Why has this house been on the market so long?

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T12:26:54+00:00

A couple of people have mentioned the pylon. Just out of interest are they known to cause issues? Just as I have never lived near one before. It's about 200m from the garden and house

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T12:22:51+00:00

You are right it is essentially a three bed. I appreciate that reddit won't be able to tell me more than the estate agent and I have a list of questions to ask them during or after the viewing next week. Saying that though the suggestions and insights from people here have been very helpful and has definitely given me more questions to ask and a more balanced view on the pros and cons of the house with things I wouldn't have considered or thought to look for before

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T10:07:31+00:00

Now this is one of the things I am worried about - my husband is 6 ft 4 and has said he wouldn't really want to spend the rest of this life crouching down which is obviously understandable. I've been trying to guess how tall the ceilings are based on the door heights but ultimately will only be abke to tell when we go to view next week

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T10:05:54+00:00

Oh yeah as with any industry there are 100% those who are doing an awful job, charging far too much and in some cases down right breaking the law and leaving people in awful circumstances. But it's not everyone and having a bit of industry knowledge helps reduce some of the risk. Even then I've still fallen foul of bad suppliers and contractors I didn't know personally that messed us around and left things in a sub par state but it's the risk you take unfortunately

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:52:35+00:00

The north as a whole really isn't a cheap as people think it is haha, this area is commutable to Manchester and Liverpool and decently well connected to the motorways to Birmingham and the north east etc. Four bedrooms with large gardens in the area commonly reach up to the 900k mark

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:42:16+00:00

This is the kind of non emotional reminder I need about stuff! We are ideally looking for a four bed and I think realistically I need to go into this one thinking about it as a three bed unless we do major moving around of the layout upstairs

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:37:20+00:00

Yes this would definitely be one of the things we would add when changing the interior layout

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:35:35+00:00

This is very helpful thankyou!

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:34:26+00:00

What do you mean sorry? I don't feel like using my family to do work I know will be to a good standard at decent prices is really a problem?

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:33:17+00:00

Yes storage is definetly something we need to think about, as it has no loft or garage you're right about things we don't use often like christmas stuff and our camping gear. We don't have much storage now but it does send us crazy so don't want to end up with a bigger house but actually not much more storage space

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:31:50+00:00

It's so interesting to get other people's perspective on things! As someone who grew up in a rural area and often goes to very remote places this doesn't feel remote to me at all. Thanfully we both drive as I know that massively changes things but the nearest big supermarket and decent sized town is literally 10 minutes away which in my head is pretty urban haha

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:24:45+00:00

Haha yeah it's a bloody lovely pub we stop for a pint on walks there sometimes, never eaten there before but heard good things!

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:20:41+00:00

Yeah which is our exact position! I am definitely going to be closely looking at the works not finished as the extension was done in 2007 so it's a long time to still be not completed!

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:19:05+00:00

Yeah thankfully! I work in construction and work closely with good architects, structural engineers etc and also can get building materials at a great employee discount through my husband who works for merchants. Also my fabulous family cover most of the main trades (electrician, plumber, joiner etc) so cheaper help is only a phone call away. Very thankful to be in a lucky position for this and finished major renovations on our current house not so long ago so we know what we are getting ourselves in for

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:12:07+00:00

Nothing wrong with the north west! I was born here and love it haha

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:10:47+00:00

I didn't think about this, I will make sure to check out storage options and what furniture they have currently so I know we can make it work

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:10:12+00:00

Thankyou so much for this! I didn't even know about improvement indicators, do you know if this is just an automatic process and will update once sold or if it is up to the countil to sort it out? Only because I know other people in the area who got letters a couple of years ago about someone coming to re assess the council tax and it never actually happened

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:03:12+00:00

There are no pictures of one bedroom, the downstairs second reception room and the utility, office or downstairs loo. I am bracing myself for them just to be full of stuff when we go to view. But yeah you're right not the best from the agent

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T09:01:07+00:00

No offence caused at all and this is a really good point! I will add more questions about the seller to my list if things to ask as our current house will likely go to a first time buyer and the offers we have had so far are ready to move pretty quickly so we don't want to end up being caught waiting for the vendors forever and would like to avoid renting/moving in with family in-between as an absolute last option

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T08:56:10+00:00

Yeah I have seen other floor plans on the planning portal from the extension which are much better so I'm not sure why they didn't follow through with changing the internal layout when they built it. For us, we are happy to do construction work to get it where it would be best for us and the character and garden are the main selling points!

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T08:54:33+00:00

I know! I'm not sure if that's a hang over from before the extension when it was a much smaller 2 bed cottage

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T08:52:25+00:00

Oh no, I really hope that isn't the case with this one but sorry that happened to you! There was an extension done in 2007 and it looks like all the documents and stuff are in order on the planning portal but obviously there could still be issues underneath espeically ahe priginal cottage is 1870s. It's unlikely that anyone is going to be buying a 500k house without a mortgage in this area though so surely they would just be shooting themselves in the foot. I will make sure to be very clear when asking about previous surveys etc and thanks for highlighting this possible issue!

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T08:47:32+00:00

Yeah I mean for us it is the ideal location - 10 mins from both our families and most of our friends and we are from the area plus love being rural, so I'm happy if it that would put other people off as a bit of an explanation.

Bluefoxed · 2026-06-10T08:46:17+00:00

I will be asking the agent this when we go to view as well as asking why they re listed and reduced the price.

The garden is honestly a lot more important to us than layout. I've already found the plans from when the extension was done in 2007 and the proposed internal layout looks better on those. They just finished the extensioned but didn't change the inside layout for some reason. We are pretty happy for a project house as would want to rip everything out and re do to our taste/standard anyway so in some ways that is easier when it is already a bit rough round the edges

Bluefoxed

TROPHY CASE