Property Layout - Opinion?

[Misscf81]

Hi, my partner and I are FTBs and have been looking for the right property for 18 months, with no luck. The housing market is really competitive, and despite offering over and above (quite a lot) of asking prices, we just haven't managed to secure a property. I have been speaking to a local agent who advised me yesterday he had a property come up in an area we love that hadn’t even come on the market yet. The property is being sold by a couple who has just bought a property from this agent. I really thought our luck was in as he advised that if we offered the asking £195K, it probably would not go to market and we would not have to encounter a bidding war. However, we have been to see it tonight, and I just don’t love it. The layout is a little unusual and it’s nothing like some of the others we have been viewing, yet the others we are viewing seem to be really popular and we keep losing out. I guess I’m asking for some advise on the property itself.....www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=62871457&sale=6256063&country=england (this has changed a bit since...this was from when it was last sold) and should I go with my head (no bidding war, gets me out of rented accommodation and upcoming area) or heart (I have not fallen in love with it)???

Looks fab. Nothing that a bit of paint wouldn’t solve. And save up a bit and change layout if you can.

If it’s going to be your feorever house you can save up. If not there’s nothing there tha5 would scare off a buyer.
What don’t you like?

We’ve been looking for more character features, but the main thing is the layout. The kitchen is kind of split into two which I’m not sure about and I’m really not keen on that beam in the room. I am really licking and I’m beginning to think I’m being too fussy. It wouldn’t be our forever home. We just want to get on the ladder and stop paying rent.

It’s liveable. You could block up the archway then have a front room a kitchen/diner over time. Upstairs is fine. You could also probably squeeze in a downstairs loo. I didn’t live my house and didn’t for the firstv6 months I lived here but I like it now. I’d move if I won the lottery but otherwise I’m happy.

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=62871457&sale=6256063&country=england
I think it's ok, the layout is unusual but could be changed in time. I'd definitely be painting from day one

Thank you. It’s actually changed from these pictures. It’s been replastered and painted in neutral colours. Where the dining table is in the photo, it is now the living area. The dining table is where the kitchen is (where this two chairs are) and the bathroom has been changed so there’s a bath, plus all those wardrobes have gone.

Yeah, the layout it a bit funny but knocking down the wall in between the kitchen and living room would be great. Guess it depends whether the price, location, condition and general size make it worth it.

It’s a very in demand area. There’s a house around the corner that we are going to view on Saturday which is more in line with what we are looking for. It’s on at 180K but there’s 30 viewings. We have been in similar positions before, and we would probably have to offer between 200 and 210 to get it.

The house looks fine. But why is it £33,000 more expensive than last year ?

I know! My thoughts too, but it really is the area. It’s not an amazing area as such but it’s 10/15 minutes from the train station and there’s lots of money being pumped into that area and the town centre 10 minutes away.

My brother lives in that neck of the woods, and I've no idea about where he lives but £195k.... and it looks titchy.

Slinks off in shame of ignorance

If the beam hadn’t been painted, paint it pale grey or a neutral colour to match the walls or ceiling. It’s necessary for structural reasons but you could just have a steel beam and box it in. Painting what’s there is way cheaper.

Changing the kitchen into one sensible shape plus dining space would be my priority. The narrow section could be a utility room. Or downstairs cloakroom. It has possibilities and if you are desperate, it’s not that bad. I’d paint the brown window frames too. Make a sensible offer?

I don’t like it. All the rooms seem very small, as does the outside space, and that last photo makes the area look scruffy.

But if that’s what you can afford, that’s what you can afford.

I don’t think you need to “fall in love” with a property, but you should like it. Is there anything you like about it apart from the location and being desperate to get out of rented?

I love to cook so couldn't live with a kitchen that small and awkwardly shaped, the third bedroom looks like it might not fit a bed and I'd expect more of an actual garden with a three bed unless it's in a city centre. However those are my priorities, yours might be different.

I don't like it either. If you don't like it before moving in, you will hate it if you do

I bought a house once in a hurry. I had sold and needed to move on. I bought something thinking 'it will do'. There was nothing wrong with it, but I never felt the love.
The longer I lived there, the more I hated it, and sold again 12 months later.
If you can't see yourself living somewhere, it's not for you. Little things that, in a property you like, are minor problems, become amplified if you are already on the 'anti' side.

It is trekking all your shopping through the lounge and dining room to get to the kitchen. We had that in a previous house and hated it, especially if you have to make a couple of trips to the car and so have to keep your putting your shoes on and taking them off or walking wet shoes through the house.

The kitchen is awful, cramped into the corner. Obviously it can all be changed but it would be throwing a lot of money at it.

Don't do a desperation buy. We did that once and lived to regret it. We ended up stuck there for a bit with a rising market meaning we couldn't afford to get out even though we wanted to so badly.

I don’t think it’s the one for you. If it’s £195k and it needs major work to make it what you want - new kitchen, knocking down walls etc - it would be far easier to just offer £200k/£210k to get the other one you prefer.
I rushed and compromised to buy a house in the right area. Unfortunately we are still here several years later and the things I didn’t like at the viewing I now hate. Don’t do it!

Do you need to be able to walk to the station and what's your max budget? Might it be worth broadening your search area a bit if it's so competitive in that area? We used to live a short distance away and DP would drive to the station though it was walkable (half an hour or so).

I meant to add, I know the area well and if you look a bit further away and look at sold prices, some of the current asking prices are probably too high and there could be a deal to be done on a bigger house with a garden and decent off road parking.