Would you buy a house that...

[Luckyelephant1]

Has been renovated and extended throughout inside and is essentially exactly what you're looking for in terms of floor space/a blank canvas to decorate... But you just find the exterior so ugly?

A bit of background, we've been searching for a while for our long term home but we're in a very expensive area in the South East, so even though we have what many would call a decent budget, it doesn't stretch very far here so options are limited, but we really don't want to move out as we love the area and have a lot of ties to it.

We love properties with a lot of character, period homes etc. But also with the opportunity to give it a modern twist inside. A house has come up that is ready to move into inside, done to a high standard etc so we wouldn't need to renovate much at all, just paint and maybe replace the kitchen worktops at some point as I'm not a fan. It's rare at the price it's at to have a house that doesn't need a lot of work to get it to how we like. However, I just can't get over the exterior. I'm no expert on houses of certain eras but it's one of those boring, square houses built in maybe the 60's/70's? Very unremarkable, would be quite hard to make look nice. Ugly casement windows, but it would look ridiculous if you changed the windows to say, sash windows because that's the total opposite style of the house iyswim?

It has 'kerb appeal' in the sense that its very neat on the outside with a well maintained front lawn, path and front door etc. But I just don't like the style of house! Am I being too picky? Would you buy a house if the interior is perfect but the exterior not so much?

I would and I did. I live in a large 1960s white, square box in the south east and love it. Large windows, amazing views. I like its outside, in a Le Corbusier modernist kind of way.

I would never change the character and the exterior of 1960s and 1970s houses. They are period properties too, although they belong to a more recent history, and I believe in respecting the architectural integrity of a building. People are already restoring mid century modern houses to their original state - see the many mid-century modern accounts are on instagram.

In fact, I preferred the originals you showed Tatiana rather than the modern pastiche suggested. It looks ok-ish now and I bet they are going to look dated in 10 years time. Historical travesty often does.

I am selling as we are relocating and would really like another 1950-1960s house, but they are far fewer where we are going and if I see another poky victorian hallway I am going to cry I think. We live surrounded by light, and clouds, and sky.

They are the Georgian houses of the future

I think we should at least be honest. Of course they aren’t the Georgian houses of the future, an ugly house is an ugly house. It will always be an ugly boxy house. In a hundred years time if it’s still standing people will still think it’s an ugly house.

Find ways to soften sure, but pretending people will suddenly think they are beautiful in a centuories time is unrealistic.

@Laptopsandmouses

They are the Georgian houses of the future

I think we should at least be honest. Of course they aren’t the Georgian houses of the future, an ugly house is an ugly house. It will always be an ugly boxy house. In a hundred years time if it’s still standing people will still think it’s an ugly house.

Find ways to soften sure, but pretending people will suddenly think they are beautiful in a centuories time is unrealistic.

I was referring to Victorian and Edwardian houses in response to the pp.

Yes, I would if I had a bit of money to do up the outside. We looked at a house that was perfect inside, but the outside was hideous. Someone else bought it and replaced lots of plastic cladding with wood, utterly transforming it from ugly sixties box to handsome cottage.

Someone bought the ugliest house in our street for a fraction of what houses normally go for here. They rendered the ugly red brick, added a wooden porch and planted the garden well. It is now one of the prettiest houses in the street.

Maybe invite an architect around to suggest how to prettify it.

Would you link to it?

@Laptopsandmouses, ugliness and beauty are totally relative. Do you know that the first Impressionist exhibition, of pictures which we now find totally chocolate box pretty, was totally vilified for the pictures' ugliness?

Tastes change, things change. Mark my words. We'll speak again in 2050 :)

Whilst I'd have loved a beautiful looking house the one we're in the middle of buying is quite ugly. But we reasoned that you don't tend to stand outside staring at the house(!) and we would have struggled to beat the location or internal space.

our house is like this.

zero kerb appeal.
Plain modern but oldish front, pebbele dash.

But inside, it is like a tardis, big light rooms with lots of space, a square lounge (most seem to be a long thin rectangle) utility room, ensuite, potential to add a wall upstairs to create a study for dh to work from home, garage and a huge garden.
Similar price to the 3/4 beds we were looking at, but with nearly 2x the square footage.

We love it.
Front is still bland and boring. We have tidied up the front, but it will never been anything other than dull.

@TatianaBis I agree they are good transformations and whether they are real or computer generated, in BOTH cases a big part of what makes them more attractive and desirable is the lack of close neighbours. In real life erasing the neighbour's very ugly red brick box, right on your boundary, is not quite that simple?!

Yes, and I have.

You can always tart up the kerb appeal.

Of course. Never been an all fur coat and no knickers kind of gal.

I also think you can make the exterior look better but cheaply. So for example an evergreen clematis growing round the front, which will flower prettily in spring of summer, depending on type. Some lovely olive trees in pots either side of the front door, some pretty plants, all can improve the look.

this all sounds lovely, but in our case we couldn't do any of those due to the shape and layout, except plants in the front garden.
The transformations showed up thread by Tatiana involve a LOT of money (garage changed to rooms, adding pitched porch roofs, changing windows.)

Also, the window chages are not necessaroily a good thing. 1960 and 1970 houses are light and airy with huge windows. If you change the windows into more standard shape windows with lot sof smaller panes, you will cut the light out significantly, and so lose one of your main assetts.

So I am cautious about being able to do it up. If you have that much to spend on the outside, then you can afford a more expensive house.

If you’ve got the budget to improve the look of the exterior then I’d definitely buy the house. We bought an old railway worker’s cottage that was very ugly, but we had wooden, cottage style windows put in, added a pretty brick porch with a smart door and made the garden look good. People used to comment on what an attractive cottage it was, but they’d never seen it when it was an eyesore!

Woah just checked now after my original post and didn't expect so many replies! Thanks for all your input. It's definitely a head vs heart situation but I think I agree with a lot of you, since all the other boxes are ticked it would be silly not to put in an offer.

To whoever said that me 'putting a modern twist' on a period property as I said in my OP means I will turn it into an ugly monstrosity with grey walls and grey laminate and so on, that's not what I meant at all. I simply meant in terms of things like paint colour schemes and furniture while still being in keeping with the features of the house. I certainly wouldn't be ripping out original coving and fireplaces, that kind of stuff breaks my heart too- part of my soul dies when I see them always do that to old properties on Homes under the Hammer.

Also I think one of the reasons this is a hard decision to make is that we recently lost out on an absolutely beautiful period property. It did need loads of work but it was gorgeous, so basically the opposite to the current house I'm on about. It was a few weeks ago now but I'm still heartbroken!! But yeah the rational part of me says to stop being so idealistic and go for this ugly exterior house. Thanks again for all your input.

@Luckyelephant1 - I wish you with all my heart to be happy in your 60s box like we have been in ours. :)

Location and space every time. And those late sixties / seventies boxes can often transformed with a 'New England' makeover.

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Like a shot.
I have been in the same position and am glad to be able to get the discs and location I need by disregarding the appearance of the house.

I would, as I expect to spend more time looking at the inside than the outside! Seriously though, if it bothered me that much I would think twice. Is there anything you could do to the outside to change it up to something more acceptable?

I got an ugly house but the houses opposite are so pretty. I look at them. Can't say I stand and look at my house often

I wouldn’t but I don’t know why and think I’m probably wrong.

@Amicompletelyinsane

I got an ugly house but the houses opposite are so pretty. I look at them. Can't say I stand and look at my house often

this is us too.

The houses opposite are nice 1930s semis.
they are tiny though. Our box house has 2x the space.

How a house looks, inside and out, is really low on my priority list. There is just so much more that really matters day to day.

I do think there's something to said at the moment for houses that don't need any work. We're resigned to living with our mess inside for another few years due to the increase in prices for renovation work. My house is lovely from the outside, Victorian semi, bay windows, just been repointed - but the inside is what I see all the time!

@Blossom64265

How a house looks, inside and out, is really low on my priority list. There is just so much more that really matters day to day.

Thanks for letting me know👍