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!

Bath in bathroom - a must
Bathroom and toilet downstairs - no bathroom, ideally a toilet but would consider a bonus in a 2 bed.
Front door opening straight into living room - not ideal, would prefer hallway, but again expected for a 2 bed.
Decent size second bedroom - needs to be a double
Washing machine in (nice) outside shed - no would put me off, needs space in kitchen for washing machine

Have a look at local properties and see what they have done.

For a family, I'd say a bath is a must.

Bathroom downstairs, not a must if most other properties near by have downstairs bathrooms.

Washing machine out of the kitchen and quiet could be useful.

Just remember that moving plumbing = £££ so if you're planning to rent it might not be worth it

1. 5 A bath is essential for me
2. 3 I could live without a downstairs loo and just an upstairs bathroom in a rental property.
3. 1 I am fine with the door opening into the sitting room, it's not uncommon in that type of house.
4. 3 It depends what you mean by decent size though. Enough room for a bed, wardrobe and small desk is fine.
5. 0 I don't want to be carrying my laundry out in the rain and cold!

I'm fascinated at how people are interpreting the downstairs bathroom question. To me, I'm reading it as, the one and only bathroom in this property is currently downstairs - which is not terribly unusual in certain types of property. But a lot of people seem to be reading it more as a question about downstairs loos. Might help to clarify that, OP.

My washing machine is in a utility room outhouse opening off a courtyard which I have to cross from my back door to put washing on. It’s totally fine and mine is not at all a starter home. I’m astounded so many people would find it an issue!

I don't know whether you know the St Albans market or not - downstairs bathrooms and front doors opening straight into the living room are extremely common here, especially in entry level terraces. If people are going to be put off by them, then they're going to be ruling out a lot of the properties they can actually afford.

I would suggest the most important things to have are a good size second bedroom and a bath in the bathroom, as you really need one with small children. If you have the option to have an upstairs bathroom and a downstairs loo as well, do that - or if the bathroom is downstairs, is there a way to get a loo put in upstairs (I wouldn't have wanted to take a sleepy toddler/small child downstairs to use the loo in the middle of the night).

I would be fine with all 5. I imagine you wouldn't have a good size second bedroom if you had the bathroom upstairs?
Front door straight into sitting room - as long as it's a good quality door for insulation/lack of draughts.
I imagine the kitchen will be small, so a utility shed, as long as you can close the door behind you when doing the laundry in the winter, would be great.

Is it one if those old terraces, in the centre?

1. Bath in bathroom - 5
2. Bathroom and toilet downstairs - only if there is a bathroom upstairs. Downstairs loo a big plus. Wouldn't buy a house with only downstairs bathroom. 3
3. Front door opening straight into living room - Dislike. Probably wouldn't buy. 5
4. Decent size second bedroom - 3
5. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed. 0, but utility room a big plus.

None of the above, I'd try selling it first as it is as a complete refurb. If you really must do it up then talk to an estate agent about what sells quickest. But for fun, as a retiree with no small kids - not fussed about a bath but dealbreaker for DJ; wouldn't touch a house with bedrooms upstairs and bathroom downstairs; don't mind about front door ; what does decent mean?; nice outside shed is very enticing with or without washing machine.

1. Bath in bathroom - absolutely for a young family.
2. Bathroom and toilet downstairs - not ideal but could live with it and I don't think the return you'd get would be worth relocating it.
3. Front door opening straight into living room - again, would prefer not but could survive.
4. Decent size second bedroom - definitely from the point of view of a growing family. Fine if it's a box room for a young couple.
5. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed - would prefer not. Any possibility of a covered walkway or removing dishwasher from kitchen to fit washing machine in house?

You must have at least one bath.
Do you mean the ONLY bathroom is downstairs? I wouldn't like it but if normal for the area then not an issue.
I don't mind this too much (so bottom of priority).
If only two bed then it should be a good size - one main and boxroom and I'm discounting it. Making second small to squeeze in third and I'd be looking at how to reinstate it back as one.
I would not like the washing machine outside at all - that would be top of list to change.

Target market young family:

1. Bath in bathroom - essential for bathing small children.

1. Bathroom and toilet downstairs - toilet very important for urgent need, bathroom downstairs could be a pain. You want to bath&bed with minimum fuss, which you can't guarantee if, say, you have to walk them past the TV to reach upstairs. So I'd say bathroom (and loo) upstairs, loo only downstairs would be ideal.

1. Front door opening straight into living room. Never lived with one, but it could present problems. Nowhere to take muddy shoes/wellies off before reaching the living room, could result in grubby carpets. I'd also wonder if it made it easier for a small child to bolt out of the door. Any chance of a small porch being built at the front door?

1. Decent size second bedroom. Kids have 'stuff'. Lots of brightly-coloured plastic masquerading as toys, some of the bits of plastic quite large (dolls' house, garage) and if there's no room in their bedroom for them then they end up in the living room. So yes, a decent-sized second bedroom is important.

1. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed. Depends. If this is a doer-upper, can you incorporate the shed into the house - make it an extension, so that you can reach it without having to go outside into the garden first, needing to put on coats/shoes to do so? Going out to a shed in winter in the rain would put most people off.

1.Bath in bathroom 5 essential , ideally shower as well
2. Bathroom and toilet downstairs 3 downstairs loo perfect
3. Front door opening straight into living room 2 Would like entrance hall though accept this not possible in small house
4. Decent size second bedroom 4 must fit single bed at very least
5. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed 4 would prefer washing machine to not be in kitchen

I really doubt you will make this economical to do. I would make good any problems eg leaky guttering, cracks etc and just sell it to someone willing to do it up.

Why don't you do it up, and either live in it, or rent to a single person or couple? The no downstairs loo, no bath and front door opening to the living room will matter less.

That is a fantastic response thank you all so much.

It's a typical centre of St Albans Victorian terrace, almost off have a downstairs bathroom and loo and entry straight into living room. I had my Dv so many years ago I'd forgotten about the "quick night wee" and how a bath is essential for them.
The second bedroom is a double atm. To create space for the bathroom and loo upstairs we'd need to turn the stairs around and take a bite out of either the master bedroom (front of house big double, would shrink to tight double if we lost the space from that room for the bathroom) or the second bedroom, which atm is decent double and would shrink to decent single.

Loads to think about thanks. I have my washing machine in a shed and I really like it! But I see I'm mixing what works for me with what a young family needs.
I think rethinking target martlet might be the solution.

Selling is not best option for lots of reasons.

If it's going to be rented then just upgrade the downstairs bathroom to a shower room and include a laundry cupboard with hardwired washer and dryer. It would suite a couple or a family that has a baby bath or has worked out kids can have a shower and baths aren't the be all!

1. Bath in bathroom - essential for us
2. Bathroom and toilet downstairs - not essential
3. Front door opening straight into living room - fine for us
4. Decent size second bedroom - would need if a young family, if a couple better but not essential
5. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed - wouldn't want washing machine outside, would only rent/buy somewhere with it inside

I stand by what I posted earlier - rent to a couple without DC.

The big drawback for a family is the front door opening into the street. A keen cyclist might find it suits them just fine.

Put an electric shower over the bath, if there isn't one.

St Albans is a desirable commuter area.

Don't carve a bathroom out of the bedrooms.

I doubt that you'd struggle to let it.

Honestly, no bath/washing machine in shed/only one toilet downstairs would be deal breakers for me & I wouldn't consider it. Don't forget that when renting, people are far less willing to accept any compromises.

Depends what what you mean by 'decent sized' second bedroom. Would an estate agent be able to legitimately describe it as a double?

I think people are actually forced to accept compromises actually a lot of the time when you have to rent because a lot of people aren't in the position to pick and choose

1. Bath in bathroom - would definitely need a bath

1. Bathroom and toilet downstairs - ideal is upstairs bathroom. Downstairs toilet

1. Front door opening straight into living room - not my preference but would understand with a 2 bed and as long as the rest of the house was to a good standard wouldn't put me off.

1. Decent size second bedroom - Wouldn't bother me if it was for a couple or single person. Would do if you needed both rooms as bedrooms.

1. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed-Would prefer to have space for it indoors

1. Bath in bathroom
We don't have one in ours and managed perfectly well for 11 years. 2 kids who managed in the baby bath and when they outgrew that went straight to showers. We've luckily just sold out house and no one was bothered.

2. Bathroom and toilet downstairs
Really not keen unless the bedroom was downstairs too. My grandma's old house had the bathroom downstairs and it was just a bit wierd having a shower then trudging all wet upstairs.

3. Front door opening straight into living room
Absolutely hate this and I've not viewed houses because of it. Having even just a small porch makes all the difference.

4. Decent size second bedroom
Always a bonus.

5. Washing machine in (nice) outside shed
Don't mind this. Rather that than squeeze it into a small kitchen and potentially lose a valuable cupboard space.

Hi again - I'm strangely interested in this thread, so I just had a look at Victorian 2-bed houses for rent/sale in St Albans and I see there are quite a lot of variations in layout, folks have done all sorts so there's no definitive answer! Door straight into front room is clearly not an issue, and there's a mix of bathroom upstairs/bathroom downstairs layouts. Quite a few have opted for open plan downstairs layout to maximise space. Looks like a lot of them are more geared towards professional couples rather than young families so that's probably a good option. Still think washing machine in kitchen is a must though. Cute houses!