Starter homes to do-up, under £200k

I've been reading Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham's book 'Head North' in my downtime this week. For obvious reasons, but also because I'm a bit weird.
No-one needs to tell me, born into Hull's docklands and council estates, about the visceral reality of the North-South divide, but reading about how that manifested during Covid as political choices is chilling. 
Of course we have lots of other divides nowadays to pile onto the geographic one, including the growing gap between those who have bought their homes and those who may never be able to.
So today I'm going to focus on starter homes - properties under £200k, in well-served areas for first-time buyers, that don't need masses of work.
This is always the toughest type of property to find, not least because the price bracket is swamped with "Modern Method of Auction" chancers, but here's three I picked to show you.
Manchester is VERY up and down price-wise because the right area, down to the right street, matters. This property (above and below) made it onto my list because it offers more than a terraced stepping-stone; it's a house with space to grow with.
A proper Manchester redbrick, it's an end terrace with a large garden and detached garage. Good size lounge and kitchen diner downstairs, three bedrooms and shower room upstairs. 
Surrounded by prettier and newer properties and the inside has some interesting decor choices, but it's in up-and-coming Mossley with its train station, street life and good links.

On the market at offers over £190k through Ryder & Dutton. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
My next pick is down south, in increasingly popular and arty Margate. Houses under £200k that aren't auction properties are pretty rare in Margate - houses with gardens, walking distance to beach and schools and that have been looked after, are gold dust. This one, while not a wreck, has got awkward access that has put it in our price bracket.

A mid terrace with large gardens front and back, there's a lounge, kitchen, utility and bathroom downstairs, two bedrooms upstairs.
Access is up steps from the street and along the pathway in front of the terrace, then into that wild front garden. Fabulous for children and garden parties, less so for parking and carrying stuff home.

But at just £180k, and walking distance from the best of Margate, there's a lot to like.
On the market through Footprints. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
If those two are a bit too "city" for you, my last pick is in the North Yorkshire village of Gristhorpe, between Filey and Scarborough and just-about commutable to York or Hull.

There's a large lounge, small kitchen and shower room downstairs, two good-size bedrooms upstairs.
Outside is a large garden with fabulous open views (...and breathe) and a stone outbuilding that could become an office or workshop. 

Equally, you have neighbours who have extended into their garden which gives you growth options too.
It's on Gristhorpe's very pretty main street, with the popular Bull Inn pub nearby.
On the market at £170k through DMA. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

Two proper Scottish wrecks to renovate

There is a special corner of hell reserved for England fans in World Cup years. One where hopes are raised and smashed in hourly cycles. "Here, take it - you've earned it," as the Jules Rimet inches towards our hungry hands to a chorus of It's Coming home.  "Nope. Not enough hurt yet", and it's all over. Again. 
Of course there's another corner for Scotland fans, but they just carry on partying like 1999 in theirs.
I'm sorry, did you expect me not to mention The Football today?
Anyway, as a reflection of my mood this morning, I'm going to show you a couple of proper wrecks to ponder upon.
Knapping Knowes is a one bedroom (of sorts) former family holiday retreat sitting alone in the middle of the Galloway countryside. The Dalbeattie Forest, Solway coast and towns of Dalbeattie and Dumfries all within a twenty minutes or so drive.
It's two rooms plus a toilet. The main room houses a woodburning stove, a cooking stove, sink and drainer. The 'bedroom' had been stripped out ready for refurbishment that was started around 2022 and abandoned. Outside the cottage is surrounded by a large garden and gorgeous open views of hills and wood land. 

It's largely off-grid - a generator providing (limited) electricity, water pumped from the spring, and private drainage. But apparently a really good mobile signal thanks to a phone mast in a nearby field and fibre optic cable almost to the door.
Terrestrial access to the cottage is rather more problematic - a long and rough farm track that "requires upgrading". 

But if what you're looking for right now is a space to quietly drink whisky and weep loudly - Knapping Knowes. 
On the market through Threave Rural at offers over £85k. More details on the agent's site here, the PDF here, or on Rightmove here.

My second pick to show you is also in Scotland and in a similarly beautiful bit of its countryside. 
Cherry Grove (please... what cherries?!) is in the middle of the Cairngorms National Park.

It comes with planning permission to knock down that stone cottage/bunk-house and replace it with a smart three bedroom, two bathroom, open-plan Highland home. Assuming that's what you want to do with it. 
The current cottage has two bedrooms, small sitting room, bathroom, a long and awkward kitchen/diner and a fair bit of work outstanding.

  
There's a smart new garage, built as part of the approved plans, which offers workspace or storage during renovation/rebuild and the whole site is a generous quarter acre.

Access is rather easier than at Knapping Knowes - sitting on a proper road, surrounded by woodland  and with a private holiday let as your nearest neighbour.
Nearby are two lively community villages - Nethy Bridge and Boat of Garten, that have reinvented themselves by embracing their attractiveness to holidaymakers.
It's a little unclear what services are already in place at Cherry Grove, and which (like proposed new boreholes for water and drainage) will need to be built. But clearly some services had previously fed that kitchen and bathroom.

On the market at offers over £250k through Masson Cairns. It seems a tad steep for effectively a (very attractive) plot with PP, but it's been on the market for a while - reduced a year ago, and that may offer flex. Details, including plans, on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

Anyway, at least we won't now have a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final, when England lost by a goal to Spain... Lionesses in 2027? 🏆

Pretty homes with big challenges

I've got two properties to show you today - both with some fairly substantial challenges to work through, including structural worries, but with bags of potential.
First up is Middle Farm in Cumbria. The five-bedroom, sandstone former farmhouse (above) is in the village of Langwathby, within the Eden Valley.
It comes with outbuildings, gardens, courtyard and the weirdest plot of land ever - basically they seem to have sold parcels of it off for others to build on and hung onto a joined up strip running around and through it all to the last bit of paddock they wanted to hang onto. Here's what I mean.

The house is also flagged by the agent as having "signs of historic structural movement to the rear elevation". Which could be problematic in terms of a mortgage, depending on the deposit you have. You could do what we do - get the most basic-level survey done for the mortgage and then pay separately for your own independent, warts-and-all full survey? Here's an indication of the problem...

(Seriously, two planks??!) Anyway, what you do get is a very, very pretty big house in a lovely location, with lots of space to work with. The outbuildings could stay or go and you'd have a good size courtyard, lots of off-road parking space and garden. Rooms can be reconfigured to create something much more open (obviously once that rear wall as been rebuilt) and to add bathrooms.

On the market through H&H Estates with a guide price of £450k. My own feeling is that's still a bit of a punt price, but you'd need to see what the survey throws up. Details and lots more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
And talking of surveys and structures, here's property pick number two. 

The agent is looking for cash-only buyers on this 1930s three-bedroom, detached villa in West Looe because it's probably unmortgageable. The reason being, it seemed likely to fail its mundic test in 1999.
Let me explain. Back in the mid-90s, surveyors saw that many older properties in Cornwall and Devon had been built using concrete that included aggregate made with local mining waste. That mix affected the strength and longevity of the concrete and in 1994 guidance was issued requiring houses built before 1950 (mostly) to be tested. This house was tested in 1999.

The process takes multiple concrete samples and checks to see if the aggregate used is 'stable' (Group 1) or 'potentially deleterious' (Group 2).
If Group 2 aggregates are found, a next stage of testing determines the classification of the concrete and therefore whether the property is mortgageable - A-class types are; B and C class are not.
In the case of our West Looe villa, two of its 10 samples were class A, the other 8 were recommended to go to second stage testing, but with the warning from the surveyor at the time that they were likely to be the bad class. These home owners will not have been the only ones to decide that further testing would not be in their interest in 1999.
To be fair, the mundic testing and classification of concrete changed in 2016 and there is now a wider range of classifications that are mortgageable, and that could affect this property.
But even with that fingers-crossed-the-concrete-is-sound further testing, you are also likely to be looking at asbestos in ceiling panels to be removed, and a two tier back garden that may need added drainage. And a lifetime of stuff to be cleared away.

But what this lovely house offers is a fabulous location on the Cornish coast - Looe, particularly quieter West Looe, is popular with both visitors and filmmakers.
There are great views across the South Downs from its upper windows and the house is in a conservation area surrounded by similar detached homes. Good-size gardens front and back, a detached garage to the rear, original 1930s features, and lots of potential.

On the market through Seasons at £269k. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

And, because this happened today, I'm going to join many thousands of others who'll be sharing this video. I miss big hair.
Gorwedd mewn hedd, Bonnie.