Thinking of viewing this property, can anyone with any imagination come and help me please

[Pantone363]

I am USELESS at imagining what you could do with the space. We have been looking and looking for 6 months now so I can't see the wood for the trees.

Pros: Its very close to the beach and is the area we would like to be

Cons: It looks very cramped

any thoughts?

the only double bedroom is in a corridor?

Do you need 4 bedrooms?
Can you afford to to do building work?
I'd change at least most of the conservatory to open plan kitchen/dinner and maybe change the bathroom to a pantry or laundry room.
Make a bathroom in the left bottom room and change the stairs to that side. Make the small toilet into a wardrobe or keep it.

If just decoration, I suspect it will look better and bigger with some mirrors, good lighting, block colours and modern straight lines. And a lot less clutter.
I'm not sure I'd be happy with access to the loft room through another bedroom, though.
If I couldn't afford to change it and I needed the rooms, I think I'd keep looking.

I think it has quite a bit of potential.

It's rammed full of "stuff", and will look so much less cramped without so much clutter.

The obvious thing would be to knock through the kitchen, dining room and "conservatory" to make one large room, and keep the front room as a snug.

Bathroom on ground floor will be annoying, can you convert the smaller bedroom to a bathroom and divide large room at top of house to 2 rooms maybe.

Do check the staircase going up from the master bedroom conforms to building regulations before you consider putting in an offer.

I am intrigued about the "forest garden".

It would depend a lot on if you need to use all the bedrooms as bedrooms. The position of the bathroom would be difficult. Given unlimited funds id be tempted to move it upstairs. If it was at the bottom end of my budget then it could have potential but would take some work. Also the conservatory would worry me, is it sound or does it need to be replaced.
Not sure if that helps at all.

How many bedrooms do you need?

I also don't like one bedroom only accessed by going through another.

where do you park?

which way does that back garden face? Does it get any sun?

It looks like one of a terrace of identical houses.
Have a look at local council planning website to see if there are any applications for others in that row.
Will give you an idea what is possible

We need 4 beds, it is the bottom of our budget and has been on the market since March so would go in lower than 170k. Parking looks like it is on the road....(not ideal as we have two cars).

Yes knocking through the kitchen/conserv/dining room into one would be the plan.

I'm not too concerned at needing to go through one bedroom as the two youngest would have the bottom room.

Forest garden.....think that probably means overgrown!

Good idea Alison

But they grow up and will appreciate privacy. And a single toilet deep into the large bedroom and the other past stairs and several doors? Hmm

I'd be rearranging it.

Ripping out some of the dated fitted cupboards will make a difference. But the access to the top floor bedroom needs sorting and the downstairs bathroom isn't ideal.

Oh no, that floor plan is my idea of a nightmare.

The interior wouldn't bother me, I think the current owners just have quite a lot of 'stuff'.

Could you afford to change the layout of the house? My main consideration would be that and the fact that it may cost more than it would add in value.

The vendors will need a fire door to that attic room, and they will need to sort it before you exchange contracts.

The house seems to meet your needs in a "will do" kind of way, rather than it being a great house for you. There seems to be a lot that you're compromising on, the bedrooms, the parking etc. Is it not worth waiting another couple of months to see what else comes on the market higher up your budget, or what drops into your budget from a higher price band, particularly post budget?

Hopefully you could move the upper staircase to run along the other wall so it wouldn't be in that bedroom anymore. Would you end up with a double bedroom anywhere though?

Is that definitely a bedroom on the 2nd floor? I'd want to check that. If not, get an estimate for getting it approved as a bedroom. And then get a builder to see if you can change the layout of the 1st floor re the stairs.

Other than that, it's got a lot of potential - could be very cute.

When you walked in, did it feel like "home" or a compromise. How much have you got to spend on it. At £170,000, (perhaps you might pick it up for closer to £150,000), it looks as though it needs at least £25,000 spent on it. What is the value for the houses on the road. if you spend that much, would you ever get a capital return. A house bought for £150,000 with £25,000 invested in it is never going to return what you spend if the limit for the road is £160,000.

Peter, you hit the nail on the head. It is definitely a 'this will do' house. Or even a 'this could do if we did x,y,z'.

Feeling so disheartened after viewing so many houses which are unsuitable, we can't afford or we get outbid on.

Would it be worth sacrificing the smallest bedroom, moving the wall with its doorn in it across its chimney breast and turning it into a family bathroom and then putting stairs to the top floor in the new bit of corridor you have created? This would make some sense if the top room can be used as a bedroom. Knocking the kitchen and bathroom and conservatory together would make sense but I suspect will mean knocking them down entirely and rebuilding.

I think the house could work but it might cost more than £25k and it will be difficult to get the loft room up to spec without ripping it up and starting again.

It does look cluttered, which makes it look smaller, BUT, I've friends who lived in a very similar house in Brightlingsea, with their 6 children and it was cramped.

St Osyth looks to have some nice houses for 20k more, with much bigger rooms.

Since there is side access to kitchen , you could make the front room into a bedroom, then make rear of property one big living room, kitchen diner and use the side access most of the time. (I used to live in a student house with similar layout and I had the front room as mine, with a sign on front door saying use the back door!
Include a downstairs loo and shower room
Make smallest bedroom into bathroom, you might even be able to get small ensuite for larger bedroom if you divide small bedroom
Separate access to loft into a corridor.
Have three upstairs bedrooms, 2 on first floor and one in loft

Knock down the conservatory and make a big kitchen diner, move the stairs and get access out of the bedroom and create an upstairs bathroom, are my immediate thoughts.

This one also in Brightlingsea. It's been up for sale for a while so you could likely put in a lower offer than the advertised price. Needs a bit of an overhaul.