What is wrong with this house?

[ButterPiesAreGreat]

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?

Nice at the front straight onto the park. Agree a bit dubious what's been developed next door. A bit over looked all around, but nice inside. Rather a deep corridor like layout beyond what I assume was the original house. A lot of house for your money. Looks like a rear entrance for parking which would be useful. The over looked would mainly put me off, I like a bit of privacy.

Overall I think it's a lovely house. I don't know the area, I'm down south, but these are things I noticed:

• The basement bedroom looks like it has a really low ceiling - and I'd wonder if there was planning permission.
• There aren't enough bathrooms for the number of bedrooms, and none of them are readily accessible to the basement bedroom/s.
• The kitchen is a let down. I'd probably lose the dining room, knock through and have an open plan kitchen diner with doors on the end wall.
• I suspect the house is actually pretty dark, especially the front, and the pictures have been "sympathetically" taken.
• The garden has been ruined. Not by the rear access parking, but plastic grass etc. It's in no way sympathetic to the style of the house.
• Personally, I dislike most of the decoration but that would never put me off a property.

Done by M. C. Escher?

Go and view it and ask some questions. Drive around the area at night see if it’s a rough area. Maybe neighbors are awful?

Lovely family home. So it's either something in the searches, schooling, or the house has a bad smell from something. Could be dry rot? Drainage. We backed out of a house because so many sewer pipes ran under the garden from other properties.

Does it flood in that area

We bought and did a gut renovation on a 'let's just go take a look at it' house, OP, so I have to warn you that the drive by out of curiosity can be dangerous😅

I don't know the area, but it sounds like a combination of factors, maybe added to the fact that a lot of people don't have the stomach for a big project right now? We finished two years ago and I'm honestly not certain we would have undertaken ours if we were looking today.

Oh, and as a southerner, I took the it's a shame it's up north comment as a wistful joke.

Could be an issue found during a survey. Might need a new roof or have damp issues.
Have you called the estate agent? Worth it if it could be a good house for you.

Go and have a look this weekend, OP. And report back! Especially on whether the place makes your hair stand on end 👻

Ideal as an HMO for Migrants. Ask Serco or Capita how much they will pay you.

That's exactly how l took that comment - as a person who would love to able to live in a house like that but would be lucky to get a three bedroomed semi for that money in many parts of the south-east. I live in the Midlands so have no worries about north or south. There is good and bad everywhere.

If it was a B and B when it was sold 20 years ago, it may have been sold as a business for more than the value of the building. You could check planning to see if there was an application for change of use to turn it into a home. That might account for the drop in value.

Large old houses like that have very high ongoing heating and maintenance costs. Roof looks like it may need replacing soon. Interior very dated e.g. the turquoise carpeting on the stairs, and all of that would cost a lot to change. It is a lovely period house with lots of character, but it may just be too big of an undertaking (financially and emotionally) for most people.

It’s the area, for sure. Theres a fair bit of crime/ASB round there - not sure of the stats but that’s the local perception.
That end of Deepdale is a real mixed bag.
The poster that suggested it’s a racist area is wrong though - the opposite.

Well I think that property is stunning! The parking would bother me, as I love a drive. But apart from that, the house is immaculate. Are you interested in it?

I think it's a beautiful house but agree with pp about the kitchen, which needs replacing, and the basement bedroom and the low ceiling.

The garden is awful and would probably cost £££ to get rid of it's awful features but it could be a labour of love for someone who loves gardens.

It's interesting to see that the estate agent has headed the details with 'investors dream', which would lead me to think that it's an area where very few people would actual want to buy such a large house - very few people want 6 bedrooms these days anyway - and most of the surrounding large houses have been turned into offices or flats

Given how many times the price has been dropped and how low it is now, I imagine the owners are desperate to sell.

I have no idea what the area is like, I'm from the SE, but from what you're saying it's not that great. It's such a shame that such a lovely house will likely end up being chopped up into an HMO.

In most areas of the SE you'd be lucky to get a family home for that sort of price.

Meant to add OP. I'd definitely go and have a look if I were you.

Just looked again, and it appears in photo #4 that the en suite bathroom is just in an alcove off the bedroom, with no door. I'm not suggesting that alone would be enough to stop people buying it, but is that not a bit weird? Everyone likes a bit of privacy, even from their nearest and dearest.

Its the streetview camera. That view is shown better in the house details and the walls look fine (but easily lost in the excessive photo album).

I’d ring up the agent and ask about the history/price 😂 If its been on the market a long time they won’t be shy about trying to explain that.

I assume as per pp its area because otherwise its a large Edwardian semi overlooking a park - normally a popular type of property. Area and being sandwiched between two commercial properties, especially where one is an HMO.

The acres of grey crushed velvet and very strong blues are not my cup of tea but that is just furnishings and decor. The furnishings will go and the decor will be changed over time anyway. The only radiators I saw were plug in which makes me wonder about the heating set up.

Beautiful house

It's saying Sold STC!!.

It's lovely OP. I bloody love Preston, I went to UCLAN 20 years ago and had the best years of my life there. Proper northern, proper soulful, full of students just bobbing about along with the locals, rubbing along.
I went back in the summer for a 20 year uni reunion and I couldn't believe the regeneration it's had. I took so many photos and videos to send to those who couldn't make it and it's unrecognisable, in a good way. Although devastated my favourite Dixies chicken that I got fingered behind is now a members only cocktail bar.

That’s a coincidence it was sold today…(subject to contract).

It's beautiful and huge!
Glad it's sold STC
OP if you do ever find out why the price is low please let us know, after reading the whole thread I'm really curious 😂

So many chairs in that house !

I like the back garden , I'd probably get rid of the daft bit of fakey-lawn but I do like a walled garden .