Call off the search
Whether you want a modern home, barn or bungalow, there’s a website to fit the bill
Buying a house is a frustrating business, and part of the problem is incompetent estate agents. Who hasn’t been driven to distraction by one of these ‘trained negotiators’ and their inability to direct you to the kind of home you actually want.
you express an interest in viewing, say, a four-bedroom chocolate-box country cottage in a village, and pretty soon you’ll have an inbox teeming with property details for threebedroom, modern semi-detached houses on brand new estates.
you need a two-bedroom flat: how about this barn conversion? yet it doesn’t have to be like this. There are many niche estate agencies and property portals selling only the kind of homes that match a specific subject.
Buyers can target sellers more effectively this way, while also still listing their properties on the more general websites such as Rightmove or Zoopla. The Modern House ( themodern
house.com) is an estate agency selling cutting- edge, architect- designed homes, supported by well-written details, devoid of sales hype. it seems to work, because sales are up 36 per cent so far this year.
‘i took the idea in 2005 from agencies i saw in Los Angeles selling only beautiful, modernist creations,’ says founding director Albert Hill.
‘People today can work from home and travel easily so where they live is
not nearly as important as the quality of house they live in.’
if you have ever fancied living in one of those wacky, yet wonderful, homes seen on TV property shows — such as converted windmills, forts, water towers or pumping stations et al — you may be interested in the unique Property Bulletin ( uniqueproperty bulletin.co.uk). Some of its properties have already been converted. Others, such as the nuclear bunker in norwich that’s for sale at £ 18,000, demand a considerable leap of faith.
The website, which is updated every few days, attracts about 30,000 readers a month, and its sister site, lighthouses
forsale.co.uk, is visited by roughly the same number of browsers.
There is something about the lure of water that makes any house with a view of the river much sought after.
Waterview estate agents ( waterview.co.uk) are the ‘riverside sister company’ of Dexters, selling anything from penthouses and flats, to houseboats and riverside mansions in and around London.
Those inspired to make their homes on the water itself will find a wide range of vessels on houseboats. apolloduck.co.uk. However,
anyone contemplating this option should check the cost of mooring fees, bwml. co.uk/residential-moorings.
Spiralling house prices in the South East have been disastrous for many young people trying to buy a home — something Chancellor Philip Hammond is thought to be addressing in the next budget in november.
yet for others, the price appreciation has been transforming, enabling them to live the kind of life they’ve dreamt about. THE
countryside is now dotted with hobby farmers who have swapped modest homes in the city for smallholdings, others who have made B& Bs from huge village rectories, and horse lovers who have made businesses from equestrian properties.
The go-to estate agency for escapees from the rat race is Rural Scene ( ruralscene.co.uk) which has been running since the price boom of the nineties.
‘ We are lifestyle orientated and have properties all over the country,’ says the director, Edward Oldrey, who is based near Marlborough, Wiltshire. ‘Our core business is midmarket — between £150,000 and £ 2 million, not the mega-bucks estates.’
Barns, with their high ceilings and countryside views, can convert into fabulous homes, and you will find a huge collection on the website, barnsetc.
co.uk. The operators claim to have 335,000 visitors a year, and for a flat fee of £89, sellers can advertise their barns, either converted or untouched.
Bungalows have long been popular with elderly people — the single storey building is ideal for those with mobility problems. They can also convert easily into modernist grand designs- style homes, lending themselves to open-plan living by knocking through internal walls.
Extra rooms can be built into the eaves and they often stand on good-sized plots. There is a wide selection of bungalows near Bournemouth, Dorset, on thebungalowcentre.co.uk.
For those who believe that nothing can match the musky integrity of an old building, a visit to the Listed Property Owners Club, lpoc.co.uk, is a must.
not only does it showcase a broad collection of listed buildings for sale, the club’s experts will also, for a fee of £4 a month, offer all sorts of advice on the problems that come with owning a house that may be centuries old and in need of repair.
Finally, the penthouse apartment is the Porsche of the property world.
A byword for film- star chic, standing high above street level rather than ploughing through thousands of suburban semis, some of the plushest penthouses worldwide are found at properties. harrodsestates.com.