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Original poster

What is wrong with this house?

296 replies

ButterPiesAreGreat · 09/10/2025 19:46

Saw this house on Facebook last night.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/160791941#/?channel=RES_BUY

Sent it jokingly to DS as it’s not far (15 mins walk) to our team’s football ground and that was highlighted as its selling point. Then I looked through the pics and realised it’s a hell of a house.

Now the area it borders is not great but it’s not awful and a good mile from the really rough parts of town. It’s well away from the ground with most fans staying well away from the house taking different routes back into the centre. It looks out onto the park so it has a lovely outlook and the road in front is not a through road so doesn’t get loads of traffic. It’s also about a mile from the uni, where there are a few purpose built student accommodation places.

The more I thought about it, the more I was curious about the price because the house is in apparently good condition, even if not all of it is all to my taste. You could easily move straight in.

So I looked back at Zoopla price history and discovered it was listed 3 years ago, for £800K! Then it was listed last December for £650K, then listed again in June for £590K. There’s been 4 reductions of price since then, the latest just last week. It’s not sold any of those times, it was last bought in 2006.

Now I completely get that the area is not completely salubrious, and that interest rates have affected house prices but a 50% reduction in 3 years seems excessive. As it stands now, the owners are selling it for £50K less than they bought it for 20 years ago so they wouldn’t get back what they have clearly put into it.

I can only think that there is something structurally wrong or there is a legal problem of some sort, because if you wanted a 6 bed house in Preston, surely £400K sounds like a bargain. Our house is not much cheaper than that and it’s an OK size in a nice but not super expensive area.

What do you think? What do you think is wrong with this house?

Check out this 6 bedroom semi-detached house for sale on Rightmove

6 bedroom semi-detached house for sale in Moor Park Avenue, Preston, PR1 6AS, PR1 for £400,000. Marketed by Clarkson Holden, Preston

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/160791941#/?channel=RES_BUY

OP posts:
Thread gallery
11
didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 09/10/2025 20:11

Looks nice but unfortunately it's up north.

AvocadoAnnalisa · 09/10/2025 20:14

Council Tax Band F

Sagaciously · 09/10/2025 20:16

6 beds for 400k! You’d be lucky to get a 1 bed flat for that where I live.

It looks ok to me. Kitchen’s a bit poxy and the layout is not modern. But it could be nice. I know nothing about the area.

Original poster
ButterPiesAreGreat · 09/10/2025 20:16

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 09/10/2025 20:11

Looks nice but unfortunately it's up north.

Didn’t ask for the southern snobs to turn up and look down their noses at it.

(full disclosure- I was born down south and moved north in my 30s. we laugh at the snobs who then complain about their house prices)

OP posts:
Tiredofwhataboutery · 09/10/2025 20:17

I think it looks lovely. I don’t know the area. It seems like a lot of house for the money but who needs six bedrooms? Possibly it’ll get turned into an HMO and all those lovely features stripped out.

Imfat · 09/10/2025 20:20

@didntlikeanyofthesuggestionswhats wrong with the north. I suppose if it keeps people like you away that's brilliant.

ChikinLikin · 09/10/2025 20:22

Maybe high energy prices have lowered the value of huge houses if they're not in posh areas where rich people buy?

SoloSofa24 · 09/10/2025 20:23

I would bet it is something to do with the house next door. Looking at the aerial views, it looks like they have a fully paved yard rather than a garden, and a long workshop-type building. There is probably something noisy, smelly or otherwise unpleasant going on there that no one wants to live next door to.

Original poster
ButterPiesAreGreat · 09/10/2025 20:23

AvocadoAnnalisa · 09/10/2025 20:14

Council Tax Band F

Yup, so you’d think it was worth more. We’re an E and probably were at the bottom of that band when they decided where it belonged.

OP posts:
Cantseetreesforthewood · 09/10/2025 20:26

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 09/10/2025 20:11

Looks nice but unfortunately it's up north.

FFS. That didn't take long.

I quite like the house. Front looks a bit strange, and we struggled to sell a house with a non conventional garage/drive arrangement, so that could have something to do with it.

The kitchen feels a bit of a let down compared to the rest, and I think one of the bedrooms is in the basement. Could make a good office or teenagers den?? If I was looking in the area, I'd certainly book a viewing.

DinaofCloud9 · 09/10/2025 20:27

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 09/10/2025 20:11

Looks nice but unfortunately it's up north.

WTF? how rude.

AvocadoAnnalisa · 09/10/2025 20:28

Imfat · 09/10/2025 20:20

@didntlikeanyofthesuggestionswhats wrong with the north. I suppose if it keeps people like you away that's brilliant.

That’s what I thought.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 09/10/2025 20:35

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 09/10/2025 20:11

Looks nice but unfortunately it's up north.

I took this as "It's a shame its so far away as it's a huge house with tons of potential and if it was in my neck of the woods it'd be £2million"

Nettleskeins · 09/10/2025 20:37

If you look on street view you get the street at the back - which is a bit unpreposessing, with a development next door of some kind.

Maybe it's a guide price only to get the bidders in?

Also the EPC might put landlords off.?

All the original features are beautiful but it's a bit bling and yet old fashioned at the same time

I wonder whether it's very dark inside with the blues and greys and the photos make it look lighter and brighter than it feels when you walk round.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 09/10/2025 20:38

Hideous back garden. A house like that should have lots of traditional plants not a modernist nightmare.

AvocadoAnnalisa · 09/10/2025 20:39

ChikinLikin · 09/10/2025 20:22

Maybe high energy prices have lowered the value of huge houses if they're not in posh areas where rich people buy?

High energy and high water prices, possibly. The house is decorated in a typical South Asian style. I think it’s lovely. The ward has a high proportion of Indian-identifying residents and South Asian residents in general. Lancashire Council is now run by Reform. The Reform council part would put me off buying. No one wants to buy a family home in a racist area.

Genevie82 · 09/10/2025 20:40

Yes, there’s an issue with the property next to it. You can see from the photos it’s either semi derelict or being used as a non residential. We just need someone that lives in the area to come along and solve the mystery!

Chipsahoy · 09/10/2025 20:41

Could have a serious issue with subsidence or woodworm or dry rot. Even if fixed, makes it hard to insure. Flooding?

Flibbertyfloo · 09/10/2025 20:41

Agree re. next door. Also it looks like there is a bedroom in the cellar with no window?! I wonder if they have planning and building regs for the loft?

AvocadoAnnalisa · 09/10/2025 20:43

PR1 is also a big student area, so perhaps some of the neighbouring houses have been converted into student accommodation. The town has 32,000 students.

FawnDrench · 09/10/2025 20:43

It’s lovely but the kitchen lets it down massively imo.

SeaAndStars · 09/10/2025 20:46

What's going on in the massive shed next door?
What's with the ceiling in picture 50??
Street view is showing the adjoining householder (the one with the garden long shed) constructing another two story building in the front garden - has this become a HMO in recent times? Student accom?
The house the other side is a dentist and facial aesthetics clinic - is this new? It all feels very businessy and unhomely.

It could be one of the above or perhaps nobody has ever been arsed to plough through all 63 photos so nobody ever gets as far as phoning the agent to book a viewing.

SeaAndStars · 09/10/2025 20:50

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 09/10/2025 20:38

Hideous back garden. A house like that should have lots of traditional plants not a modernist nightmare.

Plastic grass, plastic ivy fence and squares of plastic ivy on the walls.

Notmyreality · 09/10/2025 20:51

Presumably the neighbours. There’s a dentist on one side and parking is probably an issue during the day and not sure what is going on the other side with weird new build being added. At one time those houses on facing park would have been a highly desirable and exclusive place to live.