Could I have your opinion on this house please?

[TerribleTantrums]

Here.

It's a very good price for a large house on an acre, but I suspect that the best thing to do with the house itself would be to pull it down and start again. Which would make it an expensive price for a site to build on. It has a terrible BER (building energy rating), the lowest possible rating is G and this house is F, so it would cost a king's ransom to heat.

It's very close to my Mum (which might be a mixed blessing), the garden is great (it's the main attraction in fact), it's still close to the DC's school and a reasonable distance from the secondary school they will go to, there are some local shops including a great butcher and it's close to a reasonably frequent bus route. On the downside it's not quite as urban as I would like, the garden will be expensive to maintain and it's a long walk to the tram.

Do you think the house could be modernised enough to be acceptable or is it just too ugly to live?

I like it! New windows, loft insulation, maybe cavity wall. Nice garden, does it have to be maintained to perfection, why not let it go in parts and sow wild flowers? Room for playhouses, trampolines etc. needs new kitchen. Generally, good.

I like it too and second what DrSeuss says. Rooms are huge, garden as high or low maintenance as you chose! Definite potential but livable in the meantime.

I love it! The kitchen looks a little tired, but servicable, and as DrSeuss says, new windows and loft insulation will make a lot of difference!

I doubt that pulling it down would be the best option, surely it would be more cost effective to renovate and improve its energy efficiency?

I quite like the house, it has a character of its own.

I like it too. You would have to spend a lot of money on it to make it more energy efficient- new heating system, double glazing etc, plus new kitchen, bathrooms etc, but I think you could make that into a lovely family home.

I know there are architects who specialise in making this kind of 1960/70s house look totally different on the outside.

OK, maybe it's not so bad then. I was fairly thrown by the terrible BER and those nasty little windows. It is right at the very top of my budget (slightly above it tbh) so there wouldn't be much left for renovations or running costs.

I also quite like this, further away from my Mum (walkable but a long walk) but much closer to the tram and in a small village that has some shops, a restaurant and a pub. About the same distance from both primary and secondary schools as the other house. A lot cheaper but smaller rooms and much smaller garden. Not at all my style (fake leaded windows, fake beams and that kitchen ), but I would have a bit of money left over to address that. There's no view from the garden. There may be a little motorway noise in the garden.

In between the two houses, both in location and price, is this. It's charming but the layout is atrocious and it's on the wrong side of the road, so the garden is north facing and doesn't have the mountain view. Also the road is narrow, busy and noisy, although it does have a footpath so reasonably safe.

Looks really spacious and full of light. I like it too. Have you got a big budget to do it up? I'd suggest talking to builders/ architects about ideas and costs. I reckon that fantastic garden far out weighs those horrendous ceiling tiles! Love Dr Suess's idea of letting some of it grow wild. Oh please buy it and come back when you've done it up!

Before I looked at the photos I thought I would really like that first house. I am usually very drawn to 70's houses, I like the big rooms and clean lines compared to the fussiness of, say, Victorian houses or the claustrophobic little rooms of 80's/90's houses.

I have a fairly fixed budget Avondale so don't want to go mad spending on a house. I think it would worry me to go into buying a house that needs a lot of work as these things have a tendency to have spiralling costs.

I like it - as others have said, it could be transformed. I cannot imagine what it would have cost before the crash.

I don't like the second one at all - it's very fussy and the ceilings seem extremely low.

I quite like the first one but would want to visit on an overcast day or in the evening to see what the light was like due to the small windows at the front. The garden is breathtaking, though, like having your own private park.

I like it - the lay out works well, it's large and spacious, the fireplaces need replacing and possibly the windows (which will make a massive difference to the heating costs). I guess the loft will need insulating.

But the big issues causing the ugliness are really just cosmetic, painting those walls and getting those odd tiles off the ceilings would make a world of difference, you could do that yourself for a minimum cost, the flooring throughout the downstairs looks good (although would need revarnishing, again, that's a DIY project, or at least not that expensive to get someone else to do). I assume you'd buy new curtains anyway. The fireplaces might look alright in a sort of retro style if you had plain walls and more modern furniture.

You'd want to put a new kitchen in, but you've got a large space to play with there, and easily big enough for a large table in there. Plus it would be serviable if you needed to save up before doing that work.

BTW - it looks like it's been emptied and an older person had previously been in it, there might well be a deal to be done if it's vacated due to a death or because someone's in a home with fees to pay. If they need a quick sale and you can offer that, you might get it for a lot less.

Lala - there's a house around the corner, on the main road, same age, same size, same style, same tired condition but only half an acre. I looked at it when it was for sale about six months before the crash, it was on for ?1.6 mill and sold for ?2. And that was when stamp duty was still 9% at the top band.

I can't do a quick sale unfortunately DMIID, I need to wait until H and I have mediation about our separation and sort out our finances first. On the other hand, houses don't really sell in Ireland in the summer so just the fact that it's come onto the market now rather than waiting until September shows that they are keen to sell. If it's still on the market in Oct/Nov when I possibly will have the money then there might be a deal to do.

I really like it and think you could improve it fairly easily with redecoration, new kitchen and, in time, new windows.
The garden is fab, rooms large, good layout and practical.

I think probably my opinion won't be helpful at all. But the first house has fantastic potential...size and (from the look of it) lots of land and space. That would do it for me. The second house is lovely - you see I ADORE that kichen, so that's why my opinion is no good to you! - but smallish, I'd still be going for space, I can put in/change interiors, windows and furnishings myself, as long as it's liveable for the time being.
Your third house, ie. the "in-between" one, I just don't like at all. Everything seems wrong with it, I wouldn't consider it..
Just saying, since you asked...

Having over-extended ourselves and having to do improvements piecemeal whilst not having as much disposable income as before, I would warn against doing the same as we did.

As far as the houses go, I preferred the first, the furniture in the third was a bit scary, I haven't seen counter panes like that since I stayed at my nan's about 35 years ago!

Ooooh a kick ass 70s house - just my thing. I also love bungalows but neither of these float my boat. No1 for me - if only I had that budget!

I like the first one. It's a bit dared and random but its v roomy and airy in think it has amazing potential. The kitchen needs ripping out but the rest is cosmetic. I like a big kitchen that you can live in - I think it's a great house

Love it

Love the first one but then I love 60s and 70s houses.
Huge rooms loads of potential.

I love it! It's funky retro. Would be a crime to knock it down and stick something twee it bland in its place.

First one that is. Second is too chinsy. Third is fine but had none of the spark of number one.