On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 09:19:55 +0100, "David W.E. Roberts"
wrote:


"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
David W.E. Roberts wrote:
megasnip

Thanks for the most constructive response :-)

Now, to deal with some other responses and flesh out our reasons:

The plot is not particularly large - the floor area is roughly the same as
the ground floor of our current 4/5 bedroom house and the garden is smaller.

The small cul-de-sac has nothing but bungalows on it (all the same design) -
so planning for a new 2 storey property may be an issue.

The asking price is £220k (I am told that a building plot in the area is
worth about £100k). There have been various suggestions about the cost of a
demolish/build so I will assume at least £100k for a good quality 4 bedroom
house with PROPER room sizes - not a modern estate build with no hall or
landing and 8' * 6' 3rd and 4th bedrooms. I assume that this brand new
property would then be worth between £350k and £400k judging by prices of
upmarket detached houses in the area. There is, of course, the cost of
storage of furniture and also accomodation during the demolish/build cycle.
So we spend around £320K (but possibly more depending on size, quality of
fittings etc., cost overruns) to get a good quality 4 bedroom house on a
smaller plot than current, in a slightly less upmarket area, West facing
garden instead of South facing garden. No sun lounge, no balcony, no view of
the sea. Six to 18 months of hassle depending on the bugger factor.

So we could potentially make money - but wouldn't it be better to find a run
down property at a much cheaper price? The demolish/build costs are the same
but you aren't paying for an attractive and well maintained property. We
like this bungalow and want to live in it. We would be paying a premium
compared with a 3 bed semi with more accomodation, much more garden (they
tend to come with 80' to 100' rear gardens) and much more potential for
extension (2 storey extensions are generally more cost effective than single
storey or loft conversions).

I didn't mention our reason for moving house. We are looking to downsize. So
a strategy which involves a major work program to leave us with a similar
house to our current one and no equity release is not top of our agenda :-)

The bungalow is 1930's - which means that it has a huge high loft with real
wood beams and no cheap crap cross braced supports as found in most modern
builds. So there is an obvious potential to make more of this loft area. The
downside is the 2" * 4" joists. Other properties in this street have already
had loft conversions (but no dormers).

There are 4 downstairs rooms (excluding kitchen/bathroom) which really makes
it a 2 bedroom bungalow, although it is currently used as a 3 bedoom
bungalow with a 16' lounge/diner. This would do us fine as a 'mature couple'
but unfortunately we are currently infested with adult super-rugrats (in
urban environments they can grow to 6' 2" or more) and need a minimum of 3
bedrooms until the poisoned bait (my cooking) or the lure of the great blue
yonder clears some space for us.

Start planning your marital canoodling with the other half on the sofa
in the front room. Nothing gets the sprogs shifted more quickly.
They'll be down at the bank, asking to borrow money, quicker than you
can say pass the tube, dear!

MM