What do you think of this listing on Rightmove?

[Childfreesummer]

House in Croydon (greater London). I like the look of this house but the pictures feel so incomplete, it makes me wonder if they are hiding something?? What does the rest of the master bedroom look like? Where is the washing machine? What’s that small area off the garage? What is the store? Also, does the garden seem small for a 5 bed house? I’ve seen others in the area with much longer gardens but this one is wider so… 🤔

I know I could go and view it but I don’t want to waste my time!

Edited to remove accidental smiley

I VIEWED THIS a few years back! It’s really sweet and cosy BUT the reception spaces feel small and bitty - 3 small rooms including the bit with the fireplace which is more like a big entrance hall really - and they flow around the staircase so there’s not much open-feeling space. The kitchen is smaller in real life than the picture looks. I think at the time it had planning permission for a big extension (and the garden is a nice size) - that would have lapsed by now. It’s cottagey so if you like cottagey it would be a sweet house but my family would have overflowed out of it. The “playroom” was set up as an office when I viewed. Someone asked about the master bedroom - it’s quite a long room - sort of had bed one side and wardrobes / ensuite the other, so nothing weird. It’s in a road of some lovely houses but you do have to accept you are in Croydon for better for worse, so worth thinking about whether you have what you want in relative ease of access - I know people in some of those roads who are very happy where they live but who largely acknowledge they made a price/area compromise. Also if you want state schools - pretty much a black spot. The people that live in those lovely big houses in that area go private - people who want state live elsewhere. I remember the details of houses I’ve viewed very well for some reason so do ask if you have other questions!

That's interesting app,not sure about accuracy though. I've checked my postcode (only 6 detached houses) - the app says 1% is social housing, which is not true as I know all my neighbours, should be 0:))) I don'tknow,maybe I'm wrong in my interpretation

is it detached or semi-detached? If detached, then the first pictures cuts of the side of the house.

Also, what’s up with the split frame in the second photo? The two pictures aren’t even linked.

Apart from that, seems a nice house. Quite like the modern kitchen, as well as older rooms. Some of the decor is quite busy, but that’s cosmetic.

Can’t comment on price.

Nothing wrong that the house is in Croydon, it's in the "right" part of Croydon. Lot's of detached houses in South Croydon/Shirley area costs >1 000 000

It's in a nice bit of Croydon but still Croydon, which has higher rates of crime than the rest of the UK.

Chelsey and Westminster have even higher crime rates, but the price of properties there is sky high:)
Actually, such attitude of some people toward it's being Croydon is helpful for others, who wants a nice big house with large garden and in good area for more or less reasonable price:). Some of the Croydon parts (villages) have much lower crime rate that the rest of the UK.
PS: The house (6-bed) on the other side of the main road was sold recently for 1.5 million and was not long on the market.

Oh I agree, it's definitely an opportunity. Just pointing out why it might look too good to be true to some. But very pretty bits to Croydon and this is in/near one of them.

The price depends on the location (even inside Croydon:)). The road on another side of the main road (Fitzjames ave) is more "expensive" than Cheyne walk, Further down to Addington hills similar houses would be priced around 1.7- 2millions. Other parts of "scary" Croydon is even more expensive. As someone said here, local knowlege is very important:) I understand that common picture of Croydon in people's heads is typical West Croydon ghetto (and rightly so),but Croydon is much bigger that just West Croydon. Fingers crossed some day West Croydon will be nice and safe as well (such a good transport location!)

Small garden? Looks pretty large to me!

I like how the garden is a bit of a blank canvas, a few mature shrubs but lots of space for you to make your mark.
Hopefully the layout and design of the kitchen are good but it does feel like a strong battleship grey colour.
All bedrooms are well sized and that's unusual.
Longer term I'd want the house to be more consistent throughout, probably more neutral.
It's an attractive house, inside and out.

It's a lovely looking house apart from the extension with the skylight which I don't like. But I wouldn't want to live in Croydon.

You're right! The photos have been enhanced with Ai.

Try looking at Google earth for the house and garden.

But yes, ask the agent and go see it!

I don't see your issue with the photos @Childfreesummer especially as there is a floor plan.

Photos never tell the whole story - but these are good enough to determine whether you should view the house or not.

@Secondsop wow what a coincidence!! Appreciate the additional insight. I think you’re right about the downstairs layout being bitty and as others have said the space not being used well. The main issue for me is the entrance to the downstairs bedroom being from the “playroom”. That rules out using the playroom as an office, meaning we’d potentially lose the only reception room as a study during the working day. Main entrance looks lovely but is a bit useless.

For those commenting on the “small garden” point, I meant for a house of this size. I do agree it’s large in general terms, however this area is in the edge of the green belt and houses of this type tend to have very large gardens. Compare for example with this house on a parallel road which is priced significantly lower but has the same sq ft and a much larger garden. Or this 5 mins walk away for a bit more but 30% larger house and huge garden.

Not sure why the first link to the house on the parallel road isn’t working but here it is.

Re the downstairs bedroom being accessed from the playroom - would you use that as a family bedroom or as a guest room? I think when I viewed they used it as guest / au-pair. Maybe it’s not such an issue if used in that way especially given that guests have a bathroom there so don’t have to come into the rest of the house to use the loo etc. I think the photo with the desk and the grey sofa is the “playroom” - from memory it’s a decent size but you obviously do have to allow for it to be a bit of a thoroughfare for the downstairs bedroom which might limit furniture storage. I would have been tempted by this house if only one of the reception rooms was a bigger main room, and if I wasn’t looking for schools. It sounds like you know the area / roads - those roads are a good way of getting a good-sized house for less than other areas partly because of people being put off by the Croydon factor but as others have said there are some lovely roads of houses including the Whitgift estate, and Croydon itself is very well-connected.

re the garden - it’s shorter than some, but wide, and if you view it, you’ll see that it’s a lot bigger than it looks when you look to the fence - it’s the planting/shrubbery borders that visually bring it in a bit.

i was fond of this house for heart reasons - it’s so sweet when you first arrive and it has the little seats in the porch - it was head reasons that took us elsewhere.

It's in a nice area of Croydon (yes, those do exist), close to the tram stop and convenient for the vet if you have pets! The gardens in that area vary in size because of the way the roads are laid out. It has some lovely features except for the grey kitchen which doesn't really fit with the house, but you could change the cupboard doors on that pretty easily.

I think it's a 4-bed house really, and the downstairs layout looks bitty because they've made what should be living space into a downstairs bedroom. If you wanted to use the 'playroom' as an office, the solution is probably to have the downstairs bedroom as your own room instead of using the upstairs master bedroom. Then you don't have kids traipsing through all the time.

Google Maps Streetview: https://shorturl.at/4HHOk
Google Maps Satellite View: https://shorturl.at/udbnr
Full address: 8 Cheyne Walk, Croydon CR0 7HG
Last sold on 2020-09-08 for £870,000 (from HM Land Registry - https://shorturl.at/kJUgD )

Could help making an informed decision...

Those french doors! 😍

i echo what some are saying on here. Parts of Central croydon, West croydon etc are a hell hole, but South Croydon, Purley and the outskirts are really nice areas. I live in Caterham which isn't far and it's a lovely area. Croydon has a bad rep and rightly so, but people see Croydon in the address and immediately think "bad area" when really 80% of croydon and surrounding areas are actually nice

The high crime rate is from West Croydon/Central Croydon which is a good drive or few tram/bus stops away. Lots of people live in South Croydon/Shirley and never go there. Even then, East Crotdon by the station is super convenient for transport, has a nice Boxpark for food and socialising and some nice new restaurants. Like central London, you have to keep your wits about you, but there is security around the BoxPark and most people are just passing through.

West Croydon is a dump, I grant you, but most people who are looking at a house like this never have reason to go there.

Similarly, those peope will have kids at one of the many private schools around there. I would imagine the state school provision for secondary is Harris Academy and might not suit everyone, although there is a newish school nearby that has a good rep (can't remember it's name, on the Tram line).

Also South Croydon 'restaurant quarter' has some great options for foodies. As locals are saying, the Croydon rep is for a relativelt small, urban and quite contained bit of Croydon, and pretty deserved, but there's a lot more to the borough of Croydon. I am also over the border in Surrey but kids at school near here so go there a lot, plus shopping on Purley Way which is great (but don't do it to yourself on a Saturday). I'm just off there now funnily enough to pick up something from Ikea and go to Costco and M&S.

The accuracy is good enough for an initial screen. I leave the locals, foolish and brave to check out the ones I skipped.

Only your Hyacinth Bucket's are going to care about the Social Housing, Deprivation and Income Level numbers.

For me, I discount anything with any flood risk, high noise+, or 10 out of 10 crime rating. That means I can focus on the remaining 85% (?) good candidates.

Then, personally, I want to be within 1/2 mile of a railway station so I can see the crows flight distance listed.

I then click on the size icon to see the floor plan and check the cost per square foot. All of this tells me whether it's worth looking deeper.

The school quality and parks info might be useful to others.

Now I can really drill down into the candidates and recheck all the other information about flooding, noise, crime, route to station, service levels, etc. That's how I use it.

The kitchen doesnt look real. It's like it's been taken of a kitchen in a video game. Very odd. Id want to see it with my own eyes.