1

House 2

OP posts:

thisisyesterday · 29/04/2012 23:11

house 1 is nicer looking (IMO) looks like it's shielded from the road a bit more? and potentially better parking

but house 2 has better sized bedrooms and a much bigger kitchen, which might swing it for me

both have great gardens

Pooka · 29/04/2012 23:20

House number one is more attractive. Bit by the bluebells shot though! But but but - bedroom 4 is tiny.

House 2 has a good ground floor layout - potential for work to the kitchen/sun room. Bedrooms look to be better sizes and are all described as doubles. Love the storm porch and it looks solid and attractive.

But I do prefer the ground floor layout of house 1. It doesn't really have loft conversion potential for adding a bedroom - bedroom 4 might be lost to get stair access and that might be silly in terms of cost/adding value. Saying that, that's what we did here 3 double and 1 single to 4 double by losing a bedroom on first floor to stairs.

So am sitting on the fence - have you viewed them/ do you have gut feeling?

Original poster

Sinkingfeeling · 29/04/2012 23:47

Hmm, good points, both of you. We've seen House 1 - I think House 2 only came on the market today. There are no photos of the bathroom or kitchen in House 1, which is fairly telling, but then none at all of the upstairs in House 2. House 1 is actually slightly closer to the road than House 2, but there isn't much in it. They're at opposite ends of the village - House 1 the 'better' end for us in terms of getting to work (it's a very long village!). We did really like House 1 - has great potential for a large kitchen/dining room by knocking through, but the fourth bedroom is also small (typical of 1930s properties I guess). House 2 seems to have a better layout upstairs, for sure. The garden in House 1 is enchanting - bluebells and all! - but we're a bit worried about the stream which runs through it, under the house and out into the front garden. Gorgeous on a hot day, but I'm always a bit paranoid about flooding/rats/other people's dc's falling in ...

OP posts:

dizzyday07 · 30/04/2012 10:48

There are no dimensions on House 2 so it's a little hard to compare but I would discount House 1 because of the stream - but I do have a young daughter!

thelittlestkiwi · 30/04/2012 10:55

I prefer number 1 but the stream would put me off. Can you get insurance for it? I'm sure our company in the Uk asked if there was any water within a certain distance of the property. Have you asked about a history of flooding?

House 2- looks like the sunroom might need some work but I like the garden. Have you seen it cos I think you'll know if it has 'the feel'. IME 'the feel' is very important.

Ghanagirl · 30/04/2012 12:12

Both lovely but would worry about the stream with young kids also is it at risk from flooding?
You def get a lot for your money compared to London

Original poster

Sinkingfeeling · 30/04/2012 12:14

Not sure about insurance for the stream - it's definitely starting to sound more like a liability than an asset! The main road through the village flooded a few years ago, but as far as I know (and can see from Environment Agency website) none of the houses have flooded before. We're going to see House 2 this week - agree that the feel of a house is very important.

OP posts:

kitsmummy · 30/04/2012 12:35

We have a stream in front of our house (ie on our property) and although it narrows down the insurance it does not make it impossible, nor does it make it ridiculously expensive. What will matter is if it has a history of flooding - that would make insurance very difficult, but if not, then you should be ok. How old are your children and could the stream be blocked off from them somehow?

I haven't looked a room sizes etc as am in a bit of a rush but house 1 is much prettier all round and in all honesty I didn't think it looked like it needed more work than house 2 at all. Obviously this is only going by the estate agent photos but house 2 seemed to be all gross carpets, fireplaces, those old metal windows etc, it didn't really strike me as being in better condition than house 1 at all?

ScarletsMum · 30/04/2012 13:19

I think the stream is definitely worth finding out about - but is a lovely house.

BoulevardOfBrokenSleep · 30/04/2012 16:08

We're looking in the same area (though a bit below your budget!) to get in Matthew Arnold catchment.

If you're going to see House 1, it'd definitely worth timing your visit to when a fast train passes by, it looks quite close to the railway tracks at the back. And we've also worried about the Thames flooding on that side of the main road, let alone having your own personal stream!

House 2 is a bit uphill from the flood plain (we've viewed a semi nearby) I think.

Oh, also - we currently live in a 4-bed 1930s house and the small 4th bedroom is still usable, we have it as a study with bookcases/CDs/DVDs and the PC; the previous people had it as their 10yo's room, with a high sleeper. He chose it apparently

SoupDragon · 30/04/2012 16:57

House 1. I wouldn't worry about the stream from a safety aspect but I would want to know about potential flood risk.

If you were worried about the size of Bed 4 in House 1, I would knock Bed 2 and 4 together, convert it to the master and split the existing master into two better sized bedrooms. You might lose the ensuite although you might squeeze a small one into the "new" master.

Fiolondon · 30/04/2012 19:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

Sinkingfeeling · 01/05/2012 13:13

Thank you for all your comments, everyone - all good points. Boulevard - House 1 is on the opposite side of the road to the railway line, but flooding is still something we're concerned about and I think we'll discount the house for that reason. I remember the village flooding badly at that end in 2007, but apparently only the first seven houses (on the river & railway side) or so had flood damage, with flooding in the gardens for the next few along. Since then, some work has been done to dig out more drainage channels and the village hasn't flooded for five years - but we probably won't take the risk! Size of fourth bedroom doesn't worry me either - we're also in a 1930s semi at the moment, and it's slightly bigger than dc's bedroom. Have you managed to find somewhere yourself yet?

We've now seen House 2 and I think we like it! Yes, perhaps not as many period features as House 1 (1950s vs 1930s), but the upstairs space is generous, and the sunroom/kitchen could probably be reworked to make a lovely kitchen/dining room overlooking the garden. The windows are the original steel crittall ones and are in good condition, though obviously no double-glazing. Garden is v pretty, but house is east facing. Hmm, lots to think about, but not a vast number of properties on the market in our preferred areas at the moment.

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BoulevardOfBrokenSleep · 01/05/2012 14:02

Haven't found anything we like, but haven't sold ours yet so there is no urgency. We're also looking at Cumnor, and a few outlying towns with train stations.

As you say, there doesn't seem to be an awful lot on the market at the moment, almost everything we've seen has been elderly folk moving into a home, or, er, otherwise moving on to a better place... We viewed this house, which looks good on paper, but it was a LOT of work, far more than we could afford on that purchase price.

Looks like you've found somewhere nice anyway, so lucky you!

Original poster

Sinkingfeeling · 01/05/2012 18:10

Good luck with the search, Boulevard. We've looked at Eynsham as well - like the village, not 100% sure on commuting into Oxford and the primary school has also just gone into special measures. Apart from one new build, everything we've seen is either probate or elderly people downsizing/moving into a home too. Have had to keep warning the dc not to say 'this house smells funny' before viewings!

We're going back to see the second house this week - have lots of mixed feelings about it at the moment, think dh is more keen than I am.

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BoulevardOfBrokenSleep · 01/05/2012 22:09

Eynsham primary school...? Oh, FFS. It was 'good' at its last inspection, three years ago!

Original poster

Sinkingfeeling · 01/05/2012 23:20

I know - most recent Ofsted was just a few weeks ago. Group of parents wrote open letter to Oxford Times saying that they didn't recognise the school Ofsted were describing and that the governors and Head still have their full support. I take Ofsted with a bit of a pinch of salt, and I guess this means they'll have lots of support to improve quickly, but even so ... strange how one small town can have one outstanding school and one in special measures.

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