Alexandra Road, Broadstairs

Flip-flops on. In less than two minutes, you’re on Broadstairs pier with a plastic glass of Chardonnay or Campo, watching your little rugrats dig holes and eat seaweed. Won’t touch broccoli at home. Happy to eat something a crab’s slept in.
First-time buyer money. Right in the thick of Broadstairs. A traditional three-bedroom house, currently arranged differently. We’ll get to that.
The last house on Alexander Road before the allotments. Cliff top seconds away. Harbour Street, through the arch, onto the pier. Restaurants within a lazy saunter. You could nip home between courses
Lovely life. Now for the house.
Nobody appears to have troubled it with a paintbrush for forty or fifty years. It needs a complete refurbishment. If your DIY kit consists of a scented candle and a bloke’s number, have a proper think.
There’s also the upstairs layout to consider. The owners adapted it around their mobility needs, installing a lift and converting what would normally be the second bedroom into a bathroom that also houses it. It’s currently arranged around a bedroom with en suite facilities, rather than the traditional three-bedroom layout.
The house changed to suit the people living in it. Perfectly sensible. Restoring the three-bedroom arrangement would mean removing the lift and reworking the upstairs, with some alterations required. Put that on the project list, somewhere above arguing about taps.
Downstairs, there’s a huge lounge diner, a good-sized cellar and a small, enclosed courtyard garden. Somewhere to sit with a drink while you discuss why the plasterer hasn’t turned up.
This could be a seriously cool home. Getting there will involve dust, money and the occasional disagreement in a kitchen showroom.
And before the investors arrive to announce that it needs work: yes. That was our first clue too.
It’s priced accordingly. Spare us the theatrical sighing and the calculator.
The real appeal is to someone who thought a family house this central was out of reach. Someone prepared to tackle the work, take their time and make it theirs.
You might spend the next two or three years sorting the house.
You’ll spend considerably less time getting to the pub.