Critique this picture-perfect property

[ThisPerkyBlueDuck]

A stunning property (at least at first sight) has come up in a popular road in my town. Every picture oozes with elegance, brightness and greenery. However, am I right in thinking that it must be a nightmare to keep warm, and that it would be perfect in somewhere warm like Spain, and not in the Midlands?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/153197267?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

@ThisPerkyBlueDuck It looks airy but being on a corner like that the traffic might bother me. I clicked through to the property history and the present owners only bought in 2022 so would ask about that. Seems pretty expensive and I’m not sure I like the other place behind being so close - go and look, at least park in the road and see what it’s like in real life?

That was exactly my thought!

The bathroom situation is bizarre!

No radiator on the ground floor?!

There is one in each room that I can see.

Looks cold and difficult to heat, as in you need to heat a lot of the house due to the open layout. Poor location.

Can’t see any elegance oozing from where I’m sitting. Shit tonnes of work to undo all the tasteless floors.

looks squashed in very close to busy road and neighbouring property , like a sold off back garden plot that’s been built on
poor Lay out , not any flow to the rooms
no family bathroom upstairs
hate the beams in the kitchen , makes it very stark
dislike the blue and white kitchen units making it look part done or fixed up out of scraps
dislike the archways , very old fashioned
i like the utility room
The swimming pool looks dangerous and needs urgent attention

It looks very cold and stark, really not my cup of tea at all. It durst seem to have any sort of the individual personality which is common for older houses?

I quite like the lack of doors from a flow point of view but with kids it would be annoying not to be able to shut the door on whatever utter drivel they're watching. Also don't really mind the neighbours' proximity as no windows or garden on that side and where I live they do tend to jam them in (high land value) so I'm used to it. Garden size (2 small gardens) would be fine for me also- don't need a huge garden. Decor is fine- pretty neutral and easy to jazz up if so inclined but I'd never buy/not buy based on decor anyway- no paint job too bad - ha ha. The no's for me would be

• bathroom situation- very difficult to see how you'd resolve this. If the downstairs bathroom was better it might be doable, but even then...
• no eat in kitchen. This is nn for me as I basically live in my kitchen.
• big entrance hall is a waste of space- I actually love them on a much larger house as lovely to come in with dc and bags and be tripping over one another in a porch/ narrow hallway but here it feels a bit out of proportion.
• swimming pool needs filling in- I am not an expert but am sure I've heard its not as simple as tipping a load of rubble in it and grassing it over.

I love the arches and the kitchen.
Bathroom situation horrible.
Garden has potential.

Short answer - people are put off by very little things, and anything involving any sort of building work will put a house below one that doesn’t for a lot of people, especially as none of it is cheap now.

Longer answer - you lose a chunk of that bedroom by doing that. It doesn’t look hugely wide to start with. And you then have no room with an en-suite, which a lot of people would want for a house that size and price.

I would rejig the kitchen and utility into a kitchen diner. Dining room becomes a family room / entertaining area. I would also lose the smallest bedroom to make a proper bathroom, converting the existing bathroom to an en-suite and dressing room.

My biggest issue would be the fact that there's no easy access toilet for three bedrooms and if using the one upstairs, it's the far side of the room. Appreciate some houses have their own toilets downstairs, but it's for a lower priced property. For this reason I wouldn't buy the property, unless I had sufficient funds leftover to move bathroom into back bedroom or the smaller bedroom and the bathroom changed to bedroom.

For us the pond would have to go, as we've got cats but if we had the budget to deal with that, it wouldn't be a deal breaker.

Its boring and its in Rugby

Lots of plus points, but the most off-putting thing for me is that it is council tax band G. I didn't even know that council tax bands went that high. It will be very expensive.

I couldn't see past the low ceilings and horrible prison windows.

@ThisPerkyBlueDuck
Our house had a bloody huge hall way. It's a 4 bed house and had had several weird extensions over time which meant the whole flow of the house just didn't work. The hall way could have housed a grand piano - it was the biggest 'room' in the house 😬
We knew the house had enough square footage but had the wrong layout. We bought it and spent a shed-load on reconfiguring it. Virtually, every single internal wall was touched / moved and we moved the front door and the kitchen.
We have a lovely house now that works for the family but it needed a lot of imagination, work and money spent on it.

This looks like a nice house and would be good as is for a couple or a family with 1DC. You could always put in a low offer and say there's a load of work to be done re. layout