Which house?

[AWOL2019]

Looking at three houses for sale - all on the same street.

1. £180-200k 2 bed semi (2 double, 1 single), no chain, - complete modernisation needed throughout - workable kitchen and bathrooms but seriously outdated, (think green patterned carpets, avocado bathroom, orange wooden fitted over bed wardrobes) goodish size simple garden, off road parking for one car to the front of the house, shed to the rear.

2. £220k 3 bed semi (2 double, 1 single)- no offroad parking to the front, steep steps to property, kitchen a bit bigger than number 1 but doesn't need renewing, could do with redecoration (flowery wallpaper everywhere but not horrendous), modern ish fitted wardrobes, modern bathroom, open plan between dining room and living room via archway in the middle. Garage at rear, good size garden, parking at back for 2 cars via the street behind.

3. £225k - 3 bed semi, (2 double, 1 single)2 bathrooms, both are modern, upstairs bathroom recently been redone. Fitted modern wardrobe in master bedroom and single bedroom. Rest of property beautifully decorated, optional open plan between living room and dining room via sliding doors. Large garden, brand new fence recently installed, lovely landscaping. Has garden shed but needs a new one. Room for 1 car off road at the front, and plenty of parking on road outside house. Front has beautiful flower beds, next door neighbours a bit scruffy, car looks to be rotting away on their driveway, weeds growing through the block paving and are quite considerable in height, some rubbish piled up at the side of broken car on driveway.

Which one would you go for and why?

ignore number 1 where it says 2 bed semi- they are all 3 bed semi!!

Why so many houses for sale on the same street? No 2 sounds the best. You can put your stamp on it and no obviously dud neighbours.

Does number 2 have level access from the rear garage/parking? as that sways my decision.

I did ask the same question Daisy as they all went up within 2 weeks of each other! Property 1 - husband has a job in london so relocating Property 2 - gone into nursing home Property 3 - divorce sale so nothing dodgy as far as I'm aware!

@Grasspigeons the access from the rear via the street behind is higher than the property so you have to step down to get to the house.

i have developed mobility issues so i'd be avoiding 2 as i couldn't access easily. I know you probably wont think this is relevant, but i didn't always have mobility issues and ended up having to move because of them.

With 3 i'd be tempted to knock and chat to the neighbour. If its a lout who doesn't care about others i'd avoid. Its it's just an elderly person who the property has got on top off I wouldn't mind and I would go for that.

with 1 it would need to be at the bottom of the price range as its smaller and needs modernising but this would be my choice if the neighbour was a lout.

If you have/ want kids flat access for a buggy is preferable or you’ll get really annoyed!!
Given the price difference I’d probably go for 1 if you’re happy to do work. Unless everything is to your taste in a house you’ll potentially want to re-do it anyway.

Also with 1 you could knock through to dining room if you wanted without destroying a new ish kitchen.

No 3 has two loos so no 3 definitely

I like the sound of number 3 but the rundown next door is seriously offputting. As Grasspigeon says, investigate further.

I'd go for 1 , if you've got money to do it up. Probably knock kitchen and dining room into one.

I would have said 3 but I think the single bedroom is tiny, smaller than the other houses. To small to use as a bedroom. I think 1 if you can get it at a good price then knock the kitchen and dining room through.

Property 3 layout woudl suit me the best - love the downstairs and parking is good, nice not to have to do the modernisation work

You can't possibly get an extension and modernise house 1 to get the same layout as house 3, for the difference in price

Number 3.

Especially if you have kids, i hated having steps upto the property it was so hard going shopping and things as youd either have to take baby in the house first and leave baby in house to get shopping up steps and in, or did have to leave baby in car and take shopping in and then get baby.

It was awful!

1 seems too small

I would be very very suspicious of the reason so many houses have all gone up for sale in the same street. I appreciate they all have reasonable explanations by I'd be worried there was a "push" factor motivating all of them that you aren't aware of yet.

Property 3 looks like much more downstairs space and better decoration for not that much more money (less extra than it would cost you to do the work yourself).

Once you find out that there isn't a mass murderer lose on the street, NO.3 - you would never get that work done on Nos 1 or 2 for the price difference. And I say that as a serial renovator.

I'd choose 2 unless you could get 1 a fair bit cheaper than advertised.

Though all 3 neither seem to have much level access.

Definitely 3. Best layout. Steps a pain for buggies/mobility issues/resale in the future

No 3

No 3 as it's already bigger, better condition and a better layout than the other two.

I would look at things like age of plumbing, wiring etc. If they need doing or majorly upgrading then all the stuff on top like kitchen and bathroom may need to come out anyway.

But, we have renovated a few houses now so these things don't worry us and can do them for cost (DH a part P electrician in a former life).

I would discount 1 as overpriced. You would not be able to do all that was needed for less than the difference between house 1 and house 2s price.
Looks like 3 has been extended (or is bigger downstairs) which would tempt me, but I agree on the neighbours being offputting. However, for all you know the neighbours to one and 2 may be tidy but noisy /awful in other ways.