You need a strong stomach to enter this lower ground floor two-bedroom flat, for behind the smart stucco facade is degeneration on a pungent scale. However, once you’ve cleared the rubbish and ripped out the interior you can play around with 900 sq ft of elegant space overlooking a garden square in one of the capital’s smartest addresses. The £595,000 the sellers want is a bargain basement price in this postcode close to Hyde Park and South Kensington tube. That's because as well as the place needing work there’s only 30 years left on the lease; the same agent is selling a similar but smaller flat on the same square for £1,095,000.
Marsh & Parsons, 020 7590 0800 Photograph: Marsh & Parsons
‘Secluded location’ says the brochure and certainly it was until the Stansted runway scythed its way to within a mile of this hamlet. Now planes coming into land skim past the thatch and drown out the birdsong which is why this five-bedroom, three-reception room property which would ordinarily fetch over £800,000 is on offer for £675,000. The din aside, it’s in an idyllic spot and boasts heavily beamed rooms and a duck pond in the half-acre of gardens.
Mullocks Wells, 01371 872117 http://tinyurl.com/mulluckswells Photograph: Mullocks Wells
Should your assets be liquid enough you can claim the 30% discount available to cash buyers on flats in this off-plan development. The waterside properties, starting at £82,500 for one bedroom, are in any case priced below market value to lure investors with instant equity. The views over the Mersey to the Welsh mountains are absorbed through wall-to-floor sliding glass windows opening on to a terrace. The city centre is an amble along the riverfront and residents share in an on-site pool. You have to fork out £5,000 extra for an allocated secure parking space and you face an 18-month wait before you can move in.
Property Frontiers, 01865 202 700 Photograph: Property Frontiers
£225,000+ for a Grade II listed mansion in footballer’s county of Cheshire – there has to be a rub and there it looms unmistakably over the house in the form of a giant electricity pylon within its grounds. This disfigurement grants you an eight-bedroom house and a half-acre of land for around a third less than otherwise. If the place were renovated it would be worth £600,000 but were it not for the metal neighbour it would sell for over £1m. Inside the gracious Georgian rooms with oak flooring, fireplaces and sash windows you can forget the flaw in the garden and set to recreating the splendour that once was. To be auctioned on 17 June.
Lot 9 Auction House, 01244 324052 Photograph: Auction House
The fact that this gated complex is four minutes drive from town, combined with the owner’s desire for a quick sale, has lowered the price by 20-30%. The £99,000 price tag also reflects the fact that this is the last property to be sold in phase one of the development. Homes in phase two are expected to cost more than £187,000. The two-bedroom, marble-floored house is on a corner plot with a large unlandscaped garden which could fit a private pool and there are spectacular sea and mountain views from the verandah and balconies. Residents share an infinity pool and bar area.
Spot Blue, 020 8339 6036 Photograph: Spot Blue
