Why bungalows for sale are so neglected?

RusBun what age do you consider elderly? I am 65 one of my neighbours is 96 he keeps his bungalow in tip top condition. And he is far from elderly.

Finding reliable/professional trades available to do the work is a nightmare in itself.

Pity you're not near me. I'm also in the NW and there's currently a lovely little 2 bed bungalow for sale. Lady who owned it died quite suddenly and her son is selling it. She'd obviously maintained and decorated it to a high standard but her son has emptied everything out and repainted it throughout and continues to maintain his mum's beloved garden until it's sold. It's an absolute bargain at £260k and that includes front and rear gardens and integral garage. Fancy it myself!

Most people who buy bungalows tend to downsize from a large detached house or come from another area where properties are more expensive. They can afford to buy it without a mortgage and do it up.

It is not easy when you try to upsize from a flat as in your case or a semi. Most likely has to get a mortgage to buy the bungalow and use savings or borrow more money to do it up.

I think, OP, that your difficulty is three-fold: You are searching in a very small area (IIRC within ten miles of Epsom), you are searching for a bungalow and the sort of bungalow in that very small area which you want to find costs more than you can afford. Therefore you are looking at properties which don’t meet your requirements. Down-at-heel properties will be bought by people with the means - financial and physical - to do them up. A lot of bungalow purchasers are small builders and young people wanting a fixer-upper.

One AC lives next to a derelict bungalow on nice plot in very nice part of Surrey. The owner was very elderly, very frail, and VERY independent- and just let the house and garden go. Makes sense as bungalows are normally owned by older people who then get older still. She has passed away and the bungalow will very probably be demolished for much bigger one or luxury house.

Our farm home was my GPs (and other family prior) bungalow.

We're added, up and out the length of the back. It's not modern, nobody will want to purchase. I'm quite sure the land is the only value remaining, perhaps that is what is happening to many old bungalows?

I understand that the elderly vendors have no capacity to make their house presentable or to fix structural problems. Have you tried to look at this problem from a different prospective?

A typical bungalow purchaser is also old or incapacitated, and also has no energy or resources to do it up. And they find themselves in a situation where no liveable bungalows are available. In the current market they would need to sell first, and if their next house needs extending or renovating, then they have to go into rent and move twice - not easy at all at their age and too much upheaval to live on a building site for a year whilst the house is being done. Not everybody has the option of staying with the relatives for a while, they may have died or are too young to have their own place and are renting.

I live in a small cul de sac all post war bungalows in a conservation area . Two houses belonging to elderly widows have been sold in the past few years,one had plans to rebuild with an entirely different look and then found that the plans were beyond their ability to finance them. The second has been bought by a builder and again a massive two storey structure with gym and double garage which does not align with the kerb is being built. The original house had been used as an example by the local council as to showing how well this group of houses fitted the conservation environment. Obviously it’s what will happen to ours. Added to that I have leaks and mould and cloudy double glazing and a husband who prefers holidays to house repairs but that is another thread.

The reason new build bungalows are more expensive is that they have a bigger footprint and need a bigger plot to build on, so a 2 bed bungalow will cost as much as 3 bed house.

I’m lucky when I moved in with OH he already had a well equipped 3 bed, so easy, lovely garden too.

NotSpaghetti

I don't think you can blame the relatives.
Lots of elderly people loathe upheaval and I have known a number over the years who won't spend on property maintenance.

I wholeheartedly agree. My mother was on her own for 15 years and would let me do nothing until she gave me the property that she no longer had any interest in.
New kitchens and conservatories were cancelled as was the cleaner I employed.Decorators had colours changed to 1940's,she even got me to completely recurtain the house with upmarket curtains at my expense and when I left a relation said she had had them all taken down and her old ones put back up
When she went into care I realised that it could not be sold as it stood, so had a complete sortout garden landscape and made easy etc.
We got a really good price for it and all the thanks I got because it was mine by then was "Well aren't you the clever one". She could have been living been in complete luxury with a dishwasher and meals delivered. She did not want it.
The odd thing was her best friend was the complete opposite.
There is only so much you can do if the house still belongs to the elderly parent and believe me you get embarrassed and downhearted by the whole sorry state.
Don't always blame the family.

Our very contemporary house was previously a very small bungalow.

The 'relatives' are often elderly themselves, these days.

There was a lovely, pristine, double bungalow, over the road, that sold for 750K. I was surprised to see it being demolished - right down to a few feet of wall on the foundations. (There must be a financial advantage in 'renovation' rather than rebuilding.)

Now, it's the biggest house in the road, unrecognisable, very modern/minimalist and sticks out like a sore thumb. A large family live there - so must have needed the room.

The advantages of probate properties for sale are that there is vacant possession and often cheeky offers are accepted. Then 20% cheaper to demolish and rebuild.

We live in Hertfordshire where there is a shortage of bungalows so any that go on the market are at inflated prices. The new buyers then either tear them down or turn them into two storey houses. Very few have been in the poor condition you have described RusBun.

Many bungalows were the property of the elderly, and their relatives, if there are any, may well live a great distance away. The property may well also a charge on it, to pay nursing home fees, as was the case with my father, and at a time when he was charged more to cover costs for those who could not afford to pay.
I lived 170 miles away, worked full time, and devoted numerous weekends to clearing the house of 25 years of accumulated 'stuff'. The house was clean and tidy but in need of modernisation which my father had flatly refused to do, but that was reflected in the price.
Many elderly people do not spend money to modernise their homes because they are worried about the depletion of their savings which they will need (now more than ever) for the future.
Your comments show rather a lack of understanding of other people's situations.

Another reason for not updating houses and replacing ageing bathrooms etc is that on buying a house many people just gut it and move walls around to make it unrecognisable - or knock it down and start again.

Rusbun - it's exactly the same where we live. I have put it down to two factors - the elderly people who live in them are either incapable physically of renovating/improving their bungalow, or they just can't afford to.

Maybe, in some cases, the family can't afford to do them up once the owners die, or go into a care home. It is frustrating, though. We've been looking for a bungalow to downsize into for ages but they all either need gutting, or if in decent condition, are simply unaffordable.

It is very likely that the relatives who inherited the house just don't have the money to do it up UNTIL it sells, so they are in a Catch22 situation, going round in circles while the house deteriorates, or they live too far away to pop in and clear it up themselves. A house near me went on the market when the last of two spinster sisters died. A young couple related to them spent their annual holiday travelling to it to empty and clean (though it had been kept very clean) but it still had old-fashioned decoration and fittings. It is still on the market.

There may not even be any relatives. What agent is going to spend time, elbow grease or money on renovation? they wouldn't get a return on the outlay, and they are not in business to lose money. There are plenty of well-kept houses with modern fittings that will sell on sight and the commission will keep the estate agent in Saville Row suits and expensive cars - particularly in Surrey.

That is another factor - you live in Surrey, where the general expectation is that when you buy anything (not just houses) you pay for the best and don't expect to have to make do and mend. Other parts of the country may have more imagination than money, so the less pristine houses might not still be there to disgust you.

If a house or bungalow is in poor condition it would often be sent to auction then the buyer would decide wether to renovate or rebuild. Renovating to modern standards is often impractical if the structure is poor, rebuilding needs planning permission and that may take months to complete.

The executor would be justified in spending money to preserve and secure a property, certainly removing rubbish and clearing garden would be OK.
Beyond that before probate probably not, unless someone else knows different.

A lot of people buy, demolish, and rebuild rather than renovate for the simple reason you don’t pay VAT if you rebuild so it’s cheaper to demolish. The new owners of a lovely old but expensive to renovate house near me have applied to demolish and rebuild with all eco and environmental considerations in place. The council will probably agree on that basis never mind the unique history of this house but because it’s just outside the conservation area it doesn’t need an historical survey so I supplied one.

Elderly people may have no money to maintain or heat their homes. When they die or go into care there may be no close relatives, none living nearby or even in the UK, or none who have the money or physical ability to clean and clear the house. You know nothing of the circumstances behind any of the house sales. It’s ridiculous to suggest that all houses should have to be cleaned, cleared and free of issues before being marketed.

On a property programme once, I saw a very dated 70s house which found a very delighted buyer who loved all things retro including the avocado bath suite.
Of course the house was clean and in good condition.

There’s also a case where relatives aren’t able to throw £20,000, £30,000 or more at a property (to bring it up to what you’d consider saleable) and possibly, then have to wait months for that property to sell.
My DF’s bungalow was clean, but dated. The EA said to update if I could afford it (which I did) or just take a low offer, as it would be a ‘builders project’

Rusban when my mum and dad died I took the estate agents advice when selling the house (which was in good condition)
He said you will never sell the house with an advacado bathroom suite So I used my money to put in a full, very nice, white bath, shower, toilet and basin and while at it I had a new toilet put in downstairs to update the original one
When the new people moved in they ripped out the brand new never used bathroom it broke my heart and wasted my hard earned cash
I would never ever update a house again I d rather sell it for less and let them do the updates