Bungalow on an awkward plot - to buy or not?

RusBun

MadeInYorkshire

*Rusbun - some of my courtyard garden for you .... I can't seem to find the ones from when I opened the garden up, may be on a different computer!

I think the 2nd and 3rd are from the winter, so it was colourful all year round ... the summer ones had more flowers.

How beautiful! Exactly the style I like.

Thank you!

Yes cheeky offer, it sounds as though it would actually be very good now you've got to know the neighbours! Do the renovations in time .... find a good builder with some creative ideas, and keep us posted!

For RusBun - some odd comments on here. One said "The bathroom toilet so close to the dining room would put me off", well, it's a bungalow, not Buck House, so it's not going to be a country ramble between them, is it?! And as folk get older, you'll find you don't want too much distance when you need to go!

Another thing was the garden, "far too small . . .noisy neighbours". This again is utter twaddle -- if you have occasionally noisy neighbours, you'll hear them even with a large garden. We have quite a big garden, by suburban standards, a neighbour each side, and 3 over the back, which back onto ours and each neighbour. One neighbour has a barking dog, as does one over the back, clearly audible. The diagonal left neighbour has a squawking kid at times, which I think can be heard across all the gardens in the block, about 30 houses. Sadly the ones with a dog haven't yet trained their beast to drown out the kid, on command?!

Another point re gardens is that with age, and a large garden, comes increasing inability to be able to cope with all the work? You can sometimes find a gardener, but many of them can only do mowing, they tend not to like weeding, and pruning the right plant at the right time for some is a challenge too far.

What else, oh yes, that road. Well, the supposed 'dangers' would depend how busy the road really is? You'd have to check, but unless it's really busy, you'd be OK?

NB as a general note for Gransnet admins -- just WHY does my correct spelling of "neighbour" get objected to? Has some nitwit in their IT support unwisely applied an American 'spell-checker' software?!! How do they do it, 'neybor' perhaps?

Don’t you think it’s the spellchecker on your device which is causing you problems? GN know nothing about your post until it’s posted.

We have recently moved and looked at something similar. The difficulties would only get more difficult for us so we carried on looking until we found a much better property, and it was cheaper. If it's proved difficult to sell and you really want to buy it then perhaps you should make a much lower offer. However, if you have doubts now you will probably regret buying very soon. Good luck with the house hunt.

I would also knock on neighbours doors and ask about pros and cons of the area.
If you are chatty you will get more info.
Pros and cons conversation may lead to more info re that particular house. And if they were all built about the same time you can say "have you had to make a lot of changes to yours" or whatever.

I have had great advice from neighbours on several occasions one was renting and said ^i would never buy a house here - and told me why!! 😱 - and only one was snippy ever.

Germanshepherdsmum

Don’t you think it’s the spellchecker on your device which is causing you problems? GN know nothing about your post until it’s posted.

I think DrWatson could be having an off day, everything's wrong with the world. Neighbours, other posters on the thread, even GNHQ 😁

Ah, I understand Sherlock. 🔎😊

DrWatson
You've spelt neighbour(s) correctly six times; when I type the word, the admin at GNHQ don't object at all.

You could try changing your spell checker to an English UK one, perhaps it's set to American English.

Germanshepherdsmum

Ah, I understand Sherlock. 🔎😊

I don't!!

🤔

I think a lot of people like corner plots as you are not as overlooked (generally) I personally prefer them

Have you made an offer?

DrWatson… some odd comments on here. One said "The bathroom toilet so close to the dining room would put me off", well, it's a bungalow, not Buck House, so it's not going to be a country ramble between them, is it?!

Why the sarcasm? I made the comment as the floor plan shows the main bathroom is right next to the sitting/dining room with the toilet on the adjoining wall with no outside wall or window. OP acknowledged this comment by saying I am wondering how effective mechanical extract fans are at eliminating bathroom moisture.

Without putting too fine a point on it, what is done in a bathroom doesn’t just create moisture. It’s relevant for guests as well as the owners. Some people might be sensitive about these things while others won’t give a toot. Or they might toot like an elephant and all that follows and just not care.

It’s not an insurmountable problem. Maybe the room can be reconfigured but it all has to be factored into cost.

I made the comment as the floor plan shows the main bathroom is right next to the sitting/dining room with the toilet on the adjoining wall with no outside wall or window. OP acknowledged this comment by saying I am wondering how effective mechanical extract fans are at eliminating bathroom moisture.

I must say I thought it was an odd configuration because the only wall for an extractor fan would be the one into the ensuite and consequently the main bedroom.

And, believe me, I've seen some very odd room layouts in the time I've been looking!

One of our bathrooms has no external walls. The extractor fan vents out through the roof. It’s very efficient.

My husband re-assured me that extractor fans can be going into the roof if necessary, and there are some efficient ones these days, especially in new builds and very often in apartments. Of course, it can also go outside via an en-suite. In our loft style apartment we open skylights in bathrooms, they are far more effective than extractors. So we have to see, but this is not a deal breaker.

I have another question. We are thinking of taking the wall down between the lounge and the kitchen. Would you or would you not? What is your experience? We currently have a very large kitchen/diner and a separate large lounge. We often use them a separate living rooms for me and DH, as I literally live in the kitchen/diner with my laptop and he lives in the living room that is combined with an office. I am a bit worried about losing a separate living space if we knock the wall, but the kitchen itself is not that big to become a kitchen/diner. So the dining table would have to go to the lounge. Any suggestions?

Could I give you another thought? Instead of knocking down the whole wall you could have an archway. But that’s me as I love archways.

25Avalon

Could I give you another thought? Instead of knocking down the whole wall you could have an archway. But that’s me as I love archways.

Archways I like too, but they have gone of out of fashion

I agree, archways are very old fashioned. Why can’t your husband use one of the bedrooms as an office? That’s what we have always done.

Germanshepherdsmum

I agree, archways are very old fashioned. Why can’t your husband use one of the bedrooms as an office? That’s what we have always done.

That's exactly the plan - to have smallest bedroom as an office. We don't need a dining room as family gatherings are extremely rare. We will make do with a small table in the lounge.

From what I’ve read arches are actually back in! They date back to Ancient Rome and Greece by the way. They are not old fashioned but if you just don’t like them then you just don’t like them.

I like a square (not arched) opening, with a pair of pocket doors. That gives the option of one large room or two smaller ones.

25Avalon

From what I’ve read arches are actually back in! They date back to Ancient Rome and Greece by the way. They are not old fashioned but if you just don’t like them then you just don’t like them.

I believe that everything has its place. It depends on the style of the property. In my opinion, arches look great in classical or grand properties with higher ceilings. This particular bungalow is build in a cottage style with small-ish brown frame windows. Every time we move the house I decorate and furnish it in keeping with the style of the property, whatever the style is.

Hetty58

I like a square (not arched) opening, with a pair of pocket doors. That gives the option of one large room or two smaller ones.

What a good idea!

Somebody just gave me a totally different idea. To make the lounge/diner into a big social kitchen/diner at the back and make the current kitchen into a cosy living room at front of the house with an optional divider between that you can close or open as you wish. Then the chimney can stay and be opened into the snug room. Then we would still have 2 living rooms. Would 3.6x3.6m be enough for a snug where the DH would relax with his tablet or we both watch TV?

A lot of expense and upheaval. Would you be able to live in the property while the work was being done and would you be adding to or detracting from the value of the property? The proposed living room/snug is very small for the only separate living area (furniture takes up space) and the new ‘social kitchen’ won’t be large enough for much socialising. I know you said you spend most of your time in the kitchen but does your husband want to do that and would you want to entertain guests in the kitchen (all the detritus of the meal on show and very little room for furniture)? This idea wouldn’t really give you two living rooms by the time you’ve factored in the furniture. It would give you a larger kitchen/diner and a very small living room. Open plan kitchen dining/living rooms are very popular now, but generally in larger properties than this - and you may depend that what is fashionable today will soon be quite the opposite. You are constrained by what this property actually is - a small bungalow. It obviously isn’t what you really want and I don’t think it ever will be.