HOUSES THAT ARE UNTOUCHED FOR DECADES

Lathyrus3

On the other hand I looked at an awful lots of houses where the improvements and updating had actually decreased the value.

Many had been done without really thinking through the impact ( the extension that leaves one room without any natural light) or had been done without really having the money to it properly and silly compromises had been made.

My little terraced house has its original bathroom. It was thoughtfully designed to fit the limited space, looks clean and works perfectly.

Why change it just because the colour and style is ‘outdated”?

Yes I know what you mean. Shoddy work & not to my taste

Doodledog did you update your neighbour on exactly what you did to the house preferably along with detailed costings? Some neighbours seem to examine all that...

One of my dds bought a probate property that was extremely dated, and not in a ‘tasteful’ way, IYKWIM. However it had a lovely warm atmosphere and had evidently been a much loved, and cared for, family home. Former owners had bought it from the council in 1971 - they were evidently being sold off well before Thatcher.
They paid almost exactly 1% of what dd paid!

But it was perfectly liveable, still is. Dd has done very little to it several years later. When asked why, she told me, ‘I’m putting as much as I can into my pension!’

We went right through the house a couple of years ago. Every room decorated, new carpets or hard floors in every room, blinds and curtains replaced where the old ones didn't match, light fittings replaced, bookcases built, a new kitchen and bathroom and a bedroom covered into a study. I'm very happy with it, but I will never do it again 😂.

Everything had to be declutterred, which is a task in itself, the organisation was daunting (particularly doing all the bedrooms at once, which was my daft decision), and it felt as though the house wasn't our own, as there were workmen and decorators in, which I find stressful. We slept on the floor for a week waiting for new carpets and beds to be delivered and the rooms decorated, the kitchen ran into snags and all the contents were in the dining room for ages - I'm hyperventilating just remembering it😂. I was about 63 and my husband is around to help. At 73, 83 or older it would just be too much, particularly if I was on my own.

In my area, bungalows tend to be on modern estates on the outskirts of town (the centre is old and built before bungalows were popular), so when one does come up for sale in the centre, where the facilities are located, they command a high price and are snapped up. I can well imagine someone selling a house that might need a bit of work and getting less than the cost of the bungalow, so if they are on a fixed income they might not be able to justify spending thousands on updating - the important thing is living somewhere with no stairs near the doctors and shops.

We were delighted to buy a house in pristine condition but hopelessly dated, untouched since the 80s.

People who don't update the interior of their homes, often don't update essential systems either, the electrician who rewired the house was horrified at the Heath Robinson approach to some of the wiring. The ancient boiler was in a cupboard in the "dining room". The Artex ceilings were frightful. The chimney breast took up half of the space in the living room.

We updated everything and the house is transformed from a dark and dated space to a light, airy, welcoming home. Now ready to look for the next one!

BlueBelle

Is it your business ?
You seem very invested in other peoples house, just carry on getting on with your own
Not difficult to see why you have neighbour problems (re your other threads) ‘mind your own’ as they say not your business whether they have ‘lots of money left over’ or scrapping the barrel
Get on with your own life don’t try and live someone else’s

Incredibly rude

LovesBach

*'I think it’s unfair of posters to tell CariadAgain to mind her own business, if we all did that there’d be few threads to comment on.'*

Precisely.

To me - I think it would be a pity if even fewer people tried to mentally "put themselves in the shoes of" someone with a very different viewpoint. Earth is a warlike planet anyway - oh boy isnt it?!!!! Maybe there'd be rather less of all that if people sat down and tried to think "Why are they thinking/acting such a different way?" and try and find out how they are thinking and why.

Not to mention - sometimes one decides to adopt an idea here and another idea there - because you've found out the reasoning why and thought "Hmmm....maybe that is a good idea to try that out?" or "I quite fancy that thought - I'll have a go at it".

Same as with another topic - ie food - and I eat nothing remotely like the way I was brought up to do (ie restricted even by 1950s standards/meat/unhealthy). Million miles away from it - because I've asked this and I've tried that and I've tried something else and cue for a seachange - as I preferred it to what I had...

Re the way I deal with a house - and I'm time and motion conscious (which makes for a house with no ornaments or pictures whatsoever) and I work out how it can "work" as efficiently as possible (ie minimum of housework/minimum of safety hazards/etc). My kitchen here was a typical example - ie putting in the absolute maximum of work surface space and storage space I could, splashbacks as far up the wall as possible, what needed to go where for maximum utility. Bathroom had to come out because of safety hazards (1970s wallfire looking very unsafe, bath set very high off the floor for little me, no radiator towel rail). Garden was full of trip hazards, a grotty rotating clothesline, nothing usable to eat, etc and don't get me started on storage space (lack thereof) and hence I went through the house adding bits of storage everywhere I could.

I guess I can understand how people don't do anything to their properties for years because I'm sort of in that situation now. DH and I bought out his ex-wife and then we went to town on completely gutting and decorating the house. Knocked out walls, new carpets, kitchen, bathroom, central heating- the whole lot.
Twenty plus years later apart from redecorating the kitchen-diner a couple of times, we have not done much since. But I'm now realising that stuff needs updating - we had a new boiler installed in March - definitely had our moneys worth out of the old one!! We've had new blinds installed but things like kitchen cupboard doors need replacing not because the kitchen is falling apart but because the plastic coating on the doors is disintegrating! Our leather suite is also in dire need of replacing. So we need to sit down, write down everything that needs doing and then plan an agenda to pay for and do it all. But we would get in decorators to do the nitty gritty but only after we finish decluttering which is a marathon job in itself. The thought of moving stuff out even to do our open lounge is alarming but it means that the upstairs landing gets done at the same time for continuity. It's not just one area or room!!
Daunting and very much a reason to understand why people don't get around to doing anything for years!!

I would love to buy a bungalow at a decent price & put my own stamp on it but they seem to charge an extortionate amount now for bungalows.
I couldn’t afford what they want, plus have money left over to revamp from start to finish.
I read somewhere young people are after them so that it will become their ‘forever’ house.

'I think it’s unfair of posters to tell CariadAgain to mind her own business, if we all did that there’d be few threads to comment on.'

Precisely.

I think it’s unfair of posters to tell CariadAgain to mind her own business, if we all did that there’d be few threads to comment on.
It’s a talking point is all, and quite an interesting one.It does seem that bungalows suffer more from being very outdated, as in swirly carpets, 70’s bathrooms and kitchens and thick swirly plastered ceilings.A friend of Mum’s moved into one around 20 years ago that needed everything doing including a new central heating system, boiler and radiators, all internal doors and of course redecorating and new flooring, as well as bathroom and kitchen.Nothing touched for 35 years.I guess that bungalows suffer more ‘neglect’ as a lot of them are lived in by older people who either don’t mind their house being dated and don’t have a lot of money, or (as many older people feel) they shouldn’t really be spending their money.Or in some cases they spend what they have on cruises!😄

Islands definitely on the way out……l

Someone else can update it when I go. Let’s face it, any updating is pretty soon out of date unless you sell straight away.

“Why change it just because the colour and style is ‘outdated”?”

Because buyers are slaves to fashion and want their perfect Kitchen or Bathroom, they must have a range cooker and cupboards all round and an island not leaving room for a kitchen table.

It’s just one up man ship, exactly the same as cars going far beyond what is actually needed to cook a meal or travel

On the other hand I looked at an awful lots of houses where the improvements and updating had actually decreased the value.

Many had been done without really thinking through the impact ( the extension that leaves one room without any natural light) or had been done without really having the money to it properly and silly compromises had been made.

My little terraced house has its original bathroom. It was thoughtfully designed to fit the limited space, looks clean and works perfectly.

Why change it just because the colour and style is ‘outdated”?

I totally agree Cariadagain. I looked at six bungalows during Covid for M & D. It was a minefield, it was around the time there was a bidding war going on for houses, especially bungalows.
The houses we look at were really dated, a few had the old back boiler behind the fireplace, old corner, or coloured bathroom suites, one even had poly tiles on the ceiling.
Nearly all had stippled ceilings 😩
One bungalow wanted £300.000, you could see daylight through the skirting boards, apparently the floor had sunk.

Gosh, it’s never occurred to me to analyse why or not people do work on their homes, if they’re friends, I go to visit them, not comment on their living environment.
Other people’s homes I know nothing about.

There is a large house next door that 2 elderly spinsters lived in after their father died it hadn’t been refurbished for 100yrs plus, maybe an indoor loo but that’s all. As the roof leaked they moved into a different room, it was awful, relatives eventually persuaded them to move into a bungalow.

The house was listed of course, the builder who bought it actually went bankrupt trying to refurbish it, a total money pit.

Aveline

Petra and BlueBelle my thoughts entirely.

Mine, also.
None of your business!

Well I bought a 1930s house and couldn’t afford to do anything, not even have carpet in some of the rooms and what I did have was what the previous owners left. All the money went on mortgage and food.

Three years later I still hadn’t had any spare money to do anything and sold it just as it was when we moved in. The buyers obviously didn’t do anything, because I saw it on Rightmove a few years later.

It’s biggest selling point - full of original features

Live and let live CariadAgain.

My In Laws had their Victorian house of 40 years, updated in 1980 in readiness for their retirement. Fast forward to the 2000s when MIL was left on her own. She refused to have any other than painting done as it had all ‘just’ been renovated!
The executor sale detailed it as a do er upper.

Petra and BlueBelle my thoughts entirely.

Don’t forget how exhausting and frustrating it is to have builder/plumbers etc., for a long period in the house; living in a building site can be too much!
I had my bathroom redone recently; it was essential. It took three weeks and beautifully done, the various workmen were delightful, but…

Re the environmental impact - and I did one of those "How many Earths are you using?" questionnaires years back out of interest. I was gobsmacked to see they said it was "more than one Earth" - as I'm childless, don't have a car, have had very few foreign holidays, vegetarian....ie pretty darn good.

I realised why they'd said that score - despite my lifestyle - when I thought "Hang on - they are probably not taking account of me being single and so I'm copping for more 'black marks' than I should be". I redid the quiz - with the exact same answers - but this time saying I was half of a couple living as I do in the same house I did. Back came a changed score - saying that I was safely living within the bounds of 1 planet worth. So I figure I'm doing pretty okay on that score - if not perfect (but few are perfect in that respect).

Nowt I could do about not having an "other half" LOL - I did try....but if one doesn't meet Him/the soulmate then you can't marry him obviously. It would have been pushing it imo to marry "someone else - not the soulmate" just to stick within their couple-based limits.