I thought we should have our own dedicated pages now that we have a sub-forum - here's the first contender which I posted on the original threads, it's an upmarket bed-sit

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-180...=4&tr_t=buy


Situated on Unthank Road, houses 124 and 126 went to aution with Tops almost 2 years ago - before that they had been let as student bedsits for many many years. The last 2 years have seen these two properties renovated and now put back onto the market as individual 'apartments'.... at least that is the term used in the advert!. In reality, the layout of the original bedsits looks to be unchanged with each one having a make-over with the addition of a wet room - the advert has changed slightly as well, this being in the original one:







Yes, the original advert proudly promoted the fact for 5 times the average wage in Norwich, you got all of this luxury and your own bicycle space as well!!

A few weeks ago I saw that Tops had put 'Sold' (subject to contract in small print) stickers in 6 of the 10 windows facing onto Unthank road with the advertising board proclaiming 'Last Few Remaining' - I expect they are all gone now!




Update - I've found another one which is slightly more expensive at £107,500. Maybe this one has a cupboard or is perhaps the penthouse version being situated at the top

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-188...=2&tr_t=buy

This looks very tempting for 1/4 Million:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-186...60&tr_t=buy


Looks like it started life as something else - exactly what I don't know. Odd sloping roof and no windows at the 'front' plus my, what a big big garden!!.

WOW !! Hope the link works !

[url="http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-18725372.rsp?pa_n=2&tr_t=buy "]



Edit: typo

There you go:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-187...=2&tr_t=buy

Nice find - truely unique is estate agent lingo for totally crap


Have a look at this equally unappealing turd at 6 times average earnings

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-189...=2&tr_t=buy

Have a look at this equally unappealing turd at 6 times average earnings

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-189...=2&tr_t=buy
[/quote]


I find it amazing that this is described by the estate agent as 'spacious' and why a 1 bed place has a 'family' bathroom!!!

Amazing stuff - EA bullsh!t knows no end

The ones quoted...
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-187...=2&tr_t=buy
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-189...=2&tr_t=buy

I've always been quite intrigued by tiny, minimalist places - once lived in a studio in Slough (!) with an 11'x 11' living/sleeping area & strangely kinda missed it after I moved to a bigger place. But are these guys having a laugh?

The first seems to be some sort of outbuilding (and I love that 'summer house', i.e. a tiny shed which looks like it's about to fall down). The other looks like some nano-granny annexe made from leftover materials from the main place. Fair shout if you're looking for somewhere very small with low council tax, but those prices are just ridiculous. I'd say they're probably worth half that, at most.

My tiny studio was a crashpad, with a 3-night weekend spent at my then-GF's every weekend. But who buys a stay-there-during-the-week crashpad in Norfolk anyway? We don't have any jobs up here which pay enough to be worth running a weeknight crashpad.

Question: say an EA provides a realistic valuation to a vendor. The vendor rejects this valuation & sets a much higher price. Would the EA still handle the attempted sale, or would they turn down the work on the basis that the place wouldn't sell at an overpriced valuation? Just wondering if it's EAs who are responsible for these joke prices, or perhaps delusional vendors insisting on £x when the EA might suggest £x-20% or £x-30%?

Oh, and a totally random last thought: anyone know if that tiny place in the car park of the Castle pub on the Ketts Hill roundabout in Naaaarje is a 'house'? Has net curtains up & stuff, IIRC.

half acre of land for 1.25 million - with planning permission for 9 houses - that's £139k for the land for each house before you've even built anything!

And... I like my houses to have windows! and certainly ones that you can see out of (see picture 4 -of the rather grandly described "kitchen", or "kitchen/Breakfast room" )

Looking at the cheaper end of the market, there look to be a lot more moorings, static caravans and lodges up for sale at the moment - I wonder if this is seasonal (you probably don't sell them in the summer, as you'll use them), or people trimming back on expenditure/clawing some cash back from their holiday properties?

£190K - LOL. Still amazed how many people leave clutter about the place when the EA comes round with his camera.



Slightly cheeky, but do you have any good links to sites advertising moorings, lodges, etc? Obviously, I check eBay regularly & Potter & Co. Been seriously thinking about a mobile home, but a lot of the parks don't allow under 50s or kids - so that's me sunk twice over. Plus, looks impossible to get a proper mortgage, so it's either cash up front (equally impossible) or a loan at much higher interest. But any info appreciated - thanks. PM me if preferred.

Hi F&L - Have a look on Rightmove! If you can sleep in it, and you could vaguely class it as property, they'll try and flog it! (Cardboard boxes excepted)

I confess, I've never really actively looked per se, just stumbled across them every now and then...

I've been tempted a couple of times, but the over 50s bit has me beat too, and also there seems to generally be a clause about not living in it the whole year round - you have to be away for a full month in one go (generally over winter - which makes sense really) - this scuppered plans too. However, I reckon now that we could manage to take a full month away without too many problems, and the money you save by living in one would mean a pretty nice month away! Just be careful about the annual fees - one I saw was more in fees than the rent I'm paying at the moment - although most seem more reasonable.

I took a look just to see what you could get for your money, and was quite amazed really. I know they're not in exactly the most desirable areas, and that you can get a house in Great Yarmouth for not much more, but! It still seems like a bargain! There is a holiday homes sorter, but actually, that cuts out some of them, as the sellers haven't entered them into that category.

For others interested: the cheapest one I can find is this one in Bacton Hemsby and Mundesley aren't much more, and are actually cheaper (and larger) than this garage in Lowestoft! for £23k you can have a refurbed on the inside one in California (it sounds so exotic!)
Static mobiles like this one start at £35k (although this one in particular has a short season, closed Jan - March but the fees for 2008 have already been paid - maybe a desperate seller?) And lets not forget my favourite - the houseboat in Brundall!

Looking at those holiday homes has made me realise how truly overpriced things are! Some of those chalets are bigger than a lot of the new build flats going up, they come with parking, smaller management fees, and some of them have pretty good on site amenties - it's just the location, and I wonder about broadband, but other than that - job's a good 'un!

Hi W&S,

Thanks for taking the time to dig up those links - food for thought indeed. The one at Roughton looks great.

Some mobile parks are year-round - there's a nice one in Newton St. Faiths - albeit with the mobiles quite close together - but there's that over-50/no kids rule. Place in Old Costessey too - looked nice, but heard from someone who used to live in a nearby flat that it's the Bronx after dark.

Been having a serious think about a boat for the last year or so. Cycled over to Brundall last Sept for a look round, but didn't like the place one bit. Every inch is taken up by boatyards, all stacked on top of one another. No space to even sit down & have my sandwiches - ended up perched on a wall in the train station car park.

Been following this on eBay for a while - was £20K a couple of months ago but didn't sell & keeps getting relisted for £500 or so less each time:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=230212947095

If I had the dosh in my pocket, I'd be in there like a shot. Yep, you're right about net access, but a lot of residential moorings have phone lines too. And after 13 years online, I'm kinda wondering if I'd really miss net access that much. Still undecided on that one. Also wondering if I could go off-grid - no leccy would be good self-discipline & a dose of back to basics. I was born a generation too late - I'm a 37yo wannabe hippy :-)

Also, WiMax will be along before long: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deplo...iMAX_networks#U

Or check the place out with a wi-fi laptop, see if there's an access point nearby, then see if you can locate its owner & strike a deal. The dodgy would just piggy-back on an unsecured gateway discreetly without asking

Caveat about boats: I know a couple of people with boats (albeit both non-liveaboard). I gather there's a saying that goes 'a boat is a hole in the water into which you pour all your money'. Seems like it's a case of always having something that needs fixing/replacing/whatever. And a boat needs an MOT every three years.

Thanks again for the time you spent. I might kick off a thread on the main board about whether anyone lives or has lived successfully in a non-house dwelling. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm slightly strange ;-)

Another problem with houseboats is that I believe you have to be very careful in making sure you get what you're expecting with respect to moorings! Apparently it can be difficult to actually get the info on whether or not you'll be the owner of the mooring (seem to remember a bit in the paper about some around Thorpe St Andrews way - boat owners being evicted from their mooring etc)

The one on e bay comes with the hassle of finding a mooring - this one in Horning
is £33,500 - which isn't cheap!

The mobiles/statics in Newton St Faith seem to be very expensive, and are even more expensive than this one in Gt Moulton (which is another over 50s site). I think it might be better to wait a while for these to come down in price too - I live in the hope that the current cost of a static in Newton St Faith will buy a pretty reasonable house in Norwich in the coming years! And just think what that'll do to the price of caravans and boats! I'd be interested to hear experiences of those who have/do live in a non conventional domicile. In reality for me, I suspect I like the idea more than I would the reality - it would be a lesson in not hoarding things, but I strongly suspect the smell of calor gas, and the inability to get anything done with ease (laundry etc) would finally drive me back to a conventional abode.

As for the boats being costly - I watched the Sandbanks programme, and till then had no idea - admittedly it was a millionaire's flash craft, but the maintenance on it was £170k a year!!

Oh, and a totally random last thought: anyone know if that tiny place in the car park of the Castle pub on the Ketts Hill roundabout in Naaaarje is a 'house'? Has net curtains up & stuff, IIRC.
[/quote]


Yup!! used to be a police station !!

And again, I like my houses to have windows!?!

Obviously, Poringland must have a tradition of windowless properties - here's another one
- although admittedly, two of the 4 photos on that link show close ups of the windows that are there...

And the current cheapest 3 bed house in Norwich, OIEO £115k, 2nd cheapest is a 3 bed gd floor maisonette with garden (in Heartsease).

I have to say though, I got up to page 16 on Rightmove before the properties went above £120k - I think this is a first - and there didn't seem to be quite so many shared property scheme ones in the group either! At some point we'll have to start having a "most underpriced mansion" section...

They look lovely tbh but the lack of parking, especially for the larger 1 and 2 bed flats, limit the appeal...and of course, the price! At least they are close to the shops.

On the subject of houses with no windows...

Knox Rd

Just around the corner from where I live. At least it has decent sized windows though The other side of the garden fence is a main road.

c.£30k overpriced!

Ouch!

I should explain that this was £145k but now its OIEO £109k.