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.

Gertrude Rd flat Its got private gardens AND a garage in its favour but £120k is still steep for a flat with an awkward layout. I think that bedroom 2 is accessed via the kitchen in these types of properties.

This is not a sh*thole, in fact its nice, but is it the most expensive basic walk-in terrace in Norwich today? It's not even the GT! Primrose Rd ok enough, but tight for parking up there - get a Smart car - if you have to have a car at all there...
(sorry if links not working - first go at this)

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-809...=1&tr_t=buy


And how does "PRICE RANGE OF £165,000 TO £189,950" work? If you choose 165K, do you not get a part of the house - e.g. the lounge, roof, a wall?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-177...=1&tr_t=buy

The whole price range thing mystifies me too - but it looks like it's becoming increasingly common - I've noticed 5 or 6 properties with a similar billing - v odd.

Also noticed this one on RM - £425k for a 3 bed flat in Ashman Bank (the name of which always makes me think of war-torn places for some reason - not sure why though) At night, the views become spectacular... the views of the nearby warehouse become spectacular would be more correct.

124 126 unthank road bring back good drug taking memories of the 90s lol , mind you the only buy to letters doing any good are the ones who are growing green green grass

Wow. 425k for that is mind numbing. Not even a river view (albeit of Paper Mache Yard opposite). This development has been hard to shift since first coming to market. How anyone thinks a resale will go for that money is pure cloud cuckoo land. It'll be around for a long long time to come...

If anyone does find out how "price ranging from ... to ..." works - please let me know. This and advanced quantum physics I am still struggling with...

I think the price ranges are the result of conversations that go something like this:


Seller: "My house is worth 180k!"

EA: "You've had no viewings in 6 months, you should consider lowering the price"

Seller: "My house is worth 180k!"

EA: "Alright, well how about we cahnge it to 'ranging from 160k to 200k', that way the average is still 180k?"

Seller: "My house is worth 180k!"

EA: "Yes, yes it is.. here have a chew toy"

Seller: "grnrrrrgh ggr 180k!"


So, consider the lowest number to be the actual asking price.. the rest is just there to keep the seller happy.

The from.. to... is a mystery to me too, the quantum physics is easy compared to working how how house prices work! I think Demented Tuna is right - it's an appeasement to hopeful homeowners. It seems to be a Tops "speciality" at the moment - 32 of the 81 properties they advertised this week had price ranges on them. (I took the lowest price to be the asking price on my count), and even some of the Tops prestige ones had price bands too.

I wonder if it's a trick from their auction catalogue that they've transferred to normal house sales -it keeps everyone happy, till the bids come in... The thing is, I would still be looking to offer the conventional 10% under asking on the lowest price they've quoted, so they'd be mighty insulted!!

Maltby Court

Not a s**thole but massively overpriced. I used to rent a flat very close to this house. I think £130k will be closer to the mark.

Thanks for the "price range" explanantions. It all makes sense: buyer makes offer at the lower end, EA then tries to talk them up to a figure they know is near to seller's expectations. I agree with W&S - go in with ten per cent below the lowest price!

I know it's a rental property, but can I sneak this converted garden shed in anyway?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-214...7&tr_t=rent

If it was a treehouse it would be really spacious and the mattress in the eaves would be a real selling point.

Ah right...so, a converted garage in some old duffer's back garden then? Oh well - tops the meagre pension up i suppose... Don't think I could live there.

Speke Street

I quite like this one but it could do with £30k trimming off the price. Very tasteful wood cladding in the front room.

Welcome mikeymadman - that's a fantastic find, love it!

A classic slave box as well - keep them coming everyone.

Hmmm... a more creative EA might have described it as a "detached studio bungalow" (a first?) or maybe a "coachhouse". But yes - it's somebody's garage. Shared parking somewhat ironic ! Well, I suppose Cambridge is the Chelsea of East Anglia....

Found this one just now: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-190...=5&tr_t=buy

Mile Cross is apparently a
It's a ground-floor flat - would you have even finished bringing your stuff in before the first burglary?

Does that interior shot really show a fireplace-sized hole in the chimney breast, with cardboard taped over it? And what's that green thing towards the right-hand side? The description suggests 'built-in cupboard'. Built-in by someone with sh!t for brains?

Love this bit:

Brilliant!

£107K? 107p more like.

Are the green things fish tanks?

Cheeky!

This flat has been on for a while now. At 1st, it didn't have the interior pic...I can see why the EA was reluctant to use it. The green things are either indeed fish tanks...or I'm thinking more along the lines of enclosures for reptiles or spiders. The gas fire is missing too.

Another £20k off I think and the animal loving owner can expect a sale.

I love it. Save time and the bother of having to clean up your burgler's calling card from the carpet - just leave your stuff outside. It will be collected by the morning. A built in reptile house in the living room should clinch an early sale. But not at that price.

Speke Street: well good Heavens - a West City terrace up for under 165k! But that decor is just so 1979....

Duoro Place

This is a 1 bedroomed rental flat. The council/ex-council flats in this block have recently had new double glazing. Although the leaseholder is well within his or her rights not to pay to have the windows in the flat replaced, it does seem increadibly 'cheap' for a landlord not to ensure that his/her tenants have a cosy property. Therefore I think its overpriced by £95 a month.

At least it has a separate bedroom unlike this slavebox at Cashman VVank:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-194...7&tr_t=rent

The epitomy of a slave box - truly shocking. Note the "...with views TOWARDS the river..." . Looked hard for the river in the outside view photo, but no sign of any water whatsoever. And the finishing touch of no parking... A deeply depressing little coffin.

I never thought I would ever have something to say in favour of the York Terrace studios, but at least they have a fold down bed to give the pretence of living normally during the day - it doesn't look like Cashman w@nk has that - although I'm sure the Bosch appliances make up for that...

It's overpriced, but I almost like that Duoro Place one, not sure why though... And silver Giant Bubble Wrap bedspreads aren't my bag, so I'm not sure what it is about it!

That Ashman *ank studio flat would be off my list straight away. £550 a month and no parking space. I thought all the flats had at least one parking space each or is the LL keeping it as a means of free all day city centre parking.

Another honorary rental. Not a sh!thole, but hugely overpriced.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-215...2&tr_t=rent

Most rooms small, bedrooms piddly, nice views from the postage-stamp garden of all the neighbouring houses shoe-horned in around it. And TBH, it looks pretty plain inside & is never worth £995pcm, despite all the EA bullsh!t in the description.

But is this rather telling?

Just me, or does that look like an interesting staircase to try and get furniture up?

They are joking. A grand to live in a desolate setting. And 50 pictures of..... nothing - is this a record? 50?!!!!!!!

Thats quite a lot of money given that its a fair way out of the city. Budget into that the costs of travelling into and out of the city (or any other place of work and leisure, for that matter) and it seems an unattractive financial proposition. I bet it was bought on a BTL mortgage!

But is it overpriced?

Rental prices do at least tell you something about the true valuation - let's assume £995pcm IS what it's worth and I am a landlord looking to buy a property with a healthy GROSS yield (before voids, maintenance, fees etc) of 10%. That means this property has a true value nearer to £120,000 - makes you think doesn't it?

I bet it's advertised at twice this price or more....

In the interests of fairness & my own curiosity, I rode my bike out there (Queens Hills, Costessey) after work tonight.

Go past Sainsbury's, take a left, past all sorts of industrial buildings & an ambulance place, continue on for maybe a mile.

Weird, sterile ghost town. A long way from anything, a few hundred houses & flats amongst a building site. Most of the places seem to have fake-weatherboard stuff on the upper floors to make them look New England-stylee. Some with fake garret-style tower thingies on the corners. Funny, little fake cul-de-sacs. Houses crammed on top of one another. Reminded me of Three Score.

Found that road with the strange name which the house I linked to is on. Road is right at the back of the developments, with a fantastic view of..... the mud in front of them where another batch of houses are obviously going to be built.

I'd say about 10-20% of the estate looked occupied. But it truly is a building site, with a load of roads blocked off with 'no public access beyond this point', leading to an unbuilt sub-estate ahead. Amazed anyone would choose to live there right now.

Fittings on the completed smaller houses looked cheap - 1970s council-estate style cheapo doors & windows. Some were still half-built, without windows. Look inside suggests pretty poky slaveboxes with minuscule back gardens.

Looks like a castrated, out-of-town, kip-hole. Promises of 'community pub' and restaurant wouldn't convince me.

And, madmikeyman was right - I spotted that ultra-narrow staircase myself on the pics. The place is clearly designed down to the size of plot, but not up to any standard.

PS: one of the developers' showhouses had banners all over it saying "6% rental yield until 2012 - guaranteed!". Something tells me that things ain't going so well, if they're deperate enough to appeal to the BTL/"investor" market.

PPS: cycling back past the KFC, my inner chav responded to the lardy aroma. But I resisted.

That's a very interesting point.

Factor into that also the 6% yield being plugged by one of the developers - see my post above.

I though their 6% seemed a bit low. Wasn't the lovely Beeny Babe always suggesting >8% (at least for rental refurbs), otherwise it's a muppet investment?

In this case, the finances wouldn't really be a factor for me, anyway - whether I was buying or renting. I just didn't like the estate at all. Totally fake - Norwich's own half-built Truman Show set.

I looked at Queens Hills last year and can vouch for F&L's description. Sounds like its little changed in over a year. This development is huge. Nearly all the major builders are there. An unreal desolate feel to the place a real sense of nowhere . The agent I saw said there would be building for eight years. 1300+ houses I believe. So if you don't mind living in a small box on a claustrophobic building site for at least eight years maybe it has a market... Ghastly layout, ghastly design and architecture. I was in such a hurry to leave the place I reversed my car into a nasty little wooden bollard in a show home car park. All a very bad experience and I won't be returning. Ever.

Mill Hill Rd studio flat - £105k!

Ouch! I know its the Golden Triangle but come on, its tiny inside.