When the estate agent uses the words "semi-derelict" you know you're looking at a property that needs some work, and a quick glance at the photos of Whitegates Bungalow is enough to confirm that suspicion. Yet the property is up for auction with a guide price of £150,000 – just £10,000 less than the average UK house price, according to Nationwide.
The reason, as ever, is the location. For your money you don't just get what the agent Cundalls describes as a "detached one-bedroom bungalow requiring full refurbishment and/or redevelopment" (but most other people would describe as a shed), you also get two acres of land in the heart of the North Yorkshire Moors national park.
The property, which has had the same owners for 70 years, is in Staintondale, 13 miles from Whitby and nine miles from Scarborough.
Cundalls describes it as "highly desirable" and says that "rarely do properties of this nature come to the open market". It has a point, although it is not the first tiny home to come with such a big price tag. However, they were all sold before the credit crunch. So is this is return to pre-crash price insanity, or is it money well spent on a prime spot?
