What actually matters - your advice needed

[awesomekillick]

We have inherited a Doer upper, typical 2 bed St Albans Terrace house, in bad condition that needs total refit to make rentable. Target market young family.

On a scale of 0 = not at all important and 5= essential, how do you feel about....

1. Bath in bathroom
2. Bathroom and toilet downstairs
3. Front door opening straight into living room
4. Decent size second bedroom
5. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed

My Family and I have very different takes on what is important to people!

1. Bath in bathroom - would not buy a house with a bath in a bedroom.
2. Bathroom and toilet downstairs - is this the only bathroom? I would want a bathroom upstairs too. If there was 1 then I would be willing to buy a house with a downstairs bathroom, with a view to ripping it out myself.
3. Front door opening straight into living room - would not buy a house with this.
4. Decent size second bedroom - very important.
5. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed - would not buy a house with no space for internal washing machine

1. 5
2. Toilet 5 bath/shower 0
3. This would put me off but not make me discount entirely
4. 5
5. 0 (unless there is no room in the house for one in which case 5!

I wouldn’t buy a house with no bath and I wouldn’t want to go out of the house to do my washing. Ideally I wouldn’t want to walk straight in with no hallway but I’d be swayed on that one. 2nd bedroom would need to at least take a full sized single bed (not toddler bed), chest of drawers and wardrobe as a minimum.

1- I need a bath it's an essential
2 - it's nice if there's 2 toilets if that's what you mean but it's by no means essential
3- not great but it wouldn't stop me renting it
4- second bedroom size is important but then again it depends what your situation is as to whether you can afford to be fussy cos we're talking about rental market here. So we're not all in the situation to be fussy about things like that
5 - if it's got room for a washing machine that's fine

needs total refit to make rentable.
Are you going to be the (accidental) landlord. Rental property isn't what it used to be (lower income, higher costs and regulation). You might be better investing the inheritance in a different class of investment eg pension, shares, etc.

1. Young families would want a bath for small children.
2. Bathroom downstairs not ideal but okay for young families.
3. Front door into living room is not something I would like but can be unavoidable in small/cheaper house
4. Decent size second bedroom would depend on family size.
5. Washing machine in outside shed would be a pain with small children.

All these things would be okay for a young couple/single person with a low budget getting on the housing ladder.

This is for renting not buying.

It depends on your target family. I don't think a Bath is important but a good size bedroom and bathroom upstairs is important.
Where the washing machine is, isn't important as for 2 people, it won't be on every day.

I wouldn't buy a house with no space for the washing machine nor one where the front door was in the living room.

The other things I wouldn't mind.

Bath is essential
Door to living room - nope too cold in winter
Larger bedroom - yes if considering more than one child
Washing machine in the house is essential

1. Bath in bathroom

5

1. Bathroom and toilet downstairs

3 (second toilet is a must for me but I wouldn't expect it in a 2 bed house)

1. Front door opening straight into living room

1 (not my preference but again expectations would be lower of a 2 bed)

1. Decent size second bedroom

5

1. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed

3 (not ideal but wouldn't put me off if the rest of the house worked well)

So out of those I'd rate Bath in bathroom as most important.

1. 3

2.0 3.3 4.5 5.3 Lucky you, I lived in St Albans many moons ago, its beautiful!

1 For a young family i do think a bath is important
2 Not the end of the world in a rental property. More of an issue for selling.
3 Not my favourite thing but if it's a small property it is what it is
4 Depends what you mean by 'decent size'. If it's a reasonable single, then that works okay for a young family. If it's a tiny box room then it's not really a bedroom.
5 If I were renting and it was a choice between washing machine in a shed and no washing machine, then I guess the shed is better, but it's not ideal. I would struggle to do washing with a young child if I had to go outside every time.

@Findahouse21 I think OP was meaning to ask whether it was important to have an actual bath in a bathroom rather than just a shower in a bathroom, as opposed to having a bath in a bedroom!

1. For me as a young family, having a bath on the bathroom was crucial, wouldn't have gone for a house with a shower room. This would be the most important of the items you mentioned.

1. It wouldn't be my preferred option, but could live with it if it was the perfect house.

1. Again, this wouldn't be my preferred option, but if it was a rental, I'd live with it.

1. I'd be least bothered about this as long as I could get a bed/cot and storage in there.

1. This would be the second most important on your list. I would not want to be going outside to do my washing in wind/snow/rain!

If I wanted to live in the area, in a 2 bed, my expectations and tolerance would be set by what other houses in the area were like - have you checked on right move to see?

In a small two bed, I wouldn't necessarily expect a downstairs toilet or entrance separate to the lounge, but if other houses had them I might pick them. Outside washing machine wouldn't work for me, and if a family house would strongly prefer a bath. Size of second bedroom probably not so important for rental as long as it could fit a single, wardrobe, small desk and drawers, maybe bonus if bunk or twin beds could fit.

1.Bath is absolutely important for families. A shower room alone would put me off.

1. Downstairs toilet would be a bonus if there was a bathroom upstairs. Downstairs bathroom alone would be a put off. Upstairs bathroom and no downstairs loo would be acceptable.
2. Would prefer a porch or hall rather than straight into the lounge, but would compromise on that in a rental.
3. Second good sized bedroom would be high up my list.
4. Would prefer washing machine inside but again, could compromise if it were a rental.

Bath in bathroom - essential

1. Bathroom and toilet downstairs - Not ideal but OK. Wouldn't pay top rental rates for it though.
2. Front door opening straight into living room - as above
3. Decent size second bedroom - if it fits a double bed and wardrobe or two singles that's fine. Otherwise a problem.
4. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed.- total deal breaker.

1. Bath in bathroom - as long as it had a huge walk In shower I don’t mind,
2. Bathroom and toilet downstairs - just a toilet I don’t need a bath downstairs,
3. Front door opening straight into living room - no this is a deal breaker for me, I’d not wish to buy a house that had this.
4. Decent size second bedroom - important if going for a two bed,
5. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed - no I’d not wish this at all.

1 Bath in bathroom - I'd consider this essential for a young family

2 Bathroom and toilet downstairs - I wouldn't consider a house with a downstairs bathroom. Would prefer a downstairs toilet as well as upstairs bathroom

3 Front door opening straight into living room. Not ideal, but not a complete deal breaker either. Lots of old cottages have this.

4 Decent size second bedroom. Ideally it would have enough space for a small double bed or bunk beds

5 Washing machine in outside shed. Fine, as long as it had a tumble dryer stacked on top of it

I would class decent sized second bedroom as most important in all of those things. Next on the list is a bath in bathroom, especially if renting to a family. Downstairs bathroom not ideal but liveable. Front door straight into hall ditto, it’s very common in all 2 bed terraces here. I would sacrifice cupboard space (within reason!) to get a washing machine inside. Ideally it would be left as space and plumbed for a dishwasher or washing machine with space for washing machine in shed, my kitchen is small and we would sacrifice inside washing machine for dishwasher if we could.

Like PP said look on rightmove to get a feel for what is ‘normal’ layout/expectation and who the market is likely to be. Families will have very different priorities to young professionals.

With young DC a bath and an indoor washing machine are critical.

I’d have a strong preference for an upstairs bathroom. Not sure whether you mean would you want a bathroom downstairs as well as upstairs or whether we’d prefer a bathroom upstairs. I assume latter.

I’d avoid having a door opening into sitting room, but it’s not critical provided there is obvious storage for buggy, car seat.

Decent sized second bedroom would be least if my worries so if you require a list of order because it goes:

What’s your preference OP?

1. Bath in bathroom 5 essential
2. Bathroom and toilet downstairs as well as or instead of? Downstairs loo as well as upstairs is a bonus
3. Front door opening straight into living room not ideal but not a deal breaker in a rental, especially if that's the norm for the location
4. Decent size second bedroom how many beds are there? They need to be functional. If 2 bed, the bigger the 3nd bed, the better, broadening your market to families with 2 DC or friends renting together
5. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed not ideal but not a deal breaker

From what you’ve said, it doesn’t sound great for a family house. I’ve no idea what that town is like but is there another target market you could aim at? The bath in the bathroom would be essential for a family with young kids but takes up a lot of space and is a lot less important to virtually every other target market. Likewise, an easily accessible washing machine is a big bonus when you have babies with multiple clothes changes each day but tolerable in the shed if you’re a professional out all day who only does a load or two at the weekend.

I’d also be wary of the front door situation with adventurous toddlers.

So basically it sounds like your house doesn’t match your target market much. Instead of changing the house with several compromises, could you change your target market?

Whereabouts in at Albans? Near great primary schools or closer to station?

A good sized second bedroom would be my first priority for a family home
Second would be bathroom with a bath
Then washing machine indoors
Then upstairs bathroom
Front door opening into sitting room would be something I'd half expect in a terrace.

1. Bath in bathroom - essential in family home, with shower over it too
2. Bathroom and toilet downstairs - upstairs better! An extra loo downstairs is good but not essential in a 2-bed
3. Front door opening straight into living room - wouldn't want this, even a small vestibule would be better
4. Decent size second bedroom - so long as it's a double it doesn't need to be huge
5. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed - definitely a no to this one, needs to be inside.

Doesn’t sound suitable for a family house, more first time but for young couple.