What would you do?

[kirinm]

We are viewing this house tomorrow:

Southwell Grove Road, E11.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-57531638.html

There's no doubt about it, it needs a lot of work. The amount of work is a bit scary for me but it's a house and that's better long term than a flat.

I'm thinking it needs a bay window added, the top window being returned to two windows like every other house and the pebbledash removed. The area was bombed in the blitz ( two houses on that street) so I suspect the pebbledash was used to strengthen the building rather than for 'decorating' it. I doubt it can be taken back to the brickwork but it can be removed and rendered so it's not as horrific.

The poor house basically needs a facelift before you even get into the front door.

Am I thinking along the right lines? Any other suggestions?

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

How about £800,000 for a tiny two bedroom house that was originally a garage looky here. Makes this E11 house seem like a bargain!

[CallieTorres]

WOW!! 800,000 for a 2 bed ex garage!!

I'm so relieved i dont live near/in london. I feel really sorry for 'normal people' who just want to have somewhere to live, its so shitty

My house cost 250,000, and its out in the sticks, so is quite big and i love it, but i do wish it was closer to places, eg my commute to work is an hour on a great day

[kirinm]

£400k for a house in London which is close to the tube is a miracle but I do know it's ridiculous to have to spend so much. We've been lucky with the deposit - early inheritance - as there's no way we could do it otherwise.

Thanks Bibbity. I like the positivity!

DP's structural engineer friend is going to come and view it with us.

[kirinm]

That East Dulwich garage is just down the road from me. Someone did something similar on our road last year and it sold for £770k

[OhYouLuckyDuck]

bibbity my kitchen used to be a garage and came with a whole detached house included in the deal and for much less than 800k!

[lalalonglegs]

Ha! I see your converted garage for £800k and raise you. These garages round the corner from me sold for more than £500k at auction a couple of years ago, the new owner then got planning permission knock them down and build a house and they then went on the market (and, I believe, subsequently sold) for north of £650k. So that's £650k for a scrappy bit of ground without a house on it, only garages which will have to be knocked down first...

[kirinm]

This is the one in Peckham. Maybe it's the same developer. Slightly cheaper than I thought.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54355184.html

[kirinm]

Lala - has anyone built on that land? Would be amusing if they didn't get planning permission.

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

Kiri - am trying to link a still from Street View here. If it works, you see the two white houses joined together? The one on the left has had a similar "modification" - the one on the right was the same, but has had the bay put back in. I think it looks pretty good.

hope this works

[lalalonglegs]

I think they did get planning consent but, no, the garages are still there albeit behind wire hoardings now.

I quite like the Peckham garage conversion, at least it looks like a bit of thought has gone into it. I went to see a house built on a tiny bit of land between two big Victorian houses in Peckham a few years ago - it was featured on Grand Designs - and that was amazing, so clever and imaginatively designed. I see quite a lot of buildings where the land/budget has been much more generous but the results not nearly as good.

[MidnightDexy]

Just to follow in from a pp by someone else and my post - its not necessarily what they've done to the front that would concern me structurally, rather its how do you UNdo it. Although then someone else went on to say they'd seen a bay reinstated so it can obviously be done.

It's awful that people can butcher the fronts of houses like this. Round my bit (near where you are looking) people keep adding pvc porches on to the fronts of victorian and 1930s houses and it is dreadful to see - I don't care that its not a conservation area it just should not be allowed!

I could understand if the exterior appearance of a house put you off altogether, I might feel the same but also remember this is a first home, not a forever home and if it allows you to get on the ladder and meets your current needs then you shouldn't be unduly swayed by the kerb appeal. If you can renovate it to a lovely standard and in doing so get a bigger deposit for your next move then all the better. It sounds like you're far better placed than most to make a go of this house than most with all your useful contacts!

[Floggingmolly]

The frontage is completely different to the rest of the street... I'd bet that house was built later on a spare piece of land between the two neighbouring houses.

[kirinm]

Bibbity - I can't open the link. I'll keep trying.

Midnight - Bay windows can definitely be reinstated, I've got friends who have done it and my dad built his own - even made the moulds himself. I'm not sure if that's what you meant?

Flogging - eeek I hope not. Might do a land registry search.

[kirinm]

Lala - the inside is much better than the outside. It has a horrible big window that looks like it belongs in an office but they've tried hard to make it fit in (other than that bit).

I saw that Grand Designs recently and was trying to work out where it is.

[SmellTheGlove]

We've just modernised a similar size house in Outer London - full rewire, put in central heating, replaced upvc Windows with timber sashes, took out a chimney, put in a stud wall, moved a bathroom upstairs, new kitchen, replastering throughout, new carpets and floors, redecorated throughout, exterior painted, for around 42k. Taken us nearly year and I did a lot of work myself (I work part time so had some time when DS at school), but trades for everything other than stripping/clearing/ripping off tiles/taking up carpets/painting etc. We had a structural survey and also a separate damp survey, but there were no huge problems. Hardest part was living in it and project managing it myself, but the cost would have doubled I reckon if we'd got someone in to do the lot. A similar property to what we have turned this into would have cost at least 100k more than we paid, so it was the only way we could do it. Our house was even more stupidly expensive for 2 bedrooms unfortunately! Go for it OP.

[lalalonglegs]

We reinstated a bay on a Victorian building a few years ago - it was pretty straightforward. Owners of a property on a neighbouring street did the same and made the single upstairs window into two in the same way that you are thinking of doing. I think it is generally quite straightforward if the rest of the house is stable. Clearly if you are going to buy this house, you'll want to know what horrors might be lurking so will want a thorough survey but, if it comes out as relatively clean, then I think it's potentially a great little project.

[fabulousathome]

I live in E18 and that's a bargain, especially as u have access to good tradespeople. I would check the parking situation if that's important to you.

[MuddhaOfSuburbia]

I'd bet that house was built later on a spare piece of land between the two neighbouring houses.

see I thought this but then if you look at the fireplace in the bedroom that looks as old as the neighbouring houses

down our old street (also bombed) some of the front elevations were replaced with the rest of the house intact

I wonder if that's happened here

[kirinm]

That side of the street seem to have pebbledash fronts whereas the other side are still brick which made me wonder if one side of the street suffered bomb damage.

If it was built in between two places, how would I find that out? It's number is in sequence with the rest of the street.