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?

A dentist! which is great, because quiet in the evenings/at night.

During the day, of course, constant screaming!!! 🫣😆

A few planning apps, including a change from a boys hostel to an aged home

Is Moor Park safe at night? You would be quite close to unruly football crowds I think too. It seems expensive compared with Garstang Rd, Watling St Rd or Victoria Road or a bit further north to Regent Drive / Kings Drive (near where I was brought up). I'd be inclined to look there rather than near the park.

A comment made by another MNer who doesn't understand that some of the country's most expensive property outside central London is 'up North', although not in Preston! From Preston one has access within an hour to some of the most beautiful countryside in the UK, extend that to 1.5 hours, what some sad souls commute darn sarf, and that list has tripled!
As far as this house goes there sounds to be some fundamental problem, possibly old mining, although it's a bit out of the old pit areas.

It is just round the corner from an Islamic boys boarding school and on the same road as an Islamic education centre.

That could put some people off.

Same here.

Moor Park Avenue is a bit of an odd area. The demographics wouldn't bother me (I live in Broadgate which is very mixed indeed) or the proximity to the stadium - it looks like it's nearer the Garstang Road end anyway. But I wouldn't be 100% sure about facing directly onto the park (imagine how it will be when there's a big event on) , or that the street is a mix of residential and businesses.

The house looks fantastic.

Edited for typos

Then the neighbourhood is better off without those twats who would be put off.

It's the area. The not great, even for Preston.

If that house was in my area (also up north) it's be £900k.

I'm from Preston area and we've genuinely considered moving back there as it's 40mins from where we currently live but you can get the same house for almost half the price. But crime, education and general health and social opportunities are much poorer.

😂😆

It will be something to do with what is happening in the immediate area around it. A house I had my eye on was returned to the market (buyer withdrew) so I called the agent to ask why and they said next door was being turned into an HMO so buyer did not want to proceed. I would check into what is going on next door or in the street.

It’s a beautiful house, but I suppose bigger than the average family would want and the upkeep would be very expensive.

But the inside of that house has no character and looks very 90s

I just checked google maps its number 11. You can buy the land registey details for 7 quid online and see if there are any easements or covenants on it.
There also appears to be a lot of restrictions due to it being in the moor park conservation area meaning huge costs for any changes you wish to make and some properties have had illegal development.
Maybe the price reflects the work needed to be done to bring it in line with the conservation restrictions.

Gosh, what a tiny little life you lead. How odd to be so parochial.

I prefer the second house. Both require significant changes internally to be to my taste, so the 90s interior of house two is no more of an issue than the first.

There's a dehumidifier in one of the photos, possibly damp issues?

I don't know about the house, but it's an excellent example of how buying at the wrong time (just before the GFC), and/or over-paying, may mean you have to wait more than 20 years to get your money back.

Yes, property usually rises in time, but before risking everything on a purchase test how comfortable you would be not seeing a return for over 20/25 years.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said the area isn't great. It's not listed as one of the better areas of Preston and, if it's near the retail park, the traffic is supposedly regularly bad 3pm-7pm and some residents report frequent police disturbances.

The house itself does look like you could move straight in, but the fact that the estate agent labels it "an investors dream" makes me think it's possibly style over substance and the house needs more work than is readily apparent.

I also wouldn't be keen to be anywhere near a football ground. Even with well-behaved crowds, the disruption on match days is bad.

Edit: Forgot to add, schools are apparently also a mixed bag, with most just ok and it being a bit of a scrum to get into a better school. I imagine mostly families would look at a 6 bedroom house, so all of the above would make most families give it a miss.

The first comment was rude.

you have NO idea where I live or where I'm from, so your chip can get in the bin.

The parking via the wooden gate would be a bonus for me .
Though I'd need to made the gates automatic as I would prefer not to get out and haul them open.
Drive up , press remote , drive in, remote close gates , unpack car.

Oddly enough . looking on streetview I only saw one person walking about .....and that was the main road .

Well then, next time if you don’t have something useful to say, scroll on. Because it didn’t really contribute anything of use and YOU were rude. IDGAF where you’re from but it very much sounded like you hate the north. What’s true is that there are horrible places to live in the south as much as the rest of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Yep. As it’s on the edge of a park and it’s a no through road, it doesn’t get much traffic. I would imagine the back road would get quite a bit on match days as people use street parking (we usually park about 5 mins from here) but apart from that, there will be some school kids walking past to the high school at the other end and the primary on the main road and then people just going to the cafe on the park etc.

One side it looks like some sort of car workshop or something, the other is some other business with metal fire escapes all up the side of the wall - it doesn’t seem very residential.
inside the stair spindles are interesting. The kitchen is too small for the house and not great. Looks like one of the bedroom windows looks directly onto a brick wall?
Have you been to the house ?

Far enough away from the retail park to not be affected by the traffic. I hardly ever go to or past the retail park if I can help it, traffic is always bad. It’s particularly bad after football. I learned long ago not to go out that way and am usually home in 40 mins including a 15 min walk to the car. DS got picked up by a friend’s mum once after a match, she went that way and he was a good half hour later than that.

Yes, schools in Preston are a bit of a lottery. They’re looking at a long term solution for secondary places at the moment.