Kitchen will be extra

House for Sale:

This property is at Zavelstraat 85 in Zonhoven. 

It has a thatched roof which was completely renovated in 2007. 

There are 3 bedrooms, one with sink and toilet, bathroom, office, living room with dining, non-fitted kitchen, porch, garage, cellar, small attic, central heating on oil. 

There are shutters on the ground floor, upper only glass.

A few weeks ago I got slightly lost due to road construction and came upon this house.  I thought it was the cutest thing I'd ever seen.  I pulled into the driveway to take this photo.

Turned out it is for sale so out of curiosity, I looked it up.  It's in a suburb of Hasselt called Zonhoven (population 20,000).  It's about a 10 minute drive from where we live.

The ad didn't say how many square feet this cute house has, but from the photos, it appears to be fairly small.

You definitely have to have some vision when looking at houses for sale or rent here because, in general, 

- they are usually old

- almost always painted white throughout, and 

- rarely updated.

This one is no exception.  Take a look.

This appears to be Bedroom #1 although a bed is about all you could get in there.  Wood floors are pretty nice.

This is probably Bedroom #2.  It's hard to tell the exact size of this one.  It definitely has a sloping ceiling so you could only stand up on one side of the room.  Nice concrete floors?

I'm gonna assume this is the office?  Small, but it does have a great window.

This one is obvious.  Sadly the website did not include a photo of Bedroom #3 which apparently has the bonus sink and toilet . . . likely conveniently located right in the bedroom.

This, of course, is the living room and dining.  That's a lot of red tile, but it's not bad.  Gotta have some vision.  The room is a bit lateral, but could perhaps be cozy.  The drapes must be original (house built in 1957).

Please note the light fixture (or lack there of) over the dining area.  That is 100% standard here.  When you move, you take your ceiling fixtures with you - from every room.

And of course, the all important "non-fitted" kitchen which means the cabinets are not attached to the walls and as you can see there are zero appliances - also very standard for housing here.  You get a sink and that's it.  On the bright side, you don't have to replace old appliances because there aren't any.

So, how much do you think this adorable-on-the-outside/fixer-upper-on-the-inside villa would cost you?

That would be 395,000 euros.  Three hundred, ninety-five thousand euros.

How much is that in dollars? It's $531,986.  Yes, five hundred thirty-one thousand, nine hundred eighty-six dollar biggies.  Yes, for just over a half million, this can be yours - to begin fixing up.

I agree, that IS a lot preposterous.  Welcome to Europe :)