Making sense of prospective floor plan and garden

[SwedeInLeeds]

Found this gem:
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/78726963#/

It seems quite suitable for us (never thought we could afford relatively large detached in this area), although I would probably change the floor plan a bit (what's with the 100 WCs and showers) and maybe create a proper garden. Loss of the man cave garden bar would certainly be sad though.

Bit worried about resale value, they listed it in August at 495, in a market where houses in this area go quickly. Either that was incredibly overpriced or there is something wrong with it.

What would put you off this as a prospective buyer and it is something that could be fixed you think? I'd love the idea of paying a fair price and spending a few years making the property more conventional/attractive for families.

I think the photos will be deceptive, the outside brickwork looks lovely but the inside is bizarre. The bedrooms are odd sizes (smaller than usual and compromised by all the toilets) and the bedroom in the loft obviously can't be classed as a bedroom (hence being called the Loft Room). What is the roof of the kitchen and family room made out of - it looks like plastic? I think it looks it will cost a fortune to put it right. Not sure how it compares with other 3 beds in Horsforth?

To be honest, I'd be worried about the thermal property of those glazed extended bits. ( kitchen and sitting room) . The loft room obvs hasn't got approval as described as loft room not bedroom. I'd not touch it with a barge pole. I'd want to see regs approval for those extended bits, I imagine they say needs an outdoor grade door between them and the house.
Looks like an avid DIYer job.

Hmm. That’s quite a lot for that side of Horsforth and the huge reduction would give me the willies... I’d be tempted to go and have a nose and a brutally honest questioning of the seller /agent.

The kitchen looks to be a lean-to in the side passageway.

The “sittingroom” and “study/bedroom” - have these rooms no access to the rest of the house apart from going outside at the front and back in through the front door? That’s how it looks from the floor plan.

Sorry, the accesses are at the rear are they? Confusing.

I bet the neighbours can't wait for the occupant to move out. Looks like it is a 'party house' - hence the toilets for people staying over and drunks.
It is a very odd house - greenhouse in the tiered front garden (presumably where there is light), back garden covered in garage and sheds. DIY extensions. I thought it was a sex pond in the back garden!
Strange layout - did they turn the entrance hall into the utility?

Run a mile.

@Mamette

The kitchen looks to be a lean-to in the side passageway.

The “sittingroom” and “study/bedroom” - have these rooms no access to the rest of the house apart from going outside at the front and back in through the front door? That’s how it looks from the floor plan.

I wondered about access to those rooms too.
I wouldnt like all those steps up from the road either.

All of the above- especially the odd kitchen. Plus I don't like the garden. It's paved or artificial grass.

It would cost a lot of money to turn this odd house into a cosy family home.

That's a really strange footprint, doesn't seem to flow very well. I think you need to view that one to get a clear idea!

Swingers.

I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole. The floor plan is bizarre, you’d rather have half the number of rooms but have them usable. It looks like they have tried to turn half the garden into more house and then hoped that dodgy skylights will let them get away with it. The garden is bizarre and it looks like the back of the house is in a hole in the ground, which helps explains why it is so dark.

I wouldn’t consider buying it to live in, and I definitely wouldn’t consider it if I had any thought of resale value. Especially as people value good kitchens and good gardens so highly. It looks like a (2?3?) bed house with a load of storage rooms jammed in. Sorry to be so blunt but it really needs to be bulldozed.

Am I reading the floor plan right—is the galley kitchen the main entrance?!? Is that even safe on fire safety grounds?

It certainly is a little strange.

I'd go and see it to look for yourself.

Upstairs not really been changed one of front bedroom they've put toilet in what I prism would of been built in wardrobe and a free standing shower in the bedroom nothing of a job to remove.
Loft room very basic diy conversion useful but not a bedroom
I presume because study and sitting room 8ft6 wide that would of been the garage when it was first built .

Easy fix upstairs rip out toilet in cupboard and free standing shower in front bedroom. leaving 1 bedroom ensuite 2 normal bedrooms and family bathroom .
Downstairs move kitchen to where the sitting room and study are. Where the kitchen is now use as storage /study . nobody want a sitting room 8ft wide it's like sitting in a tunnel .

wouldn't of thought it would cost a fortune as you could reuse the existing kitchen units

clear the garden that round thing was a swimming pool .

Would say it hasn't sold as at the moment kitchen like a corridor and sitting room like a tunnel

I feel like it’s a bit back to front, the back door was originally the front door? Then they’ve added that new entrance which makes the front view look good, but you enter into the galley kitchen, right next to the fridge! That’s like the back way in.
Maybe they’ve changed it round depending on where they park, what the road is like.
What’s that great big greenhouse at the bottom?
It’s very disjointed. Don’t know what’s going on with those 2 little rooms by themselves.
Odd, interesting
I’d go and take a look

Definitely swingers.

Take out half the toilet and showers you might have decent rooms upstairs. Loft room turn into an office for resale. But downstairs?! Mental. I'm normally quite good at looking at plans to work out the potential but it has me stumped.

You'd never be able to fix the stairs or weird garden levels or how overlooked/close to the neighbours it is. The garden could be made more of a normal garden but it would be expensive.

The downstairs floor plan is wrong, in that it shows a solid wall between the sitting room and the dining room. If you look at photos 4 and 7, you can see that it's open plan. That aside, I think the layout it too compromised. You're paying a premium for features that you'd need to remove in order to make the rooms usable and the layout "normal". For e.g. the utility room which seems to have been installed in what used to be the hallway, showers and toilets that have been shoe-horned into bedrooms and which make the rooms too small, ditto the stairs to the attic which compromise the front bedroom. The kitchen extension would worry me (might be fine in real life but I would worry that it wasn't watertight in the long term). The garden is going to take a lot of time and money to sort out.

I get the impression from your OP that the house is near the top of your budget. This place is going to be a money pit, imo.

Yes, there are doors there!
I really want to see this

Layout it all wrong, the kitchen is the bit I hate most.

But if it is priced to allow you to sort it out & the location / plot is perfect - go for it. Try to look through the weirdness & work out what you would do and how much it would cost.

Oh dear, we may have to rethink this one.
Thanks so much for the very helpful comments, I'll answer some questions.

"What is the roof of the kitchen and family room made out of - it looks like plastic?"
It's a bit worse than this, I did some digging. According to the planning portal this extension is a 'conservatory' so no building regs. Roof made of PVC and walls of hardwood boards. Seems unlikely this can be used as a kitchen legally (no subsequent approval for conversion).

"I imagine they say needs an outdoor grade door between them and the house."
Yeah agreed.

Loving the Swingers comments

"wouldn't of thought it would cost a fortune as you could reuse the existing kitchen units"
This was my hope, it's so bizarre that maybe we could get it reduced and turn it into something normal, but with the kitchen being a conservatory the price is way too high.

"Am I reading the floor plan right—is the galley kitchen the main entrance?!? Is that even safe on fire safety grounds?"
Given that it's a conservatory....

"I get the impression from your OP that the house is near the top of your budget. This place is going to be a money pit, imo."
Yes you are correct, we could reach to 440 or so but that would leave nothing left for upgrades and so on. Plan was to get this for maybe 410/420 and then upgrade it over the years (as it is liveable). But not without building regs...

We'll go see it next week.

Since you've all been so helpful would you mind commenting on this as well?
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/78715119#/

it's a bit small for us but we'd hope to extend the kitchen into a kitchen/diner and maybe extend the rear of the garage to make a bedroom 4. only sad part is the small bathrooms but I don't think that can be fixed.

Thanks for all the help!

You probably won't even get a mortgage on it. If the kitchen is hardboard walls and a plastic roof that's a huge fire hazard. WTF were the owners thinking!

2nd house would like a refresh throughout but it’s clean and liveable.

Location at the end of a cul de sac looks nice & next door but one looks like it has done a 2 storey extension behind the garage.