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

Would you be keeping the Hot Tub/Sex Pond ?

I’d do blue for your son, green for you and red for shared space. Your son could knock together the 2 back bedrooms and have it as a large bedroom with sofa and TV and the front bedroom could be a dressing room or small snug or study.

Think £600k is a pretty good price for that bungalow. Have family who live a couple of miles from there.

I don’t think you’re wasting time at all, but I do think your instinct is probably right on this one.

From what you’ve described (and the fact it’s sat on the market), it sounds like one of those properties that’s technicallyliveable but only really works once you’ve spent a fair chunk rethinking the layout and updating everything. Those are the ones that look fine on paper but never quite stack up emotionally or financially once you dig into them.

£75k+ to get it to a good standard doesn’t sound unrealistic at all, especially if you’re changing layout rather than just decorating. And if you’re already feeling stuck on how to make the space work for both you and your son, that’s usually a sign the house is fighting you a bit rather than helping you.

The tricky thing with bungalows like that is they often need more than people expect to make them feel “right”, and vendors don’t always adjust their expectations accordingly, especially straight after a big reduction.

If the numbers only work if the vendor comes down further, I’d probably park it mentally and keep looking. The right one usually feels like it could work with a plan, even if it needs updating. This sounds like it needs a lot of compromise.

Not being unrealistic, just sensible.