Joseann - Yes, I probably exaggerated - I was just thinking of something my brother-in-law said - new kitchen - £40K, new bathroom £20-30K, double glazing throughout - goodness knows, damp fixing and proofing - goodness knows again. Roof fixing - depends whether there's asbestos, but again, a lot of money. Redecorating, the garden - a whole other issue - it all adds up.
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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.
Joseann
^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.
Actually, on THAT road it would not be the most expensive property, there are some for 1.5 - 2 million
If you can’t find what you want at a price you can afford in Surrey the answer’s obvious isn’t it? Your purse doesn’t stretch to Surrey prices. Will your husband agree to look elsewhere? You said he mainly works from home, occasionally visits an office in London and various construction sites in Surrey. Just how often is that necessary? You can reach London and Surrey perfectly easily from other, less expensive places - but as has already been said, anything in the traditional commuter belt will be costly. A longer commute takes you into more affordable areas. However I am mindful that he has recently had cancer and a partial lung removal, has to work for another ten years, until his early seventies, to pay the mortgage and neither of you will receive the state pension for several years. Is moving to a totally different and much cheaper area, working from home and becoming mortgage free completely impossible?
Well then it might be a steal.
Its so difficult without knowing the area, just like saying Devon is cheaper, or someone on another thread saying abroad is a lot cheaper, (as I sit in a €600k appartement here). It's all relative.
Germanshepherdsmum
If you can’t find what you want at a price you can afford in Surrey the answer’s obvious isn’t it? Your purse doesn’t stretch to Surrey prices. Will your husband agree to look elsewhere? You said he mainly works from home, occasionally visits an office in London and various construction sites in Surrey. Just how often is that necessary? You can reach London and Surrey perfectly easily from other, less expensive places - but as has already been said, anything in the traditional commuter belt will be costly. A longer commute takes you into more affordable areas. However I am mindful that he has recently had cancer and a partial lung removal, has to work for another ten years, until his early seventies, to pay the mortgage and neither of you will receive the state pension for several years. Is moving to a totally different and much cheaper area, working from home and becoming mortgage free completely impossible?
You are right except DH mostly works from the office and will be commuting to Epsom for the next 10 years. Not easy in his condition, and he has a very stressful job. His job in engineering management entails a lot of team work and meetings, so he can't just work from home. It would be different if he only had another 3 years before retiring.
Thankfully to the advice given here he will explore the possibility of getting transferred to another location or finding another job (not easy at his pre-retirement age), but also his job is quite rare, typically based in large cities only.
Cabowich
Joseann - Yes, I probably exaggerated - I was just thinking of something my brother-in-law said - new kitchen - £40K, new bathroom £20-30K, double glazing throughout - goodness knows, damp fixing and proofing - goodness knows again. Roof fixing - depends whether there's asbestos, but again, a lot of money. Redecorating, the garden - a whole other issue - it all adds up.
Oh yes, you are right, and only people from construction background like my DH can see that. By the time you spend all that money on doing it up, you could not make profit re-selling it, not in this market
Obviously £500k is an exageration, £50k would make it livable, but it’s never going to be a good house that’s cheap to run.
My DIL has just bought a bungalow with a couple of acres paid £750k, crazy money and it’s a dump that needs bulldozing, they are patching it up, no logic in that.
Katie59
Obviously £500k is an exageration, £50k would make it livable, but it’s never going to be a good house that’s cheap to run.
My DIL has just bought a bungalow with a couple of acres paid £750k, crazy money and it’s a dump that needs bulldozing, they are patching it up, no logic in that.
And they will spend hundreds of thousands by the time they have finished. People always underestimate and end up spending at least 50% more than planned
RusBun
Katie59
Obviously £500k is an exageration, £50k would make it livable, but it’s never going to be a good house that’s cheap to run.
My DIL has just bought a bungalow with a couple of acres paid £750k, crazy money and it’s a dump that needs bulldozing, they are patching it up, no logic in that.And they will spend hundreds of thousands by the time they have finished. People always underestimate and end up spending at least 50% more than planned
That is about right OH has done a lot of property improvements over the years and always adds 50% to the budget, sometimes it does work out lower but not often.
Would you consider leasehold "retirement properties"?
Think there will be some of those.
NotSpaghetti
Would you consider leasehold "retirement properties"?
Think there will be some of those.
Plenty of apartments in retirement complexes like McCarthy & Stone but service fees are high and they have control over the sale. Similar for Park Homes.
There are nice "retirement bungalows" too Katie - though some probably have "clauses" in them about alterations for example.
It costs about £40,000 to move before you start doing anything to a property.
That’s a lot Callistemon. Stamp duty is the biggest contributor to moving costs - £17.5k for the £600k bungalow OP was considering. Then estate agents, who almost always charge more than solicitors (I never could fathom that).
And surveyors of course, and mortgage arrangement fees and removals.
We worked out a guesstimate on a bungalow which could have been suitable; that was before the total refurbishment which we thought was necessary, although the estate agent presented it to us as in wonderful condition. 😃
It was ok but very dated.
Typical estate agent’s description! Did it ‘boast’ anything? 😁
It boasted a conservatory, I think, which needed pulling down!
Or we thought it did 😁
Callistemon21
It costs about £40,000 to move before you start doing anything to a property.
Where did you pluck that figure from?! My move earlier this year (to a non-derelict bungalow) cost me less than £20k in total, including a range of surveys, full pack & move, stamp duty, solicitors for sale & purchase and estate agents. Mind you, it was not in Surrey...
Calistemon - I paid the EA less than the solicitor. EA fees are usually a percentage and they can be negotiated, whereas the solicitor was a fixed fee.
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.
Selling your current house will bring in more than the new one will cost, if you buy it somewhere cheaper. That will bring down your mortgage
Wanting to stay where DH was brought up just isn't possible if you don't want to stay in your current home, and house prices have risen so far and so fast that you can't afford them unless he works until he drops dead in the office. If you want a retirement without stress, widen your net into other areas.
Perhaps when you took on that large mortgage you would have been better to consider how long it would take you to pay it off, and compared that with how keen you were to keep on working for that long?
Have you considered that wonderful invention, the stairlift? You would have to admit to yourselves that you needed its help climbing the Everest that a flight of stairs has become, but you have already accepted that you need a home on one floor.
It means that you can consider homes with bedrooms upstairs (or with a livingroom upstairs and bedrooms on the ground floor - no need to stick to conventional layouts. A straight staircase with space at top and bottom for the seat to "park" out of the way is best, possibly after going round a corner. Do some research before buying, different firms have different schemes for maintenance, buying them back when no longer needed and so on.
argymargy
Callistemon21
It costs about £40,000 to move before you start doing anything to a property.
Where did you pluck that figure from?! My move earlier this year (to a non-derelict bungalow) cost me less than £20k in total, including a range of surveys, full pack & move, stamp duty, solicitors for sale & purchase and estate agents. Mind you, it was not in Surrey...
Calistemon - I paid the EA less than the solicitor. EA fees are usually a percentage and they can be negotiated, whereas the solicitor was a fixed fee.
I didn't pluck that figure, we worked out a rough estimate, together with the Estate Agent, on a property we saw, together with the costs of selling ours.
This was based on a bungalow needing refurbishment (in our opinion) and not in the SE, but still nearer the figure quoted by the OP, but in this area.
Then refurbishment on top.
Germanshepherdsmum
That’s a lot Callistemon. Stamp duty is the biggest contributor to moving costs - £17.5k for the £600k bungalow OP was considering. Then estate agents, who almost always charge more than solicitors (I never could fathom that).
Stamp duty is higher in Wales than it is in England, that can add quite a bit to the total amount too. In Wales, the rate is 4%, compared to 3% in England and Northern Ireland
RusBun
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.
Indeed- so being a bit more flexible on location will make a big difference. You are looking at prime gold belt commuter area for City professionals, and there is a huge price attached to this.
Moving a bit further south, or into Sussex- could really help. But honestly, you will get much better value with a 2 or 3 bed house- semi, or terrassed- with a downstairs WC- and then fit a stairlift.
Friends sold a great 4 bed, 2 bathrooms house with wonderful large corner plot in the Midlands- and could barely afford a 2 bed bungalow just north of London, with tiny garden.
I was tempted to make an offer on a chalet bungalow but the lack of parking spaces at the front put me off.
It was in good repair and already had a stair lift with an up to date service record. I like to think I’m still a bit of a way off needing one but when the vendor asked if I would like it left in (I bet he had his fingers crossed) I said yes because at 74 (at the time) with a dodgy knee it seemed sensible.
Sadly the lack of parking was an issue I couldn’t ignore.
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