Would you make an offer or too much work?

[aphrodite1978]

Hi lovely people,
would love any feedback on the bungalow in Ascot, Berkshire further below. You can see it's been reduced and it's come into the top of my RightMove budget filters (600k). I'm a single parent with a son, who works and lives with me. Ideally, I'm looking for a property whereby I can have a room and a reception room and my son have the same (he has a girlfriend who often stays). I had a viewing but found that, though the property was liveable and clean, it really needed updating throughout and I cannot make sense of the layout and at a loss how I could make it work. It has several plus points: a) lots of parking, quiet and on a reasonably-sized plot. However, I can see I would have to spend 75k+ to get it up to a good standard (it's sat on the market for some time and agent says other viewers have said it's a bit of a project). I probably need to look elsewhere as I cannot see the vendor taking a substantially lower offer as just reduced 75k!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/156135572#/?channel=RES_BUY

Would appreciate any comments, even if it's to tell me to stop wasting time!

Thanks for reading,
Katie

Hmm, I was expecting it to be much worse than that.
I think it's a nice-looking house and the garden is lovely but yes, it is a little dated.
I suppose the question is, how practical are you and would you be able/willing to do some of the more basic cosmetic work yourself? That would minimise costs until such time as you can save up to do the more major things like new kitchen and bathroom.

I think the layout is great for a bungalow! You could let your son have the sitting room and the two rooms off it and you have the main lounge.

its lovely!

But you can only get to those rooms by walking through the other bedroom.

I really like it. I'd do the same a pp, give your son the sitting room and the two small rooms off it. I'd permanently close or block the door from the main bedroom to the small hallway. That leaves you the biggest bedroom the study and the lounge. A bathroom each and share the kitchen.
Yes it needs updating but you could do it over time. It looks like a cracking location.

Its lovely and liveable! Depends how long you intend living there, rest of your days? I would do it.

I don't understand what makes this a project? It's a perfectly nice looking bungalow with a good layout and plenty of rooms.

Terrible layout. You could create a corridor through the biggest bedroom but then that would mean all of the bedrooms would be small. I would also block off the second door to the sitting room otherwise it is awkward to place furniture.

Its a terrible layout. You would have folk traipsing through the main bedroom to get to the smaller rooms. Also 7ft wide rooms are pretty narrow.

Maybe my standards are just too low compared to others on MN, but that bungalow looks ready to move into - to me. OK the bathroom is in need of an upgrade and decor is dated, but that's an easy fix. I don't see what's wrong with the kitchen either, maybe someone might tell me.

These threads frighten the life out of me. Here I am sitting in my perfectly good house. I look at a thread which is filled with trepidation about the total renovation that will be needed, and all I see is basic decor stuff, and a house that looks just like mine inside!

Maybe I need to raise my standards a bit, but I don't think so. Perfection is not attainable. It's a gorgeous house on a very nice plot, with the space you need for you and son/partner. So go on..... explain why you think it's in need of 75 grand worth of renovations. I might have to remortgage to keep up with you 😊

I don't see why the layout would be bad for OPs needs.
OP could have Sitting Room and bedroom off of it. Son could have Biggest bedroom as the sitting room and a bedroom off of that. One could have the main bedroom and the other the ensuite.

You could make it look much more modern with a few tweaks.

That's a lot of garden to look after OP. Are you up for that?

If you fancy it make a really cheeky offer. You can only try.

It's weird arrangement of rooms, but the layout would work fine. Wonderful garden too.
You have 'Living room', the biggest bedroom with the cupboards and the little study. Close off the left hand side door from the bedroom.
Son has 'Sitting room' as his sitting room, one of the small bedrooms to sleep in and one to keep his clothes in. He has the shower room in that area and you have the main bathroom. Share the kitchen.
It just needs redecorating, looks fine otherwise. You can do it gradually.

I think you would just need to block one door off.

Then you (paying the mortgage/owner) get the blue rooms.

You DS gets the red walk through sitting room, a bedroom for sleeping and a dressing room.5

I have questions...

What's the square footage?
Do you work from home - do you need that little study?
Do you specifically need a bungalow/are you future proofing?
How old is your son - is him moving imminent?

I think it's got potential for 2 people who want their own space but the layout is strange. If you plan to stay there forever, it's less of an issue.

Arghh forgot about image review. You'd have the bottom right lounge, study and bedroom next to it. Shut off the door of your bedroom so it is no longer a walk through.. Son gets the bottom middle sitting room which is a walk though to 2 rooms he can use to sleep/store/work

I'd buy like a shot it if I had the money.

I don’t think it looks that bad at all , I was expecting a wreck .

It looks very clean and quite liveable without doing anything.

A bit of reorganisation, maybe ditch the imposing wardrobes quite quickly, then the kitchen and bathrooms could come later.

Would you want an extension?

I dont see why it actually needs £75k spent on it. But you need to do some comparing as you don't want to overpay in this (I think) dodgy market. But it looks like a well positioned quite spacious house with a good size garden.

You can go via the second living room. 7ft is fine for a third bedroom, it will fit a single bed across.

I agree, I just don't get it

I think it’s a good property. Block off one door, as per red/blue diagram, then start to update each room in turn. Lots of scope to do it up gradually and I think it meets the needs of your current situation.

Ideally I’d do far more to it including completing redoing the layout and extending but that would be with a view to developing in order to make a profit rather than addressing what you need.

This is a fantastic property & location. You will regret not buying this. The work is cosmetic and doesn’t need doing now.

make an offer at a price you are happy to pay. Perhaps take 50k off and agree at 25k off.

Your son and his gf might not be living with you long term so I’d readjust your needs and reappraise this property. Does it suit your future?
I’d remove the fireplace and fitted wardrobes, box in the boiler pipes, replace the kitchen and wallpaper. Does this amount to £75K?
It’s a sound property and if well built and the EPC suits, I’d make an offer.

Just back from home - wow, what a response. Feel a bit guilty now! Thanks for the various replies. The consensus says to offer, it seems. I had a couple of other thoughts I need to mull over:

a) my son wants a proper double bed in his room but not sure the room bottom left with 7ft8 width would work as he would want the room next door as lounge rather than other way round. The agent said it would just about work.

b) I had thought of making the room top left (7ft7 width) an ensuite to the large bedroom and using remaining space as a route to the garage via making a door into the store. However, the store would end up being a corridor to the garage. Alternatively, to make it a room for washing, etc and still use the door idea into the store room/garage and repurposing the garage into 1/3 storage, 2/3 gym.

I'll go for a 2nd viewing with a couple I know.

Thanks again for all the kind responses - such a great community.

x

I would have the large living room as my bedroom as it’s next to the bathroom, then convert the large bedroom to a lounge. They could have the other 3 rooms to use as they wish.

I wouldn’t be making massive changes otherwise as they aren’t like to live with you forever.