Doer upper or nightmare? Roll up!

[Fritilleries]

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/128102597?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

Need opinions and fresh eyes, please!

Hmmmmm

what have other houses nearby actually SOLD for?

you'd need to find out why it hadn't sold.

id prefer to buy the first one & renovate it my way, but I'd need ££££££

Im very tired, not able to much renovation work these days, so the second one appeals as it doesn't need much done. BUT I'd have garden envy. I hate soulless gardens.

are you up for a project? Inside & out.?

do you have the time/energy/funds?

it's certainly doesn't look like a nightmare, but I'd want an in depth survey done,

It looks well maintained, which is the crux really. You can live in it while deciding what needs to be changed. Agree the kitchen needs expanding/moving. I would say they're asking a bit too much money for it.

Yes, very much agree with this.

I've ruled out houses before because they have been recently decorated not to my taste - black and red gloss kitchens, expensive marble tiled flooring etc.

I couldn't justify buying the house just to rip that out.

Whereas someone's dated kitchen; not a problem.

The house has great potential but probably needs rewiring, plumbing, new kitchen from the datedness of it Depends on your funds and energy levels. Have always bought doer uppers and made silk purses out of sows ears. Pretty handy with DIY which helped.

However, the cost has been living in a building site for years , spending most free time working on the house and not really get a lot of benefit as upsized to better houses. Also a husband that did minimal work as he avoided it with his hobbies.

Now late fifties wouldn't have the energy for all that again but it is a great feeling making an ugly house beautiful. I would think about your energy and determination levels before taking it on as it can be very frustrating living in the mess, dealing with unreliable tradesmen etc.

I like it. It has an attractive frontage and very pretty garden. I’m also surprised you see it as a doer upper though. It looks perfectly liveable to me with a change of carpets, and a shower over the bath.

The main thing that would put me off is the kitchen being so shut off from the living area, but if I couldn’t live with that I’d look for something else rather than spend a fortune ripping apart a perfectly nice house!

I'm sure that I recognise that house. Has somebody else linked to it recently?

It's got potential but it'll take a lot of money, so depends on why you want it. Make it your own and not bothered about making money
Or
Do up and sell soon
If so worth up the price. Looks expensive to me considering the 3bed semi is done up and similar cost - how much does a fancy 4 bed detailed sell for in the area?

I'd move loo to the left of front door, then open up whole back of house to a kitchen living diner and have a snug at the front. I'd put the utility behind the loo (not attached by door , separated out

Nowhere near a nightmare!
Not a style I like but that just needs a bit of layout rejigging and the smallest bedroom turned into a bathroom and redecorating. In one sense the house could be a lot worse but still require the same amount spending on it, so don't be fooled that it just needs a lick of paint and new carpets, it needs a lot more than that.

4 bed detached go for 500k+

The second house is a semi with only three bedrooms (one of which is small). So to me that one is worth less even though it’s been modernised (not helped by the fact it’s all a bit grey and bland).

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/128174834?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY this is also 4 bed in same area

Aren't most houses more than 1.5 miles from a train station? Our town only has one station in the town centre, you wouldn't have much choice if that was an absolute requirement.

You might get a house near a station in a smaller town near me but the service would be limited, lots of trains just wizzing through.

I actually do live about a mile from the station, but you wouldn't find many houses around here for sale at any one time. I appreciate you said non starter for you, but as the OP don't say it was important to them i just picked up on it being a very specific requirement you'd struggle to fulfill.

Are those windows single glazed? It looks like a cold house to me, not sure why, it's the vibe I'm getting.

I'm thinking especially the kitchen, with that long external wall, would be hard to heat. Though tbf the windows look like uPVC so probably double glazed. I'd be tempted to visit on a cold day with a thermal imaging camera though....

Have you much experience doing up houses or using tradesmen?
We just aren't cut out for that sort of thing - did consider something like that but so pleased we didn't now.
Having to use diff tradesmen at the minute for various jobs due to leak. Total nightmare! Expensive, fully booked, botched jobs leading to more work doing ...

Not sure what prices are like in that area generally but I love it. Married to a builder though so never put off by a challenge! I don’t think it needs loads of work and is certainly liveable in the meantime if you don’t have funds to do any work straight away. I would work on the basis that the layout of the downstairs needs to be changed. If nothing else, I’d look to move the lounge to the front of the house and have the kitchen/dining area behind it so it looks out onto that rather fantastic garden.

This exactly.

I like that second semi a lot. Generally semis should be quite a bit cheaper than detached. What I like about that one is not only is it nicely done inside it’s a “halls together” semi so the two main bedrooms and the living space is not next to anyone. Saying that I’m in a halls together semi and I can hear the neighbour’s soundbar vibrating right through my house.

Nothing wrong with it OP. Once you have painted it your choice of colour, new carpet and your furniture it doesn't look like it needs anything doing bar enjoying.

If the price and survey are favourable then go for it.

It looks structurally sound. The external brickwork and chimneys look fine.

Decor and furniture may need to be moved to check they're not hiding damp spots or dodgy wiring.

Apart from that it's perfectly serviceable.

No obvious problems or faults.

Perfectly habitable, so you can move in, spend a few months getting a feel for how the layout works for you , then alter or upgrade at your leisure as funds allow.

It doesn't look like a doer-upper to me, it all looks cosmetic, and only some of it is really dated.
The horrible downstairs carpet is the same vintage and only a slightly worse design as one we're still having to live with, and all the other rooms here are or were as a bad or worse, and we also had rewiring and masses of other stuff to do, like roof, kitchen, and drains. That's a real doer-upper.
Oh, we had similar light fittings. 🙄After the rewire, we spent the last three years with bare bulbs rather than keep them, just getting round to putting in proper fittings now.😊

Heartening to hear people don't think it's a doer upper.

Needs a rewire, and what’s with the massive radiators? Poor layout, best avoided for the asking price.