Owning your own home

But surely as it's had the HMO licence people have been living there so it must be to a certain standard? As for reconfiguring the rooms I see no problem with how it it is laid out at the moment - 1 kitchen (so insurance won't be a problem) 2 bathroom and shower on ground floor.

In my experience, properties advertised for sale with just a photo of the exterior usually means what andyp is suggesting. I once viewed a house that was ankle deep in empty beer cans in the bedrooms.

If by certain standard you mean "better than living in the park" then yes.

People will live in most places and conditions if the price is right.

If there are no photographs of the interior then that tells it's own story.

However- it's very cheap, so if you have the time, money and inclination to do it up then you could get a great return.

Hah- snap

I went to see a house a few weeks ago that 'needed some modernisation'. What that really means in estate agent speak is, 'this place hasn't been decorated in fifty years and you're going to need to gut it completely and replace everything'.

= my flat.

You moving out then?

Was your flat valued the same as a renovated one in the same block? We'd seen a house in the same road a month or so before that could do with a bit of sprucing up, but not a wholesale refurb like this other one, for £15k less.

@bmmf - me or dammit?

^^^^^^^^^It was up for auction 3 years ago.

http://www.auctionhouse.uk.net/property-details.aspx?id=4371

Looks like it was possibly converted to flats too

http://www.homes24.co.uk/property-history/3-clarence-road/norwich/nr1-1hh/13137519

Was your flat valued the same as a renovated one in the same block? We'd seen a house in the same road a month or so before that could do with a bit of sprucing up, but not a wholesale refurb like this other one, for £15k less.

No, the chaps upstairs paid ~£250k for theirs, which was essentially identical to ours bar one extra bedroom.

So knock 10K off for that, and we still paid £50K less.

@andyp - dammit. My brain threw up a logic hairball based on the juxtaposition of the 2 previous posts.

You're looking for more breeding space, I suppose? When's it going to end…

We are. Two is the limit though.

A bit like late 80s strength ecstasy.

True. A different kind of loved up though.

Note the lack of any internal photographs, and the telling "The flat requires redecoration", i.e. it's a horrible mess.

http://www.primelocation.com/for-sale/details/19102330?search_identifier=bd592c7a0fd7f6772162dceefe7898f4

In good condition this would be ~£265,000.

If I had the time and the cash I'd buy it and renovate it.

True. A different kind of loved up though.

Yeah, a world away from the sleep deprivation and garish outfits of the early rave scene.

Thanks guys.

Walked down there at lunch - the road it's on is the ring road meaning bloody loud and not even on street parking.

Will give that one a miss I think.

But looking around I'm not really worried if the place needs work so long as it has essentials.

But surely as it's had the HMO licence people have been living there so it must be to a certain standard?

LOL!

Cripes spenceey, no offence but you ain't half green sometimes :)

HMOs are often some of the worst, have a read of this if you're interested:
http://england.shelter.org.uk/campaigns/evict_rogue_landlords

They will typically be in crappy areas you wouldn't want to buy in, because this means the landlords can pick them up cheap.

I just thought HMO meant a load of people living in house.

To be honest now I've looked at it (even from the outside and knowing where it is now) I wouldn't touch it at all.

If the location's wrong that's enough reason in itself, without all the other issues.

This place is a little further out and has just had 10k knocked off. Hopefully off to view tomorrow;

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39337595.html?backListLink=%2Fproperty-for-sale%2Fmap.html%3FlocationIdentifier%3DREGION%255E1018%26insId%3D2%26maxPrice%3D160000%26radius%3D10.0%23_includeSSTC%3Don%26auction%3Dfalse%26locationIdentifier%3DREGION%255E1018%26maxPrice%3D160000%26minBedrooms%3D3%26previousSearchLocation%3DNorwich%26radius%3D5.0%26searchLocation%3DNorwich%26searchType%3DSALE%26useLocationIdentifier%3Dfalse%26box%3D1.30197%2C1.35947%2C52.64119%2C52.65936%26popupPropertyId%3D39337595%26mapType%3DMap&fromMap=true

In my experience, properties advertised for sale with just a photo of the exterior usually means what andyp is suggesting. I once viewed a house that was ankle deep in empty beer cans in the bedrooms.

I would've cleaned up but quite liked wading to the TV..

I think a tea tray and surfing the cans would have been the prefered mode of transport from room to room.