Buying A Bungalow

[girlabouttown86]

Hi
I have been an active reader of this thread for over an year and have benefited immensely from the advises and discussion. I want to solicit your advice in a very important matter regarding buying a house. We (I and my husband) have been on the hunt for past 2 months now and have finally managed to find a bungalow which we both like and meets all our requirements and most importantly is within our budget. I am a bit apprehensive about making an offer as the property has been on the market for some time whereas any good house we laid our eyes on has been snapped up within a fortnight. We have been to the property twice and we cant find any fault. The only thing that we could think of that perhaps its not easy to sell a bungalow and we might face a similar problem in future if we ever decide to sell this property. Are we missing something else? Is it really difficult to sell a bungalow? Do people hesitate buying one? Should we also think twice?
Thanks

I doubt if it's because it's a bungalow, but there might be other problems. If it's leasehold, a lease much under 100 years is not viewed favourably, and gets more expensive to renew as the leasehold shortens. Or the building might have structural problems only seen on survey, or someone might have done diy work which isn't appropriately certified.

Or it might be a type of building (I forget the name, but kinda prefabs) which mortgage companies don't like, so it's unmortgagable.

Yeah - they normally put 'of non standard construction' for that type round here

Looking at the street, I can see a lot of bungalows on one side with a few with loft conversions (dormer etc.). I don't think planning permission might be a problem.

And its freehold.

I have found the same about bungalows. Lots of younger people less willing to buy them. We moved into ours 4 months ago. It is 200 sq ft bigger than houses of the same price go for in this area and there is room to extend it upwards and outwards so I think it is a bargain. You just need a bit of imagination and the cash to extend at some point.

Could you post a link to the rightmove listing?

Link below
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-43779041.html

I wonder if it's a regional thing ? Bungalows are like gold dust around here.

I live in a bungalow on a small cul de sac with 5yo DD. There is a mix of pensioners and families with young children. As each bungalow comes on the market, it is snapped up really quickly.

That looks like a really nice property, no work to do to it? It's much nicer than my 2 bed :)

I think that sometimes places just take time to sell simply because they don't sell quickly. In other words, once a property has remained unsold on the market for some time, buyers start to assume there must be some particular reason why it hasn't sold, and so they are put off and it continues not to sell...

i would live in a bungalow if it was what i would afford in a the area i wanted to live in.

my only misgiving with the bungalow you have shows us is the garden seems very overlooked.

I think there tends to be a bit of prejudice about buying bungalows, but there will always be buyers for them.

If I were you and it suited our needs, and you envisage staying there for at least a few years, then I would buy it. But bear in mind it might take longer to sell than a conventional house so give yourselves a bit more time to find yoursleves a buyer when the time comes.

Make sure you aren't paying too much for it.

Thanks a lot for all your comments. Was just talking to a colleague and she mentioned about the security aspect of living on the ground floor. Put enough doubt in my mind I would say.

What security aspect? Surely you're as much at risk in a 2 storey. If people want in, they want in. I always find that an odd argument. Good windows and secure doors takes care of that surely?

I'd love to live in a bungalow, I love living on one floor.

I think the resale depends where you are. In my town they're like gold dust and cost £££. In the next town along there's a surplus and whilst they're easy to sell the prices aren't as high.

I can't see the security problem, and you can easily remedy it with precautionary measures.

A bungalow is just as secure as any other property.... depending on how old it is, it would have window locks and doors must meet your insurance requirements, so I don't see the problem....

I don't get the security thing. All properties have a ground floor don't they? Unless you are in a first floor flat or above.

Houses have a ground floor too, strangely enough.

We have a bungalow, in our area they're often sold immediately. Ours is on a double plot so space for 8 cars on drive, and two big lawns round back. The upstairs was converted already, it has three bedrooms an en suite and a dressing room. Maybe it is a regional thing we are in Scotland

When I was looking for a bungalow, a semi- 2 bed was more expensive than a 3-bed detached house as they are usually rare. The bungalow was older. Infact, it was more expensive than a 4-bed end of terrace not far from it.