Tasteful friends: 18thC Prehen Park, Derry, No. Ireland £350,000

In the middle of nowhere.

Yeah, what r1 said. It's beautiful, but what am I supposed to do in fucking Derry? I wouldn't even retire there.

Needs lots of emulsion.

"This sale offers an extremely unique opportunity to purchase and refurbish one of the most historic homes in Northern Ireland to its former glory."

Sounds like there's a lot of unseen issues to deal with - they're telling you it needs refurbishment.

HOWEVER - if you watch the video - it looks like the place has already been redone - all the bathrooms, a modern kitchen. It actually looks nice - a LOT better than the photos.

I just don't know what I would do living up there. 85,000 people? Bad weather. Nah.

[quote]As fine a mid-Georgian, mid-sized country house as you will find for the price.

A Grade A-listed Victorian on 10 acres for only £350,000? Considering that this amount would afford you perhaps a 180 sq ft studio in Central London, I must ask what the ACTUAL FUCK is wrong with this place for it to be THAT cheap. (Yes, I realise one likely reason is its Bumfuckian location.)

Yes, it's clearly in need of a massive overhaul – and those utterly hideous wall murals need to die in a grease fire – but its pricier elements, e.g. the crown mouldings, are still in very good shape.

Some of those furniture pieces are stunning.

But it would take a lot of work and money to make it truly livable.

Plus, it feels like it’s damp and chilly all the damn time.

I like it, my mom's family is from Northern Ireland, finally got thrown out around 1895.

Half of them are from the Londonderry area, I would like more land but almost 10 acres is a good start.

I would need a title. a good British one. A Marquise title would be great.

It's a veritable money pit in a bad location with shite weather. Good luck to the new owner!

[bold]The video at the Savills listing is of another house altogether. Sorry, I didn't realize when I posted.[/bold]

I would barely change a thing, but then I'm old and don't feel the need to make my imprint on something that's close enough to perfect as is. To me, it doesn't need an overhaul at all, and I've lived in old houses and worked with restoration projects all my life. The entry hall with the stone floor and the old paint decorated walls... wouldn't touch a damn thing. It's perfect as it is, I wouldn't want it to look new and "perfect." The library likewise, and a good number of major rooms. The house was restored in the 1970s, long enough ago that some alterations from that period may need redoing, but it's not as though the electrical and plumbing date to 1905.

The two questions that I would have at the outset about condition are that of the roof (with its complex scheme of one roof slope pitching into another is a perennial worry), and the second would be electrical costs. But I wouldn't add any major electrical systems, just be sure that the wiring was safe and had a decent number of outlets. There's no end of money you could spend: cleaning up and restoring the grounds, erecting high hedges at the perimeter, restoring the cottages for a caretaker or guest cottage... but I wouldn't kill myself investing another £750,000 on a house that's for sale for £350,000 thinking I was somehow going to make that money back.

R9 - the video is of another house??? Ok, well that makes more sense then. I was wondering why it looked so different.

The video on the listing is actually really nice and looks finished. Is it so people could imagine what a refurbishment would bring? Seems dishonest to do that.

R10: No, just a different house altogether. Not deception as such, just a fuck-up - one unexpected for a bit, expensive firm like Savills.

I didn't find a video in any of the alternate listings with different agencies - more credibility to it being a Savills mistake.

*for a big, expensive form like Savills

Handyman Special

I love it. I could get over the condition (and would refurbish very gently) and the location if it wasn’t for the size. I realize the size contributes to the overall grandeur and that’s part of the appeal, but it’s just too big to ever be a bargain for a regular Joe. Upkeep and utilities would be pricey and you would never be confident you could selling it within a reasonable window of time, even at a very competitive price.

It’s a white elephant.

How come the Derry Girls never visited this the pile?

It looks like it's full of damp. The plaster in entrance hall/living room in particular looks horrible. Plus, It's Grade A listed so you'll have to go through listed building approval for almost any changes you want to do, and I'm sure they will be very restrictive in what changes they allow.

In the end it probably needs at least a million pounds thrown at it to get it livable.

The bathroom situation is not good and it doesn’t look like there are closets. The master has an attached bath and an adjacent room that could be made into a walk in closet but you’d have to create an opening in the wall. But you gotta love a place that is so large that they run out of names for the rooms in the floor plan so they just say “room”.

It looks like a lovely place to keep pasty young naked monks!