Old Bungalow Or New House?

nuss · Jul 14, 2020

anivijay said: ↑

Hi ,
We are trying to buy our first home in UK and in dilemma.. Please give your thoughts..

We are living in current rented bungalow(FYI, Here they refer houses in single storey as bungalow and mostly preferred by elders) for last 7 years and We love the house. It is close to train station (5 min walk) And both my husband and son depends on train station for their commute to office and school. My office is 7 mins walk and daughters school bus stop literally at our door step. We have hospital at back side and grocery shop next to us.

House is on double or triple size plot compare to other houses. We have beautiful garden with flowers at front and big garden at back side too.

Obviously we love the house and our land lord agreed to sell the house to us and asked us to offer a price. here comes the dilemma.

1. Even though its a big bungalow, its still only 2 bedroom. But we have space for extension at back side.

2. Our landlord inherited this house as a gift from his late sister. But he had to do legal formalities and he paid £336k for this house, but got back around 70% as his share. But in our locality 2 bedroom bungalow costs only £290k. But as I told earlier, this plot is atleast twice as other bungalows. So we thought of offering £350k. Not sure whether he agrees or not. If not, no need for dilemmea.

3. But this bungalow is tired and 50 years old. and I am planning to convert dining as bedroom 3 and extend the house at back to have big kitchen/diner. extension and redecoration costs around £80k I guess. So, a 3 bedroom bungalow would cost around £440k where as 4 bedroom houses in our area costs around £420k. and 3 bedroom houses costs only £360k. Ofcourse on smaller plot size.

4. It seems we can only get mortgage for house value and not for extension. We only have half the amount required for extension at hand now. So, either we have to wait for 1 more year or do the extension in stages. I know its going to be very stressful till we complete all the work.

5. I am not sure, even if we do all redecoration, it would look like new. If anyone did similar thing, please let me know your thoughts.

In the mean time, we found a beautiful 7 year old , 4 bedroom house 10 mins drive from train station. It is spacious, new and cost around £400k. Don't need to do any work and I can move in as it is. For grocery shopping , I need a car. not walkable like current house. Plot size is half of current one.

Husband and son can leave car at station and catch their train. But I have to pick up son in evening from station. I need to do this for next 6 years. I am on Contract job now and my office is close to station. its not a problem for time being. But this would restrict my job choices in future as I need to be at station at 5pm.

We need around £300 extra in our monthly budget for 2nd car and parking charges etc.

What do you think?

Which house to buy? old bungalow or new house?

Thanks.
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My suggestion would be to drive a hard bargain on the house you are already living in. Get the best possible price. Looks like your landlord is a motivated seller. you have an opportunity to get a big lot for the best price. You are already living comfortably in two rooms. Don't renovate for a few years until it is necessary. Save up and then renovate as you like. As @MalStrom suggested get an appraisal from the bank to get an idea.

shyamala1234 · Jul 14, 2020

ProudIndian said: ↑

In uk only 3 or 4 months u can sit outdoors. Plus renovations are head ache and expensive. Don’t be attached to any house. Think practically about your resale value, appreciation, convenience etc. it become dark after 3 pm many places in uk. So safety and commute is important. Draw on paper all these factors and decide. You should keep searching more houses and wait. With recession coming things may change drastically.
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Exactly that is what I think. We have been in UK.....huge garden back and front nice space. We can sit only for a couple of months outside in the garden. Then what is the point of large space?In winters....Yes, gets dark by 3 0' clock during winter!
Syamala

anivijay · Jul 14, 2020

Thanks for all your replies and time.

Price wise, I think £350 is a bargain as plot size is unusually huge. And its in heart of village and access to train station, it's going to fetch good appreciation in future.

Like you all said, commuting is going to be difficult in new house. I can not do that, after being spoiled in this house for these many years.

There are new developments In 15 or 20 mins walk to station. But they are very expensive as they have added a premium for being new.

Let me wait for some more time and see whether any good houses up for sale walkable distance to station.

Thank you.