Bungalows in need of modernising

I'd not pay for somebody else's idea of what decorations make a house nice!
Ideally I'd like to move to a place that has combi boiler, good drains, and enough insulation. I prefer to choose my own bathroom arrangements ,flooring, and colours. I saw one recently on Rightmove that had been done up and which looked more attractive when it had its old lady decorations.

PamelaJ1

As GSM pointed out look at the floor plans. I’ve just looked at what is available in our nearest town. In one bungalow you have to go through the hall into the kitchen then turn right into the sitting/dining room.
So add the price of a door from the hall into the sitting room, knock down the wall between the kitchen & dining room and then build a wall to divide that ‘new’ room from the living area.
Now it’s perfect (for me) but at what price?

Yes, look at the floor plans
Then wonder what on earth were people thinking when they added that extension, conservatory, porch etc 🤔

Germanshepherdsmum

But I live in the countryside, no near neighbours, no noise, absolute peace and quiet. I bet you can’t tick those!

Nope because we don't want to! We wisely live in a small, busy thriving village with decent shops, GP surgery and bus service to the nearest town, we all read the stories of retired people trapped when they can no longer drive. We are not there yet, may never be, but are future proofed.

Two bungalows near me have been converted to 5 bedroom houses. They are next door to each other, leaving no garden space other than a couple of metres and a driveway and a green strip alongside it (I know lots of people don't want gardens). Someone certainly had some imagination - they're looking for approximately £1M each I think. I'm looking forward to seeing who would pay that sort of money to live on top of someone else.

I wanted to buy a bungalow years ago in fact I was tempted by one when I was still young and fit .
It had an incredible garden .
If I buy one I won't be stripping the interior out and painting it grey .
I far prefer a separate kitchen and rooms that I can close off .

I guess there's bungalows, and then there's bungalows. My friend in the south of France has a gorgeous bungalow. The bedrooms and bathrooms are all down one corridor, separate from the living and dining area. Outside each bedroom is a little patio overlooking a soothing waterfall. The kitchen at the end of the dining room isn't huge, but it is hexagonal shaped and is light with windows on all sides. The plot, like most bungalows, has a compact garden all round.
The value of the property is only 1/3 of that of my old poky London townhouse which just about had a pocket handkerchief sized garden at the back.
Here in Devon, bungalows fly off the shelf and are often more expensive than houses. We bought one a couple of years ago and transformed it on a modern coastal theme. Everything, including new kitchen, is natural pebble colours with splashes of blue. No clutter, double width garage, large kitchen/diner with marble table leading onto light blue decking ourside. I love it, but now inspired by the works of Klimt, I'm about to try some golden arty décor in the bedrooms. The thing about smaller rooms in bungalows is that you don't need as many rolls of wallpaper, so can go all out and spend more on something nice!!

But I live in the countryside, no near neighbours, no noise, absolute peace and quiet. I bet you can’t tick those!

Germanshepherdsmum

I was brought up in a bungalow and lived in one for several years when my son was small. Very convenient indeed. I think some people have a mental image of a bungalow as a place where old people live. It’s the little roads consisting solely of identical small bungalows that I call God’s waiting room - with apologies to those here who are very happy living in such properties. What I want is a single storey place with character and large rooms, but not many of them, with a good sized garden, backing onto fields (as we do now) and without close neighbours. It will come along one day - most likely in these parts a barn conversion.

My home would tick all your boxes GSM! We back onto fields at the back, at the front look onto the trees of the garden of a 1920's house........

I was brought up in a bungalow and lived in one for several years when my son was small. Very convenient indeed. I think some people have a mental image of a bungalow as a place where old people live. It’s the little roads consisting solely of identical small bungalows that I call God’s waiting room - with apologies to those here who are very happy living in such properties. What I want is a single storey place with character and large rooms, but not many of them, with a good sized garden, backing onto fields (as we do now) and without close neighbours. It will come along one day - most likely in these parts a barn conversion.

I just don't understand why some people have this sneering attitude to bungalows, ours is spacious, on a large established plot with mature trees and hedges, and in a mixed road of houses dating from Edwardian semis through to 1960's detached, the road was sold off aeons ago as plots so all of the houses are different. Certainly not 'God's waiting room'.

HousePlantQueen is right. You can do wonders to a lot of bungalows but you need imagination, energy and more money than you think. We have done this sort of thing twice and, in the past couple of years, material costs have doubled I'd say. I agree with the person who said that some Homes Under The Hammer renovators do not tell the truth. You absolutely cannot refurbish anything for some of the amounts they mention and they don't seem to take into account solicitors' fees and stamp duty. Tradesmen have put up their prices as they are in such demand. 1960s-80s bungalows are probably the best as they often have large footprints. In our last one we had a lovely big garden and plenty of parking. The more modern bungalows built on estates tend to have much smaller footprints and you can't do so much with them. However, as someone stated, when you look online it seems most of them are empty as someone has probably moved into care or passed away. This is when you can get a real bargain. Make a very low offer and often it will be accepted as the relatives can't be bothered hanging around and also often live away from the area. Before we started renovating our last bungalow we asked the advice of the local estate agent about layout - he was extremely helpful. One bit of advice is if you do go for it and decide to renovate, try to create a wide hallway as this gives the impression that the whole place is bigger than it really is. I must say B&Q were excellent in designing the kitchen and most helpful when we altered a few things. Never a quibble about returning anything and getting a refund. It is daunting but the end result can be well worthwhile.

As GSM pointed out look at the floor plans. I’ve just looked at what is available in our nearest town. In one bungalow you have to go through the hall into the kitchen then turn right into the sitting/dining room.
So add the price of a door from the hall into the sitting room, knock down the wall between the kitchen & dining room and then build a wall to divide that ‘new’ room from the living area.
Now it’s perfect (for me) but at what price?

Elegran I think the main reason the majority on Rightmove looks depressing is that they are empty. Devoid of all personal touches that add the homely feel, all that is left are marked carpets, faded wallpaper etc. I know full well of the need to look past the decor but such properties do not make my heart sing with excitement. Some may be delighted at the opportunity to transform it but I just see it as an almighty money out and non-stop work. Ideally I would like a large bungalow on a small plot, the last thing I need is a huge garden but it seems impossible to find in my preferred area. The main problem with bungalows is there aren't enough of them to meet demand.

merlotgran

Callistemon21

A bungalow is a great place to live in - I have no idea why they are treated with derision
Me neither. I'd like to move to one but there are few in this locality and they're either crammed in or on a main road.

In New Zealand the term 'bungalow' is offensive apparently. Who knew, I didn't until I admired our host's home and she retorted "it's not a bungalow, it's a house!"
There are a lot of well-planned, spacious single storey homes in New Zealand and Australia, but perhaps lack of space prevents them being built here now where land is at a premium.

The advantage of snapping up a bungalow that was built in the 1930s like mine is that they all had a generous footprint. My garden is twice the size of my granddaughter’s, who lives in a three bedroom house that was built in the sixties and newer properties are on even smaller plots.

The previous owners of my humble abode built a large shower room and utility extension and opened up the galley kitchen so there is a good ‘flow’ through to the conservatory.

Yes, the rooms could be described as boxy but I am in my mid seventies so I can’t see the point of creating a more open plan look as some of my neighbours have done- not to mention the expense.

A friend of mine bought a house nearer to the centre of town because she didn’t want to live in ‘God’s waiting room.’ After nine years she now regrets her decision as her road which was once full of smart town houses, has so many cars parked with wheels on the pavement on both sides that she now dreads going out because when she gets home she often has to park in the next street (if she’s lucky) Her neighbours are noisy and so is the passing traffic.

Give me GWR any day with quiet neighbours, off road parking and a good sized garden!

I've seen lots of lovely bungalows in good locations around the country, just not here!

Have you seen the size of the bedrooms in newbuilds? 10 x 10ft is listed as a "spacious double bedroom"

To a large extent, the clutterd look is because of the furniture chosen by the owners. Current taste is for smaller pieces without any twiddley bits.

We’re all different. I just don’t like small rooms. The photos of the interiors of so many bungalows on Rightmove show the rooms to be very cluttered because they are so small.

Why?
I live in a Victorian terraced house and am used to smaller rooms, no problemo.
I neither have the money for nor want a big house to keep clean for the two of us and a bungalow sounds just fine to me.

Oreo

They look really nice.

I agree. Not everyone wants big rooms either.

We have 3 bedrooms, granted, they are all doubles.

We sleep in the main one, the other two were used by the GC when they were small and had sleepovers with us. No longer needed for that now, so one I use as a dressing room, and the other I have a comfy chair and tv in there, and watch separate stuff to DH, or sit reading.

My own little sitting room.

I bet you’d change your mind if the floor plans were posted!

They look really nice.

If they have three bedrooms all the rooms must be very small. I’m not surprised they haven’t sold.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202404/medium-170204-76314-32906798-img-00-0000-max-476x317.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202404/medium-263770-76314-32906798-img-01-0000-max-476x317.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202404/medium-519297-9512-32854578-img-00-0000.jpeg

Germanshepherdsmum

I see they are ‘self build’ bungalows. In the 60s and 70s a lot of Colt timber framed bungalows were built which have now come to the end of their structural lives. They were popular because they were quick and cheap to erect. It’s quite possible that this is why these two haven’t been sold, because basically such a bungalow is only worth the value of the land for rebuilding. You’d be unlikely to get a mortgage, or equity release, on one.

No, they are not colt timber framed bungalows. They are double fronted stone build bungalows, self- build in the 1960s with 3 bedrooms, a separate dining room and a conservatory. I have attached their images.

They have been on the market for a few months, one with price reduced by £25k recently. A boxy two bedroom bungalow nearby a bit done up without a separate dining room or a conservatory was asking £25k lesser than these bungalows.

Sales of properties around here have slowed down since the increases of interest rates by the BOE last year.

We are in the process of selling our overseas property. I love to move to a bungalow in the future but I am not sure I have in me to handle a full sale renovation.

Callistemon21

^A bungalow is a great place to live in - I have no idea why they are treated with derision^
Me neither. I'd like to move to one but there are few in this locality and they're either crammed in or on a main road.

In New Zealand the term 'bungalow' is offensive apparently. Who knew, I didn't until I admired our host's home and she retorted "it's not a bungalow, it's a house!"
There are a lot of well-planned, spacious single storey homes in New Zealand and Australia, but perhaps lack of space prevents them being built here now where land is at a premium.

The advantage of snapping up a bungalow that was built in the 1930s like mine is that they all had a generous footprint. My garden is twice the size of my granddaughter’s, who lives in a three bedroom house that was built in the sixties and newer properties are on even smaller plots.

The previous owners of my humble abode built a large shower room and utility extension and opened up the galley kitchen so there is a good ‘flow’ through to the conservatory.

Yes, the rooms could be described as boxy but I am in my mid seventies so I can’t see the point of creating a more open plan look as some of my neighbours have done- not to mention the expense.

A friend of mine bought a house nearer to the centre of town because she didn’t want to live in ‘God’s waiting room.’ After nine years she now regrets her decision as her road which was once full of smart town houses, has so many cars parked with wheels on the pavement on both sides that she now dreads going out because when she gets home she often has to park in the next street (if she’s lucky) Her neighbours are noisy and so is the passing traffic.

Give me GWR any day with quiet neighbours, off road parking and a good sized garden!

A bungalow is a great place to live in - I have no idea why they are treated with derision
Me neither. I'd like to move to one but there are few in this locality and they're either crammed in or on a main road.

In New Zealand the term 'bungalow' is offensive apparently. Who knew, I didn't until I admired our host's home and she retorted "it's not a bungalow, it's a house!"
There are a lot of well-planned, spacious single storey homes in New Zealand and Australia, but perhaps lack of space prevents them being built here now where land is at a premium.