Bungalow on an awkward plot - to buy or not?

You say you want to move to your last home. Unless you want to be unhappy and live with the knowledge that you can’t easily sell, keep looking. This bungalow is only the best one you’ve seen because it’s more modern. Think about the downsides. It’s cheap for a reason. Nobody else wants to buy it,

Elegran

Where is this bargain bungalow? I know someone who might find this exactly what they are looking for, but the location matters.

There are no bargains in Surrey I am afraid, prices are well over half a million

If I were in your position I would knock on a few neighboring doors. Ask questions. Find out why this bungalow is going for less than others close by. We once almost purchased a lovely house in a beautiful setting. But, for reasons I won't go into here, a shadow of doubt crept in. We did some detective work, as advised by our solicitor, discovered the reason for the relatively low price, and pulled out. We later discovered that several previous buyers had pulled out of the purchase. If we had gone ahead this would have been a disaster financially and emotionally.
Be cautious. Best wishes.

Can anybody explain why a corner plot could be an advantage?

Adom the OP states the following.

The house needs the usual renovating with a new kitchen, bathrooms and carpets, but this is reflected in the price, which is unusually affordable for us.following;

hence the price!

lemsip

Adom the OP states the following.

The house needs the usual renovating with a new kitchen, bathrooms and carpets, but this is reflected in the price, which is unusually affordable for us.following;

hence the price!

OP also said that similar properties near by go for £100k more and also need complete renovation.

I think it has vast potential. If you have a large sum of money to spend on it the end result could be fabulous. I suggest you take a good look at the floorplan, blow it up to A3 size and then see what can be done by removing walls, chimney etc... in other words, reconfigure the inside. Personally I love corner plots. We've renovated several properties, all with seemingly insurmountable problems, but with DH's amazing vision and DIY skills we've ended up with beautiful homes and sold very quickly when the time came. In our experience there is very little that cannot be overome. My advice would be to go for it but be prepared to spend a lot of money as everything costs so much more these days. However this should be reflected in the price. Try making them a cheeky low offer.

I think younare getting a fair amount of negativity here OP. I would see it more positively.

Is there a dropped kerb near your entrance door, or could you get a dropped kerb and install a second parking area option for when you have geoceries.
The chimney position sounds like it would lend itself to one of those dual aspect wooodburners, one fire to heat two rooms - if that was your thing. (My dream)
Can you post a link with the floorplan, if you wish….?

RusBun

Can anybody explain why a corner plot could be an advantage?

Our first semi was a corner plot- and it had a much larger garden than the 'non' corners.

The current neighbours may be quiet but people move. And they have visitors and gatherings outside. I would be very wary of their close proximity especially as you are sensitive to noise.

Must you live in Surrey? What comes across is that you may not have what I would call, without meaning to cause offence, ‘Surrey nice bungalow money’. Have you considered looking elsewhere?

Plus we haven’t saved any money - Brexit has already cost more than our membership contributions for the whole of the 40 years we were members . We were told our public services would be better - with a lot more money - how is that going?

Oops wrong thread

RusBun

Elegran

Where is this bargain bungalow? I know someone who might find this exactly what they are looking for, but the location matters.

There are no bargains in Surrey I am afraid, prices are well over half a million

OH is from Surrey, and one DD and GD in Surrey- no way could we ever even consider moving there!

I think that there are some plus points , but a lot of negatives .

Moving is exhausting -will you feel like doing it again if the house isn't right for you ?
And how easy is it to sell ?

I wouldn't be tempted to move into something about which I was not optimistic .

Maybe , take an expert to view the property and see if the design problems could be solved realistically and within a reasonable budget .

I think that I'd keep on house hunting .
Good luck .

I've been looking on RightMove and other sites for some considerable time and many bungalows go very quickly.
Those that linger for months are either over-priced or have something wrong with the layout or location.

I live in a bungalow on a triangular plot. We bought the land and sited the bungalow in the middle. I suggest you will have the same problems that we have (and which we did not think through at the time) in that no area of the garden really works: some areas are narrow, mowing a bit of a nightmare, I suggest you will find that at the rear of the property. The south facing aspect is fine but too hot in the summer and the back and sides of the house are too shady! Corner plots and triangular ones have issues that you won't have thought of until you live in it. For what it's worth I would take the advice of others on here, there is a reason its not selling and there are too many problems with it.

If it’s a desirable village, all the more reason to be suspicious about why the many attempts to sell it over the years have failed. I still think you need to do some homework about why that might be.

It fits the idea of the last home … The house and especially garden does not wow me.

I read the other thread where you seem set on the idea of a bungalow and only in a very specific area where most properties are out of your price range and/or need too much work. I understand that you have issues with mobility and can understand why single-level living is attractive and also familiar. Might that be closing your mind to other possibilities?

Houses are easily adapted for mobility. A stairlift might be all that is necessary. A house will offer more flexibility regarding how space is used. A house would have much more scope to separate domestic living from the noise of business. A larger garden might have scope for a summer house/office that could separate it altogether.

I was going to ask on the other thread why you do not look further afield. You said there that your husband often works from home and sometimes in London. Is there a particular reason why you cannot consider further afield? How important is it that he is only 30 minutes from work? Is that because his own health is deteriorating or does his job require him to be on call?

You are only in your early 60s. Does this have to be your last home? You may think differently in ten years time when your husband retires if indeed he can carry on working for that long. Ten years is a very long time and anything can happen. Priorities change. You haven’t mentioned family and how that might factor in.

There are other factors which come into play which I am sure you have thought about. What facilities does the village have if you can no longer drive? Regular bus services, shops, doctors surgery, community activities. What are the demographics of the village?

You ask why a corner plot could be an advantage? It really depends where the corner is in relation to the position of the house on it, to the road and what else is around. With this property I can’t see any obvious advantages. You will have traffic exiting the road opposite so the potential nuisance of noise and headlights shining into the front facing rooms. That may seem trivial to some but if you are sensitive to such things and unaccustomed to ground floor living it may soon start to grate especially when daylight hours are short. Unclear from the picture what is immediately opposite. There can be security issues with corner properties, attractive to opportunist burglars if they think they are unobserved.

I disagree with the comment about opening up the front garden. I doubt you’d get permission for a dropped kerb anyway on that bend. I think I see a foot path immediately in front. An invitation to what irresponsible owners let their dogs do, again, if not observed.

I don’t see the warning comments as negativity but general objectivity and thinking of reasons why this property hasn't attracted a buyer despite many attempts to sell it. OP is talking of this as her last home. If she is adamant about that, it needs to be right.

It's certainly a larger back garden than the one we looked at here.

Fleurpepper

RusBun

Elegran

Where is this bargain bungalow? I know someone who might find this exactly what they are looking for, but the location matters.

There are no bargains in Surrey I am afraid, prices are well over half a million

OH is from Surrey, and one DD and GD in Surrey- no way could we ever even consider moving there!

We would happily move further out and it makes complete sense, but DH works in Epsom, travels around Surrey and sometimes has meetings in London. And he will be working there for the next 10 years, so we have to be in this area.

I've viewed some really lovely houses, taking along my (vast) list of essential features (and optional extras) to test out and grade them all in order of preference. Well, all very logical, yet still, I've rejected the ones that just didn't feel right. The only one I loved had things missing - no downstairs loo and separate kitchen and diner. Those could be changed, though.

One had everything on the list, including a very large, south facing garden, lovely kitchen diner, even extras (plunge pool, walk in wardrobe, utility and separate laundry room) yet it felt hostile/unfriendly, maybe cold and damp in some rooms?

Something was wrong, maybe the north facing front with a field opposite - so no shelter - put me off. (Here, the back faces SE and in the last house W.) It's just not worth all the effort and stress of moving unless you're in love with the place and excited to live there, is it?

Caravansera

If it’s a desirable village, all the more reason to be suspicious about why the many attempts to sell it over the years have failed. I still think you need to do some homework about why that might be.

It fits the idea of the last home … The house and especially garden does not wow me.

I read the other thread where you seem set on the idea of a bungalow and only in a very specific area where most properties are out of your price range and/or need too much work. I understand that you have issues with mobility and can understand why single-level living is attractive and also familiar. Might that be closing your mind to other possibilities?

Houses are easily adapted for mobility. A stairlift might be all that is necessary. A house will offer more flexibility regarding how space is used. A house would have much more scope to separate domestic living from the noise of business. A larger garden might have scope for a summer house/office that could separate it altogether.

I was going to ask on the other thread why you do not look further afield. You said there that your husband often works from home and sometimes in London. Is there a particular reason why you cannot consider further afield? How important is it that he is only 30 minutes from work? Is that because his own health is deteriorating or does his job require him to be on call?

You are only in your early 60s. Does this have to be your last home? You may think differently in ten years time when your husband retires if indeed he can carry on working for that long. Ten years is a very long time and anything can happen. Priorities change. You haven’t mentioned family and how that might factor in.

There are other factors which come into play which I am sure you have thought about. What facilities does the village have if you can no longer drive? Regular bus services, shops, doctors surgery, community activities. What are the demographics of the village?

You ask why a corner plot could be an advantage? It really depends where the corner is in relation to the position of the house on it, to the road and what else is around. With this property I can’t see any obvious advantages. You will have traffic exiting the road opposite so the potential nuisance of noise and headlights shining into the front facing rooms. That may seem trivial to some but if you are sensitive to such things and unaccustomed to ground floor living it may soon start to grate especially when daylight hours are short. Unclear from the picture what is immediately opposite. There can be security issues with corner properties, attractive to opportunist burglars if they think they are unobserved.

I disagree with the comment about opening up the front garden. I doubt you’d get permission for a dropped kerb anyway on that bend. I think I see a foot path immediately in front. An invitation to what irresponsible owners let their dogs do, again, if not observed.

I don’t see the warning comments as negativity but general objectivity and thinking of reasons why this property hasn't attracted a buyer despite many attempts to sell it. OP is talking of this as her last home. If she is adamant about that, it needs to be right.

Thank you for your detailed thoughts, greatly appreciated and made me think beyond.

I have not mentioned the family, because we don't see children very often to make it a serious consideration. One DD works overseas and keeps moving, another DS lives in a different area as well. No alive parents.

We need to buy the last home because we struggle with the stairs already. Yes, at our age DH gets out of breath going upstairs due to his partially removed lung (cancer) and me getting joint pain as soon as clouds appear (auto-immune conditions), plus we both get very tired to do any physical work to speak of. Illnesses can strike even the young ones.

If we don't move to the last home now, it will be so much harder later on with the way our health is getting worse, so now is the time, especially that we have found a cash buyer for our apartment that we could not sell for ages.

The DH has an office job in construction design (engineer), I have retired from a similar job due to my health issues. We were both very capable of renovation/extension jobs years ago, but not any longer due to our health. Hence we would rather adapt an existing house as it is rather than building extensions that most of bungalows need doing.

DH works in Epsom Downs, sometimes travels to London or visits various sites in Surrey and occasionally works from home, which is why we can't move too far from the area. He HAS to carry on working to pay the mortgage, we have no choice, and being close to work makes it easier for him. He had to change his job from London to a local one because travelling was killing him, so he does not want to go back to travelling long distances again.

As you can see, there is a lot to consider apart from finding a property you fall in love with. So far I have only fallen in love with a modern new-build energy efficient bungalow, open plan and vaulted ceilings, with ground source heat pump, solar panels etc. 200K over our budget. We can all dream about an ideal property but we live in a real world and have to be realistic and future proof at this stage.

There are 2 aspects to my decision: one is would this property suit US and another one is how difficult would it be to sell in the future after we have renovated the property and made a nice albeit small garden. It is very useful to gather other people's opinions, especially if they have already had to go through the same considerations and have experienced them first hand, so I am very grateful for everybody's input.

RusBun, I'm only looking at 'lovely houses' because I'm moving away from (expensive) London. Still, I think you have bungalows on the brain - and they always cost a lot for what they are. Why not consider budgeting for a home lift?

I don't want to 'future proof' if such a thing is possible. I'd feel cooped up in a tiny place with a tiny garden, especially as I may have another 20 or 30 years to go. If I lost my strength, I'd get some help with the housework and gardening.

My cousin has a live-in helper, also retired, who rents a room (very cheaply) in her house - and does all the heavy work. It seems an ideal arrangement for both of them, for now.

I completely agree that it is useful to canvas opinions - they often set off a useful train of thought.
I know quite a few people who are very glad of a small garden as they age (and actually it's not that small). I would visit at different times of day and week to get a feel both for traffic and for sunlight. Saying 'north / south facing' can be less relevant than the height of buildings around you.
I'm with Elegran - there is a lot that can be done with this bungalow (I couldn't see well enough as to whether you could knock a door through to save too much carrying of shopping, I think you probably could).
Also - and I don't know your exact family situation - but we took the view that selling on was going to be someone else's problem and not ours. Either your heirs will work out a price, or if it comes to selling in order to fund care you can take advice. But I think you need to enjoy your 'last home' without worrying about mythical future buyers.

PS: I may have misunderstood as to whether it is your 'last home' or not - if you are likely to sell to fund your 'last home' then you may well need to consider resale value - but you can ask the estate agent.

The estate agent isn’t going to give impartial advice!

You really do need to make sure that you are both completely happy with what you buy if your husband, despite his incapacity, is going to have to work for another ten years to pay off the mortgage. I feel for him.