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The house was nice. It had a great, roomy floor plan with lots of storage. The wine cellar was emptied. Apparently the late husband of the current owner held wine tastings with his friends in there. There were two main problems. First of was that it was at the top of our budget and needed some work done immediately; wall paper, flooring and painting the internal doors throughout. The current owner must be tiny since the kitchen counters came up to mid thigh (80cm or thereabout) and I'm not that tall (though both my sister and I want a higher than average worktop). My sister thinks she could live with the low worktops but I think you'll want to change it sooner rather than later because it will kill your back. Then there is the central heating boiler which needs to be replaced before 2026 (from then on those aren't allowed to be installed anymore and you'll need to install a much more expensive heat pump) and the fuse box needs to be replace since it's one still using the old fashion porcelain fuses, which are harder and harder to get (especially since our store is now closed). The bathroom isn't to our taste either, but with some adjustments we could make it work for a couple of years.
However, the biggest problem was the busy road outside. I could have lived with the road, but there are plans to divert the heavy traffic with a bridge diagonally across from the house and a roundabout almost in front of the house. The council was already buying up houses along the canal that need to be taken down. Such projects always take a long time, longer than planned and the residents are submitted to noise and dust and probably inconvenient road closures. The real estate agent assured us that after it was done it would be a huge improvement. My sister looked at the council's plans and seriously doubt it will be an improvement (it's a really big roundabout).
In other words, if it was €20,000 cheaper and at a different location (in one of the nearby side street for instance) we would probably put an offer in. But the road really is a deal breaker unfortunately. Which sucks, because we both loved the house.
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