Should I buy this house? Pls help!

[MovingDilemmas]

Please can you check out this Rightmove link and tell me what you think?

Link: House on a hill with a lower ground kitchen

Pros:

• I LOVE the location. Far nicer than many roads around here.
• Affordable - most houses are period properties and therefore more expensive - not many come up that we can afford.
• End of terrace. Noise and having quiet space v important to me for work reasons. We are moving from an end of terrace currently so reluctant to go back to terrace.

Cons:

• The kitchen is in the basement (it's on a hill), down some stairs, so not on the level when you walk in.
• Kitchen is small, no space to sit more than 1-2 people at a table in current configuration.
• It's been listed for sale, then de-listed, 3 times in the past 3 years. Zoopla history suggests it's really struggled to sell. It also didn't sell in 2012.

We could potentially move the kitchen up a level so it's on ground floor when you walk in - but to access the garden you'd still have to go down stairs.

Which one is worse - no direct access to the garden out the kitchen, or kitchen being cut off and not social? Moving it up would make it more sociable.

Would you ever consider this house? Will it be impossible to sell on if I do?

Only B Council tax

any off-road parking?

one loo up top

The fact it has a torrid history of (potential) sales would really put me off. There's a chance you are going to lay out for the survey and find something not to your liking.

I don't like the house much with no parking outside and only one toilet shoved in the bathroom. But that doesn't seem untypical for the area.

This is all really helpful, thankyou. I also just found an old listing from May this year of a house that is nearby, end of terrace, and sold for less with better layout... so it is possible that other things we can afford might come up.

Don't have children and not planning to have children, so 2 bed is fine for us in terms of actual living. It's the resale potential that most worries me.

We wfh so the second reception room would be a home office (which would then move to basement if we moved the kitchen).

@Mugcake Victoria Park - interesting that you say it can be dodgy! At night/in the dark? Or other times? Just the park or the surrounding streets too? We've only been in the day and thought it looked idyllic and peaceful... But then we're coming from a rough part of a different city so it feels like a step up either way

@MaJoady good point about the bamboo. I don't think it's that old (I looked at the previous listing to see what work had been done and it's only minor cosmetics - but the bamboo is new in the last few years).

I would also worry about the school being close (parking wars) the pub just up the hill (noise at kicking out time) and the inordinate amount of roof level scaffolding that seems to be around when you look at the photos on street view. Also on streetview the ndn house looks a bit sus.

The fact that it is perched on a slope would definitely concern me, as unless you are really careful with the building gravity always wins eventually.

Unless you have an unlimited budget, all property is a compromise.

You want to live in Bristol, not Darlington so comparing it to what you can get there is not very useful.

OP, it's a perfectly nice and normal part of Bristol. It's a city and there is some crime.
Nice park, nice cafes, nice sauna up the road at Windmill Hill. Can walk to Bedminster station quickly or cycle very rapidly so access to Temple Meads for mainline trains or city centre for work.

Like lots of Bristol, there may not be lots of parking spaces. That's ok. You'll manage like everyone else who lives there.

The kitchen makes most sense on the basement so it opens to the garden. Super normal layout for that sort of house on a hill in Bristol - it's not weird for a hilly city.

No mention of any inability to climb the stairs so I am sure you'll manage to get to the loo when required as well.

What sort of size is the bit labelled hallway off the kitchen? Could you maybe put a utility in there (possibly with a loo if big enough)? That way you could free up some space in the kitchen and rejig the layout to make more room for dining. I wouldn't move the kitchen upstairs, it wouldn't be any bigger anyway and you'd lose the 3rd bedroom (not a bedroom, so annoying when estate agents do this) so I don't think it would add value, quite the opposite.

Yes I would buy that house. I like the kitchen where it is. Some clever design would make it really special. I'd have most of the back wall glass/sliding doors and have the garden feel like part of the room.

I'd love to get my teeth stuck into that!

I know the area really well OP. My grandad used to live just around the corner in a house exactly the same layout. He kept the kitchen downstairs and I have lots of happy memories of it being full of life - parties, music on, great food, people around the table and spilling out into the little yard.

That layout, the small garden and the parking situation are totally typical of the area. The park is like any city park - lively and full of families and little kids on bikes during the day - probably wouldn't go there at night myself.

The not selling thing might be for a couple of reasons. Firstly, really check out the adjoining neighbour. Something going on there in the tatty, strange curtain thing on street view and the agent's photos. Might be worth looking into.

Secondly, that area used to be a mining area. Some houses have subsidence issues as a result. Obviously thousands of houses still happily standing after 200 years so probably not a problem, but definitely worth looking into a mining survey etc. End of terrace houses seem more prone to subsidence in the area in my opinion.

One other thing, the render on the front of the house looks pretty shonky. Might be worth asking a surveyor to look at it closely.

I would buy it. If I was young, wanted to be in the heart of things in a fun up and coming area I'd buy it like a shot.

Im not keen on it. And its quite pricey for what you get. Kitchen in the basement isnt great and might make it hard to sell in future. No I'd keep looking.

No, Victoria park isn't a great area and the parking is a complete ball ache!

The price is just ridiculous isn"t it, shows how messed up the country has become over a number of years. Not surprised it has had difficulty selling! If they fumble the budget at the end of the month and cause a negative market reaction people who have borrowed their way into property like this will have a very tough time.

It wouldn't suit us. No garage or driveway and there's double yellow lines immediately outside the front and side of the house.
About 20 years ago we had friends who lived a couple of streets away from that property. You had to drive round and round the block to find a parking space.

The very fact that you’re asking the question means you’re having doubts. Therefore, this isn’t the house for you.

I had a Quick Look for stuff with 3 beds from 425-450 within 1/4 mile of it and there seem to be better options sold recently.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/161334296
With ‘offers over’ they seem to be unwilling to compromise on the price to reflect the more awkward layout.
I don’t know the local market but it feels like nationally most places are struggling with only the best houses selling quickly. Or those who aren’t holding out for top price. What position are you in? I’d be waiting until the spring with more options. No harm in contacting the agents and saying you’d be interested if they were more flexible on price in future.
House is OK. Here in London region many of us have to compromise on nearly everything! But with your budget I’d be holding out for something with kitchen and living room and a loo on ground floor. Has that proved impossible?

The only thing I would be worried about is getting food up from the kitchen to the dining room, if it doesn’t have a dumb waiter it may be worth investing in one, also the toilet issue, but again could be resolved by adding a cloakroom maybe under the stairs? (Obviously it would depend on the space you have there)

When you look at the photo of the blue door at the front with the weeds and basic 30 minutes to build wall and then look at the price it is just LOL ridiculous.

Your list of pros is the same amounts as cons, for a goer, it would have to be more pros thans cons.

FWIW, we offered below the "offers over" price and got the house.

Hi op that’s really expensive for what you get. the fact that it doesn’t sell over a few times is worrying. I once seen a house that looked like a bargain on the rightmove I’ve seen it a few times turned out the house kept getting its windows smashed for some reason. I think you would need to go around the evening to any house you’re planning on purchasing. It could be issues with neighbours and when they have to declare it sales fall through.

It's a long time since I lived in Bristol and my god I had shocked at how the prices have gone up. Go and check the area at night. From my memory that road, particularly the area around the junction feels less safe than nearly all the surrounding streets although things change over time. It's generally quite a nice area but the particular road has a bit of an edge and I wouldn't want to live there. I would particularly take on board the poster who commented on the house by it which seems to have a lot of issues. This would fit with the sales pattern where it seems to go under offer a lot but not actual sell. When house hunting I always Google the street name, name of the local paper and arrested/ charged which can reveal a lot about the area. Is it still the Bristol Evening Post?

the only toilet is on the top floor of a three floor house so that would put me off more than the kitchen in the basement.

Some of the finish looks not so good and you may find that some stuff has being bodged.
Fireplace in living room is an example and living room paint finish on walls.
Kitchen bare pipes in the corner.

Is that a towel in the window of the house next door?😭 and the overgrown front garden of the adjoining house hmmm…. Could just be an old person minding their own business, but personally, having lived next to hoarder I would triple check who lives next door…

Sorry no I wouldn't buy it. Having the kitchen and living area on the same level, and direct level access to the garden would be non negotiables for me. If necessary on a budget, I'd look in less desirable areas to achieve this.

Gosh thats a lot of money for not a lot of house! My thoughts are:
It has no kerb appeal whatsoever so that might have put a lot of people off ( esp when you look next door)
The rooms look very small. I know there’ll only be two of you living there but you still need room to circulate/storage etc.From the photos the lounge looks tiny
Do you have enough spare cash to do the work you are considering (and can you put up with the upheaval)
Living that close to the road would put me off too.
Kitchen looks a bit outdated and shoddy ..if you cant afford to relocate it maybe it would be better completely re-done.
The loo thing…dont underestimate this!