St. Marys Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH1

This detached house has a useful characterful base, with a bay-fronted living room, separate dining room and an enclosed courtyard garden with a summer house. The visible interiors are usable but dated, and the two-kitchen arrangement offers scope to rethink the layout—potentially restoring the upstairs room to a bedroom and creating a more conventional family home, subject to checking what that involves. Updating the kitchens, bathrooms and finishes makes this a medium-scale project rather than a cosmetic refresh.

The price is the sticking point: at £350,000, the asking price is about 9% above the local average per square foot, and the purchase price combined with a mid-to-substantial works programme leaves the overall outlay stretched against local benchmarks for this floor area. That comparison is with current local averages, not a forecast of the value after renovation, so the numbers make this a weak opportunity at the current asking price despite the home’s flexibility and character.