Would you buy a bungalow that you didn't like?

Hi PerserverancePays, we bought a house 4 years ago I didn’t like (we were under pressure from nightmare buyers), and despite improving it both cosmetically and structurally, I still don’t like it!
We now need a bungalow. We sold our house last year, and are having trouble finding the right property. I understand your situation well and sympathise completely. It is hard not to despair/panic a bit! I am keen though not to make the same mistake as last time. Good luck with your search, and fingers crossed patience pays off.

We're in the process of buying and it's become obvious, the closer to town that properties are the more expensive they seem. We've chosen a location about 20 mins from town and feel we're getting quite a bargain.

Location location…. Most important really. Try & look at the properties in terms of location, size, garden and whether they can be changed to suit you. Assuming you have savings enough to make the changes
We bought a filthy, broken home in a great location. Took one year to renovate- now perfect

Coastpath, thank you!
The thing is that you do have to have a good feel of what you are really looking at. If you are not used to thinking that way (as we weren't all those years ago) it can take time and research to recognise the difference between what can be changed and what can't.
We prevented some friends from making a costly mistake when they thought a bungalow could be made lighter by felling a large gloomy tree. It would, but they had no understanding of either tree preservation orders (yes, it did have one) or problems of heave if they could have felled it.

Also wanted to add, that through conversations with friends who say they want 'doer-uppers' that people mean completely different things by that. Some only mean a lick of paint and a new cooker!

I definitely wouldn't buy a house when my heart was not in it.

A year ago I bought a new-build semi - it would not have been top of my list, but it ticked other boxes: in the village where all my friends are, lovely views. I therefore compromised - but the boxes it ticked were sufficiently important to outweigh other considerations. The balance of pros and cons does need to be right.

If you have money to extend, as you plan, then maybe you could do things to it that improve it from your point of view - e.g. enlarge the windows so you have more light, add a conservatory. It seems that light is high on your list (as it was on mine) so maybe you could create that light when you are doing up.

I quite agree Luckygirl. Nearly 50 years ago, on a very tight budget, we bought a new, typical 70s build. Our parents said it was 'jerry built' (!) many of our friends were too nice to say it was characterless (but looking at their choices, I'm sure they thought it!). Some, more tactless, said so.
But it was light, and, for the times it was built, well insulated so our bills weren't high.
Of course, that estate was full of people just like us. When the time came to move, we actually bought another slightly larger house on the same estate. Our son married a girl from just round the corner, and now they live in a very similar house.
When we were finally able to build our own house, we took so many features from that 'characterless' house into our design.

As long as you can afford it, modern glass technology means you can have a large window that is still reasonable insulated, and of course, cover it with thick curtains at night. You can even get 'one way' glass if concerned about folk seeing in. And a favourite of self builders are 'sun tunnels' to make the most of darker corners. This is a link to Velux, who I think have the best website, and good features, but you can get them more cheaply as many DIY places: www.velux.co.uk/products/sun-tunnels

I am in this position at the moment, but renting while I am looking. I have found the estate agents to be completely useless, despite me pestering them with what I am looking for, they completely ignore me and it's up to me to chase them every time I see a property that looks interesting. The competition is ridiculous, the last house I went to view, I was the 20th person that day, and it was sold within 2 days of coming onto the market. I am also now looking at horrible bungalows where it's obvious that some old person has recently died and the whole house needs gutting.

So I went to have a look this morning and as I feared, it was very poky, I suspect less than 50 square meters, it was aligned north/south so no direct light into the building, nothing had been updated for at least twenty years and the leaking plastic carbuncle of a conservatory on the back was covered in mould.
On the plus side the garden was sweet and obviously well loved and it was a ten minute walk into town. The starting price was my full budget so no room for bids, stamp duty, moving etc. I thought it very overpriced considering how much it needed doing and its complete lack of charm.
I shall hold tight and hope something more affordable turns up.

I'm beginning to think a lift, a cleaner and a gardener might be a better option PerseverancePays!

Certainly cheaper and less hassle!

But there would be higher heating costs , Council tax etc too.
You can't win.

When we decided to move to France we sold our cottage but needed somewhere in the meantime so we bought a 60's terrace with a roof that sloped from side to side. Not everyone's cup of tea. A friend came round not long after we moved in and told my DH that she couldn't bear to see us living in that little house. After it was decorated and the doors on the kitchen units changed she visited again. That time she was very enthusiastic and said she'd like to live in it herself.

It's surprising what can sometimes be done without very much money.

For those who think about moving because they need to be on one level - think about a pod type lift. My DH's aunt who is in her 90s had one installed in her house. There's a cylinder that she enters on the ground floor. The exterior top is covered with the same carpet as her bedroom floor so when she goes upstairs and sends the lift down there is little sign that it exists. I don't know how it works but she is very pleased with it.

Dinahmo

For those who think about moving because they need to be on one level - think about a pod type lift. My DH's aunt who is in her 90s had one installed in her house. There's a cylinder that she enters on the ground floor. The exterior top is covered with the same carpet as her bedroom floor so when she goes upstairs and sends the lift down there is little sign that it exists. I don't know how it works but she is very pleased with it.

Yes, a lift was suggested.
I hope we don't (won't) need one but you never know.

Not a chance.

PP you can see the orientation, large close buildings etc via google maps. I would not be giving myself heartbreak if what I see on google maps is entirely unsuitable and that includes large trees, including leylandii close to the dividing fence., on the neighbours side

Is moving to a cheaper area out of the question? Several areas eg the NW have lovely areas with very good transport links and of course, lovely people

I live in SW and prices have flown up. There is a tatty non descript 3 bed bungalow for sale, walking distance from me. What would immediately put me off is the price £440k and also the fact that it is surrounded by extremely high >10 foot, hacked back leylandii on the south and west. The shadow over that bungalow must be overpowering. My own new build house is gorgeous and very light and sunny built in 2019. It seems that a premium has been put on bungalows. I believe that a house is better value

I compare that bungalow with a beautiful 3 bed semi, built 2018, really lovely. A touch further away. 325K

I think it would be a good idea to revise your list of wants, otherwise you may be trapped by rapidly rising prices

Reading this thread has made me realise how lucky I am. I made an offer on my bungalow without even seeing it because I lived four hours away and everything was being snapped up almost overnight. My grandson viewed it and FaceTimed me. It could all have gone horribly wrong but I trusted him.

I’m staggered that it’s now worth £20K more than I paid for it six months ago! I redecorated throughout, had new carpets laid and removed the front wall to get off road parking and that’s it! Thankfully there was already a dropped kerb.

The same grandson and his girlfriend are so taken with it, they have just completed on their first home. A bungalow just half an hour away! ?

I sympathise with anyone struggling to find what they are looking for. I just got in under the wire as they say!

The one I looked at yesterday was relisted from last November and £40k more. By the time one had bid over the odds and paid stamp duty and estate agents it would be close to a quarter of a million pounds for something I don't even like or have any feels for at all.
I realise that this budget in the North would buy something with ease and in the South not even a dog kennel, but I want to live near friends and family. France is looking good though I don't fancy Marine Le Pen being in charge.

Many years ago, we did buy a house we don’t like. We put an offer on a house we really like, but the seller pulled out the day before exchange of contract.

The houses were moving so fast even back then, we panicked and bought another house on the rebound, lived there for five years and then moved again.

Like you, we wanted to move to a bungalow. After viewing a number of bungalows like the ones you described, I realised to get one that we really like, I will have to bridge the difference in price with a new mortgage which is not what we want to do at this stage in our life.

My husband is much older than me, if either one of us can no longer manage the stairs, we will use the dining room as a bedroom and convert the understairs storeroom to a shower room.

My daughter told me that they may have to postpone buying a house to next year. They need to factor in the energy bills to know the price of house they can buy.

A home will not fall into your lap PP, you really could do with biting the bullet for something half decent and looking further afield. Prices are also rising in the NW and it is so easy to make friends up there, ask whiff.

I know that searching is frustrating you, the alternative of course is to stay put but then again your family might move anyway. The golden time for house hunting is right now wrt the property market, it dies down all through the summer holidays and perks up a small amount around september to october

Maybe you need to think hard about whether what you want, the location in which you want it to be and what you can afford are really compatible? I certainly wouldn’t buy a property I didn’t like unless I could see, and afford, how it could be transformed into something I loved and where I would be happy.

No. If it feels wrong it is wrong. We are looking at “what if” flats. The first one we saw was small and dark and pokey. Nothing would change that. It would have been a miserable existence living there.

Actually I wouldn’t be buying anything I didn’t like much less a home ?

Thanks for letting us know, PP. I hope you can find something, but I would still go and look at lots of places - they can set off trains of thought.