Farm houses are often bungalows, I've never lived in anything other than a bungalow - my whole life. They're not just for the elderly. We're elderly now, so I guess we fit in well!
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Why bungalows for sale are so neglected?
(289 Posts)GNHQ have commented on this thread. Read here.
We have been looking for a bungalow in Surrey lately and got very frustrated with what we have observed being a trend.
Almost all of bungalows were built in the 1930-s and are quite small, typically around 65m2. They are in a really poor state and have not been updated for a few decades. Many show signs of utter neglect. Most of them have suspended floors, rising damp issues or damp and mould from leaky roofs and gutters. Doors and windows need changing, not to mention pink and avocado bathrooms and pine kitchens together with polystyrene tile ceilings. They have EPC of D or even E.
Whilst most of those faults and undesirable features are due to age, some are due to sheer neglect from the relatives of the elderly owners. We have seen plenty of probate properties still on the market a year later with dirty dishes still left in the stinking dishwasher, food left in the fridge and gone mouldy, kitchen units left dirty still full of contents.
The saddest one was a perfect in every sense bungalow, so well laid out and built, where the water butt leaked, stayed unnoticed for ages, created damp in the wall and eventually black mould took over the whole wall behind the built-in wardrobe. The doors were left open, and the mould spores disseminated all over the house, infecting every inch of surfaces, carpets and fabrics. This is how you get what is called a “sick building syndrome”. You will never get rid of that mould completely, the spores will make sure it comes back.
So on one hand, there is a real shortage of bungalows for the aging population, and on the other hand there are plenty of them but in such poor condition that nobody would buy them. Relatives overprice these bungalows in a hope to get a bigger inheritance, so the buildings sit empty for over a year getting musty, mouldy and accumulate problems – and depreciate to the point of becoming unsellable. Yet they do very little to make them sellable in the first place, like dealing with leaks and damp or at the very least giving these properties a good clean and empty the appliances.
It makes me so sad to watch some great houses going to waste instead of becoming cosy and loved homes. The only thing that could stop this madness would probably be the condition under which properties could be marketed – to be cleared, cleaned and issue free.
Some properties even got extended but we have seen so many extensions that were given little thought and resulted in convoluted layout, blocked light and fresh air and unusable or lost space.
OMG! Just looked at the bungalows in Cornwall and Devon and got blown away. You can get them twice as big, recently build, in great condition and for half the price of Surrey!!! Now trying to inspire hubby to get a transfer with his job, you never know!
Is it just me who’s got an On The Market advert on the page now featuring two bungalows?
In the Midlands too, and not so far and isolated as Devon or Cornwall. Parts of the Midlands are just beautiful and with fast access to London and other cities.
Germanshepherdsmum
I bought a bungalow in my late 30s (very handy with a small child). I also lived in my parents’ bungalow between the ages of 2 and 19. They are by no means only for the incapacitated or elderly.
I am not saying that bungalows are for the elderly only. But they are the obvious choice for the retirees, elderly and incapacitated whilst a lot of younger people would not even consider bungalows and go for a house, so they have far more choice and get better value.
The essence of this thread is that there is not enough of this type of accommodation in good condition needed by a certain group of population.
Fleurpepper
In the Midlands too, and not so far and isolated as Devon or Cornwall. Parts of the Midlands are just beautiful and with fast access to London and other cities.
Can you recommend those beautiful parts?
This is what you can get for half a million in my area for example: www.onthemarket.com/details/13326505/
RusBun
Fleurpepper
In the Midlands too, and not so far and isolated as Devon or Cornwall. Parts of the Midlands are just beautiful and with fast access to London and other cities.
Can you recommend those beautiful parts?
Yes.
My corner of N Bucks s 35 minutes from Euston and a lovely county to live in.
Let’s face it it OP, if Surrey is above your budget you will have to compromise.
£500k no longer buys very much and nothing at all,in the commuter belt.
merlotgran
Callistemon21
A typical bungalow purchaser is also old or incapacitated, and also has no energy or resources to do it up
😁That’s me then! 🤣🤣
We can't find one despite looking for years so perhaps we're not old enough yet!!
RusBun
This is what you can get for half a million in my area for example: www.onthemarket.com/details/13326505/
I thought you were going to show us a shoebox on a busy road RusBun, but that’s a decent bungalow on a quiet street with potential and a lovely garden. I don’t really see what it is that you couldn’t face about doing something like that up, it could be done in stages? The USP must be the toilet seat though, I’ve never seen anything quite like that before.
RusBun
Germanshepherdsmum
So perhaps postpone a move until then unless he has a private pension?
How can you afford to retire if you still have a big mortgage to pay? I think it is hard to imagine for people outside SE that this could be the case, but this is what high property prices and expensive mortgages do. It is a different world here, everybody is stretched to the limits, including those in well paid professions, unless you are from the upper class. I used to live in Cheshire, had my own 3-bed semi and could comfortably pay a mortgage and bills on a single salary. But my DH was born in this area and does not want to move.
We lived in the SE, I just had a glance at some bungalows and thought there were some which looked about the same price as around here but I don't know all the areas well.
There was one just a couple of roads from where we lived, it's on the market for £1.4 million! - but it is very large and beautifully refurbished.
Another one along the same road is a good size, looks fairly modern and less than half that price and about the same as bungalows in many areas away from the SE.
Casdon
RusBun
This is what you can get for half a million in my area for example: www.onthemarket.com/details/13326505/
I thought you were going to show us a shoebox on a busy road RusBun, but that’s a decent bungalow on a quiet street with potential and a lovely garden. I don’t really see what it is that you couldn’t face about doing something like that up, it could be done in stages? The USP must be the toilet seat though, I’ve never seen anything quite like that before.
Interestingly, this one just come back on the market. Survey must have picked something nasty.
Not necessarily, perhaps they couldn't get a mortgage for the amount they needed; mortgage companies are trying to push down prices by valuing properties lower bow.
Try a low offer, they can only refuse.
RusBun
OMG! Just looked at the bungalows in Cornwall and Devon and got blown away. You can get them twice as big, recently build, in great condition and for half the price of Surrey!!! Now trying to inspire hubby to get a transfer with his job, you never know!
It depends, yes if you're happy to be in a remote village with no facilites somewhere, or in a lesser area of say Torquay. Otherwise, Devon is very much on a par with Surrey, £500k is not enough to find something my opinion. That's if there's anything available now.
PS. Nothing against Torquay, I could equally have said towns like Plymouth, Truro or Barnstaple.
A typical bungalow purchaser is also old or incapacitated, and also has no energy or resources to do it up.
... where is your evidence of this? I don't know many people who have bought/lived in bungalows to be honest but my own experience is not this.
One bungalow dweller I did know was my aunt who bought it when she was probably late 40s and her husband moved for work reasons to the Isle of Wight. It was a new-build with a massive garden including fruit trees and a big pond.
Another was a very wealthy friend of my mother's who bought a bungalow because it was the first available property on a particular road. This was on an enormous plot - a 3 bed.
The third bungalow I know was built by a builder who was a friend of the family. He built a two-bedroom bungalow for his own "forever home" (though I doubt they would have called it that in the 1950s). Looking at the photos of this man and his lovely wife with my parents and me on the steps of his new patio he looks early 40s. I know it was built post war. They had no children so may have thought about it differently.
My (then) 96 year old mother-in-law nearly bought a tiny new build bungalow on a smallish plot because it was in a location she wanted to move (close to my husband). It was 100% modern with "eco" systems for everything... in the end she bought a 3 bed 1970s "family" home instead - and lived in it for weeks whilst it was rewired, had many plugs and light fittings moved, had the parquet polished and sealed, had a new boiler fitted and radiators moved, altered the bedroom cupboards and had the whole place redecorated and recarpeted. She had a new kitchen and bathroom fitted and then when that was done she had the garden redesigned and terraced.
Not everyone meets your description of a bungalow purchaser.
The house next door to my mother-in-law is on the market just now and that needs lots of work. I'd guess £50,000 if they paid someone to do it. It is currently lived in by a nice couple in their 80s.
I think most people who move to a "retirement property" actually retire to a house rather than a bungalow.
I'd be interested to know the figures to be honest.
RusBun Can you prevent lugging heavy shopping upstairs (for now) by buying any most groceries online?
My daughter lived in a 3rd floor flat and did this for years.
Just a thought given that you are struggling.
Never thought GN would become agesitst. But seems from this thread if you want a bungalow you have to be as OP calls us elderly. I live in a road of 40 bungalows youngest is 39 oldest 96. I know several families with young children who brought bungalows for the size also safety aspect for the children.
I was born disabled but managed in 2 houses . My late husband adapted our last house for me when my health got worse in 1988 and when he was told wouldn't live 5 years in 2001 due to cancer only thing needed doing was having the bathroom out and shower room fitted. So I could manage to shower safely on my own. He died in 2004.
But due to looking after both parents and mother in law couldn't put my house on the market until 2018 after my mom was the last to die in 2017.
Moved over 100 miles to live closer to my family and knew I wanted a 2 bed bungalow which is my forever home. So glad I did . The executors of the will kept it for as my house sale fell through twice. They kept it heated during the winter and aired in the summer. It was clean when I move here but found mouse droppings but it had been empty since May 2018 when their mom died. Pest control got rid of mice only smell was from the blinds but went as soon as they where removed.
I looked at the bungalow with the view of how I wanted it not how it was. It drove me mad when viewers for my house saying they didn't like this that or the other. But pointed out you buy the bricks and mortar the rest is up to you.
No property is perfect even a new build. You make in into a home. I have never been happier since my move . Lovely neighbours ,great transport system and brilliant healthcare.
RusBun
This is what you can get for half a million in my area for example: www.onthemarket.com/details/13326505/
At that price it will be demolished and a house built, similar properties in this area will have the same fate.
I've looked around for a bungalow and they are often in a poor state of repair .
A neighbour's bungalow has just been demolished .
But if they have been bought as retirement homes then the elderly owners aren't always able to maintain them .
Casdon
RusBun
This is what you can get for half a million in my area for example: www.onthemarket.com/details/13326505/
I thought you were going to show us a shoebox on a busy road RusBun, but that’s a decent bungalow on a quiet street with potential and a lovely garden. I don’t really see what it is that you couldn’t face about doing something like that up, it could be done in stages? The USP must be the toilet seat though, I’ve never seen anything quite like that before.
Casdon. A decent bungalow? Really? You can see the damp there, the delapidated windows, etc, etc.
The bungalow would need either a total renovating from top to toe, or demolishing and rebuilding - new kitchen, new bathroom, roof done, etc, etc. It would need another £500k to get it looking 'decent'. And that's the problem RusBun is talking about.
The essence of this thread is that there is not enough of this type of accommodation in good condition needed by a certain group of population
You omitted the word affordable - where something is in demand, that will always be reflected in prices .
The other imponderable in the complex issue of market forces, is turnover.
Many younger couples/families move several times- more children, desirability of schools, work, etc, but once a couple or person on their own moves into a bungalow as a retirement home, they tend to stay- for obvious reasons.
Maybe in other areas, where there are plenty of bungalows, the demographic of the purchasers is different. But I assure you, and every local estate agent knows it, that here in Surrey it is the retirees and the disabled who want to buy bungalows for the ground floor. And every bungalow for sale has clear signs of a previous elderly owner, so they must be the ones who lived in them. In fact, EAs look very surprised that we are looking for a bungalow because we don't look old enough and our disabilities are invisible.
People with mobility issues here in Surrey buy either bungalows or ground floor flats. We struggled for a long time to sell our very spacious second floor loft apartment just because there is no lift. A lot of retirees looked at it, absolutely loved it for its spaciousness, unique features, amazing panoramic views, almost new and in pristine condition, peaceful village setting. The absence of a lift was the only thing that stopped them from buying. For the same reason, ground floor flats here get snapped quickly.
Recently when we came to look at a bungalow, an EA told us that another couple of our age came to view, who also live in a penthouse without a lift, and likewise looking for a bungalow.
We never even thought of buying a bungalow until we started looking for a house this summer and with every stair in every viewed house I realised how painful it was for my knees and my leg muscles to go up the stairs. I hardly noticed it before because of living on one level in an apartment and only going out once a week due to my illness. But the DH gets out of breath every time he climbs to the 2nd floor, even without any bags. So two weeks later we changed our search from a house to a bungalow, even though there are much better houses in that price range.
The is nothing ageist in the post or in the choice of words, which are widely acceptable and never been regarded offensive. I am 60 but with every flare of my joints and ligaments and chronic fatigue I feel at least 80. We all age differently, but despite looking younger, we certainly feel old, and I have no shame in admitting it. It is only offensive to those who has a problem accepting getting old or crippled, hence it being only a natural course of life.
The essence of this post is 'there not enough quality bungalows for those specific groups of population who need to live on a ground floor', and most of those just happened to be old or disabled. What is ageist about it? Some people just love a good argument for the sake of it.
It would need another £500k to get it looking 'decent'.
I think that might be a mistake because you would then be making it by far the most expensive property in a road that doesn't necessarily command it. It doesn't have an enormous plot.
Foxygloves
^The essence of this thread is that there is not enough of this type of accommodation in good condition needed by a certain group of population^
You omitted the word affordable - where something is in demand, that will always be reflected in prices .
The other imponderable in the complex issue of market forces, is turnover.
Many younger couples/families move several times- more children, desirability of schools, work, etc, but once a couple or person on their own moves into a bungalow as a retirement home, they tend to stay- for obvious reasons.
Even most of the the 700K bungalows in Surrey need a complete renovation, and at that price I would not call them "affordable". You would need to spend another 200K to do them up, so you are looking close to a million. Not affordable for most and if you are not in great shape, you could not do it yourself to save money.
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