Who will buy these homes?

David49

Allira

As I’m retired a 3 bed bungalow with a decent garden is my and many others first choice

Could you let me know where these desirable 3 bedroomed bungalows are situated please?
The few round here are certainly not new builds and may be in need of extensive renovation, which could be offputting for older people.

They are like hens teeth and you pay a premium, there were quite a lot built in the 1960 and 70s they need refurbishing.
New build they take up more space so are less attractive for developers.
In the next upmarket village a 1930s bungalow was demolished and 2 new built they look quite compact 3 bed open views to rear.
Make sure you’re sitting down before you open the link

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/164867987#/media?id=media0&ref=photoCollage&channel=RES_BUY

My MIL died 3yrs ago her 1980s 3 bed bungalow in a workaday village was valued at £350k

Nice houses David and ones I'd be thinking "Whew - at least the house is move-in standard - and I'd only have the garden to sort out".

Buy ones like that location-wise and it's obvious there will be major disruption around them err long. It's obvious there's a farmer there nipping and nipping at selling off chunks of their farmland and they are going to keep "nipping" and there'll be a lot more building going on and maybe with my pet hate of "Why do people build 1st floor windows that look into other peoples private back gardens? Grrr - that's another house that's not suitable then.....".

I can never understand builders doing overlooking windows or people who put in overlooking windows in a house they're living in anyway.....but they've made it obvious they don't care about other peoples privacy or they wouldnt have done that....(ie tells me all I need to know.....).

Granmarderby no need for live in staff as the wives did it, not that many worked and even if they did housework was their Provence.
I was the project manager on a new build site of 3,000 units until I retired in 2016, the occupants were either younger couples/families or retired people, all wanted small gardens - no time, because of work, or inclination, to manage anything else. Parking of their at least two care where they could see them, less chance of theft, lower insurance, good insulation to reduce bills and easy to keep clean build, low maintenance design.

David49

Allira

As I’m retired a 3 bed bungalow with a decent garden is my and many others first choice

Could you let me know where these desirable 3 bedroomed bungalows are situated please?
The few round here are certainly not new builds and may be in need of extensive renovation, which could be offputting for older people.

They are like hens teeth and you pay a premium, there were quite a lot built in the 1960 and 70s they need refurbishing.
New build they take up more space so are less attractive for developers.
In the next upmarket village a 1930s bungalow was demolished and 2 new built they look quite compact 3 bed open views to rear.
Make sure you’re sitting down before you open the link

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/164867987#/media?id=media0&ref=photoCollage&channel=RES_BUY

My MIL died 3yrs ago her 1980s 3 bed bungalow in a workaday village was valued at £350k

Doesn't surprise me - but will therapy sell at that price as they do look tightly squashed in!

I prefer the one next door 😀

There's a house near here, 1930s detached, standard type of build which has become derelict because the owner was in a care home and refused to sell. When he died the plot was bought by a builder who wants to build 2 or 3 houses on it. So far nothing has happened. I think the neighbours are very unhappy.

therapy
where did that come from?!
they

Ps I'd change the layout too!!

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202508/medium-gdwbp8-34013-34056139-img-50-0000.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202508/medium-c6yw9f-34013-34056139-img-45-0000.jpeg

David49

Allira

As I’m retired a 3 bed bungalow with a decent garden is my and many others first choice

Could you let me know where these desirable 3 bedroomed bungalows are situated please?
The few round here are certainly not new builds and may be in need of extensive renovation, which could be offputting for older people.

They are like hens teeth and you pay a premium, there were quite a lot built in the 1960 and 70s they need refurbishing.
New build they take up more space so are less attractive for developers.
In the next upmarket village a 1930s bungalow was demolished and 2 new built they look quite compact 3 bed open views to rear.
Make sure you’re sitting down before you open the link

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/164867987#/media?id=media0&ref=photoCollage&channel=RES_BUY

My MIL died 3yrs ago her 1980s 3 bed bungalow in a workaday village was valued at £350k

I like the view over their garden. We can see for miles, lovely and calm.

Developer should plant some lovely big trees.

“I like the view over their garden. We can see for miles, lovely and calm.

Developer should plant some lovely big trees.

Because the plot size is small I think they are overpriced, they will sell but it will take a while, the village is not my style anyway too upmarket.

David49

“I like the view over their garden. We can see for miles, lovely and calm.

Developer should plant some lovely big trees.

Because the plot size is small I think they are overpriced, they will sell but it will take a while, the village is not my style anyway too upmarket.

I like the view, out for miles, as from our home. I don't know the market price. I wonder why people don't look at farm homes to modernise?

In my nearest city, some large department stores, now surplus to requirements, are being developed for a mixture of retail and residential use, which seems a good idea.
The top floors of Debenhams had a wonderful view if the cathedral: the new owner of those apartments will be happy with that, I'm sure.

We have a Debenhams too, there was a hotel plan, that’s been dropped, the council want it to remain commercial but I really don’t see it happening, so apartments is an alternative.

Calendar Girl - we lived in a maisonette above the library in a rank of shops when we first married. We did buy it & then rented it out when we had our second child.
The rooms were a good size, we had a large patio for flowers & clothes-drying & as a maisonette, we went upstairs to bed.It doesn't cost much to do them up, but I think property developers / large home building companies have a fixed idea of "what people want" & choose to deliver that, rather than some compromise housing which would probably rent very well.

Why is there aan assumption that if a house/bungalow is not brand new thaat it will be a wreck and need lots of work done on it.

We are serial home improvers and over our years of home owning have sold three properties varying in age from 75 years to over 550 years old, one this year and all were in immaculate condition, with modernup to date services. The same applied to my parent's bungalow. our last house was slow to sell because it was higher priced and the market was poorer, but all the others sold in days because they were in good order.

We have just bought a project house from owners just into their 50s and it is a mess.

M0nica

Why is there aan assumption that if a house/bungalow is not brand new thaat it will be a wreck and need lots of work done on it.

We are serial home improvers and over our years of home owning have sold three properties varying in age from 75 years to over 550 years old, one this year and all were in immaculate condition, with modernup to date services. The same applied to my parent's bungalow. our last house was slow to sell because it was higher priced and the market was poorer, but all the others sold in days because they were in good order.

We have just bought a project house from owners just into their 50s and it is a mess.

That is our experience in the bungalows we have seen and looked at online.

It is not an assumption.

M0nica

Why is there aan assumption that if a house/bungalow is not brand new thaat it will be a wreck and need lots of work done on it.

We are serial home improvers and over our years of home owning have sold three properties varying in age from 75 years to over 550 years old, one this year and all were in immaculate condition, with modernup to date services. The same applied to my parent's bungalow. our last house was slow to sell because it was higher priced and the market was poorer, but all the others sold in days because they were in good order.

We have just bought a project house from owners just into their 50s and it is a mess.

Probably partly to do with what the person is used to seeing - ie in their own part of the country. Standards a house is at do vary in different parts of the country on average.

I was very clear when I sold my last house (the starter one) that it was very average type condition for the area. I expected anyone viewing it there to look at it in that light - and it was that way because it was a starter house (ie I'd always known from Day 1 that I meant to move on from it when I could). That influenced how much work I did on it. It was clear to me that I'd have finished it/had to finish it if I'd planned on staying there.

In a poorer area of the country I doubt it would have been regarded as "Work to do - quite a bit of it and fast" and very little would have probably been done to it.

I know I get gobsmacked when I see details for houses that have 1970's carpets, 1980s kitchens, there's something somewhat illogical basically on how the house has been got together (or not...) and it doesn't even "function" very well. That being because it's way worse standard than my half-finished Victorian terrace house I had.

Wishing you good luck with your project house though. I'd have loved for my last house to be "ready to roll" when I moved into it. I'd have loved my current house to be a higher standard than "You have gotta be kidding me - agh!" when I moved into it.

Houses do take longer to sell if they're not "finished" and hence part of why I'd pinned down to the day pretty much how long my last house would take. Wish I'd kept the website I used that analysed your answers to questions and then would compare just for your area and it was pretty spot-on - at 3 months (because I'd put "average condition", "average area"). That and my own "watching equivalent houses there on RightMove" and the website and I both agreed at 3 months. It had two buyers after it at once and having a bidding war on it one day before 3 months was up. So the website and I weren't far wrong.

Whereas someone had bought a very similar house a few doors away and had thought they were staying there - so he finished the house and to a pretty reasonable quality. He then got some unexpected money and sold it after all - his took 10 days. I sighed heavily at how fast his had gone - but I was totally expecting it - as he had finished it and it was done very nicely.

Cariadagain, Probably partly to do with what the person is used to seeing - ie in their own part of the country. Standards a house is at do vary in different parts of the country on average.

Would be my thought as well. Some people prefer no work aka move in ready and some are willing to diy (or pay) accomplishing that which they desire.

Allira

M0nica

Why is there aan assumption that if a house/bungalow is not brand new thaat it will be a wreck and need lots of work done on it.

We are serial home improvers and over our years of home owning have sold three properties varying in age from 75 years to over 550 years old, one this year and all were in immaculate condition, with modernup to date services. The same applied to my parent's bungalow. our last house was slow to sell because it was higher priced and the market was poorer, but all the others sold in days because they were in good order.

We have just bought a project house from owners just into their 50s and it is a mess.

That is our experience in the bungalows we have seen and looked at online.

It is not an assumption.

Allira

See my point above re part of the country is in - and hence my West Wales house here was barely habitable in my opinion when I bought it and there was a lot like it. But that is a large part of why I could afford to move up a level or two and hence I moved here....and then only kept the windows and the interior doors on my current house and everything else went (external doors/garden/gutters and downpipes/central heating system/kitchen/bathroom/walls were replastered).

Mind - I didn't expect to have to give a ghost their marching orders the day I moved in LOL. A friend drove me over and stayed a bit to help me unpack. All the stuff from my removal van had been brought into the house and they had left and then the ghost turned up. My friend and I both heard a loud knock inside the house and absolutely nothing physical that could have caused it. We looked at each other a bit shocked and I just thought "Unexpected complication. It's the last owner of this house - who recently died. I think she just wants to know whether I'm the new owner". I turned round and said - very firmly - "I'm the owner of this house now. Can you please leave?". She did duly leave.....not a peep more out of her....and neither of us said a word. We just got on unpacking.....

I've seen some "shockers" of houses and had other people tell me of worse....

A large number of houses that are vacated are in need of work, they may well be liveable but decorating over time most will need others much more work.
That is the advantage of a new build it’s ready to live in with no work needed.

David49

A large number of houses that are vacated are in need of work, they may well be liveable but decorating over time most will need others much more work.
That is the advantage of a new build it’s ready to live in with no work needed.

But that's the point- no-one builds bungalows any more.

David49

A large number of houses that are vacated are in need of work, they may well be liveable but decorating over time most will need others much more work.
That is the advantage of a new build it’s ready to live in with no work needed.

No house is new for long and many people the moment they move into a new house start changing it, extending it and so on

i totally disagree that a large number of houses that are vacated are in need of work. Look on Rightmove. the vast majority of houses are decorated and styled to their eyeballs.

If you are talking empty houses, many of them when they are first left empty are in very good order, but left empty too long then, yes, they do deteriorate. Think of all those houses HS2 compulsorily bought. The vast majority well loveed well fared for homes, now after 5 years or more with no heating, no are and no gardening resuceed to tangled dereliction, but they are derelict because they have been empty a long time, not empty because they need work.

Allira

David49

A large number of houses that are vacated are in need of work, they may well be liveable but decorating over time most will need others much more work.
That is the advantage of a new build it’s ready to live in with no work needed.

But that's the point- no-one builds bungalows any more.

Here's some new build bungalows -
New build bungalows for Sale in Scotland | New Developments | OnTheMarket share.google/Jo3GOl68DLW4TXnCW

I wouldn't mind Blairgowrie but rather put off by the likely midge population. Currently fine in my 3 storey.

M0nica

David49

A large number of houses that are vacated are in need of work, they may well be liveable but decorating over time most will need others much more work.
That is the advantage of a new build it’s ready to live in with no work needed.

No house is new for long and many people the moment they move into a new house start changing it, extending it and so on

i totally disagree that a large number of houses that are vacated are in need of work. Look on Rightmove. the vast majority of houses are decorated and styled to their eyeballs.

If you are talking empty houses, many of them when they are first left empty are in very good order, but left empty too long then, yes, they do deteriorate. Think of all those houses HS2 compulsorily bought. The vast majority well loveed well fared for homes, now after 5 years or more with no heating, no are and no gardening resuceed to tangled dereliction, but they are derelict because they have been empty a long time, not empty because they need work.

As a fan of watching those YouTube channels where they go investigating abandoned houses = one can see a difference often between ones that were basically cared for in the first place (still relatively together usually) and those that very clearly weren't getting necessary care and attention even when the last owner was living there.

Mine had been basically lived-in all along - but it was a case of "every job a bodged one" and it had an oil tank for a very odd patchwork sorta central heating system and a worse for wear Rayburn in the kitchen. The bathroom was still 1970s (ie when the house was built) and even had a very unsafe looking electric wall fire from that period. A worn 1970s carpet in the hallway (and nope - it wasnt the first owner I bought the house off - there'd been ones in between them and myself). I still struggle to get my head round the fact that I could detect very little sign of any of the owners having done anything ever - other than the windows and front and back door had been swopped to upvc already (now front and back door swopped again by me). A cheap boundary wall had been put up - that I had to hide from my sight (as I'm used to brick walls - so was hating the sight of a concrete block one).

It was one of the illogical houses I don't understand - so I was going through this one thinking "That's illogical...that doesn't work as well as it could...that's illogical".

I do see a few houses where I think "That's been done and is reasonably logical" before I spot the pipes on show running down inside walls that is one of the things I find odd in local houses and another job I had to deal with with my house (ie finding ways to hide the pipes from my view).

There's a lot of houses here too with disabled adaptations and mine was one of them - cue for instantly ensuring the keysafe thing got removed pronto. But I do notice a lot with handrails/shower seats/handrails alongside the garden path and I'm mentally ripping that all out too. Then there's the "easy maintenance" gardens - instantly translated by me into "Oh no - another tarmac and concrete garden to rip out".

So - yep....loads that need work. Though things are going as I anticipated and it's been "builders central" around me for the last few years - as lots of them are getting some of the work they need at last. There are two standards here of work - 1. Done properly 2. They look as if they're done and kitchens and bathrooms are modern - but then you realise it was a "Quickie job to flog on for a profit" by either a builder or householder (biggest clue being "Where are all the power points and why are they so low to the ground?" and then you know it was a "quickie do up to flog on for a profit" house).

OldFrill

Allira

David49

A large number of houses that are vacated are in need of work, they may well be liveable but decorating over time most will need others much more work.
That is the advantage of a new build it’s ready to live in with no work needed.

But that's the point- no-one builds bungalows any more.

Here's some new build bungalows -
New build bungalows for Sale in Scotland | New Developments | OnTheMarket share.google/Jo3GOl68DLW4TXnCW

But I don't want to move to Scotland 😀
I like the first one though! Can it be moved here?

However, point taken, it must be this area which is anti-bungalow.

Allira

OldFrill

Allira

David49

A large number of houses that are vacated are in need of work, they may well be liveable but decorating over time most will need others much more work.
That is the advantage of a new build it’s ready to live in with no work needed.

But that's the point- no-one builds bungalows any more.

Here's some new build bungalows -
New build bungalows for Sale in Scotland | New Developments | OnTheMarket share.google/Jo3GOl68DLW4TXnCW

But I don't want to move to Scotland 😀
I like the first one though! Can it be moved here?

However, point taken, it must be this area which is anti-bungalow.

Goodness knows why - l thought you were in Scotland!

In this area there are new build bungalows but they are at a premium price compared to an estate semi, I showed some up thread a few days ago in an up market village over priced in my view I think they will have to reduce price.
In a mid market village 5 miles away on a quiet 1980s estate another 3 bed is asking £350k it looks in good condition
Probably £50k premium over a similar sized semi