If a house is on the market for considerably less than you would expect...

[FriggFRIGG]

Ther are no pictures of the inside and the blurb says it is 'in need of updateing'
What,exactly,should I prepare myself for when we view?
And what work is likely to be needed...

It's the first house that is a good size in a good location,that we could actually afford-just.its 5k over budget,so they may tell us to do one,but you have to live in hope,eh?!!

[NickNacks]

I'd probably expect that it needs need electrics, plumbing looking at, replastering, windows, central heating as well as decorating.

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

Depends on who lived there before. I saw a couple of houses that had clearly been owned by old people, one even had a zimmer frame in the living room.
All had dated decor and bathrooms and kitchens.
Not much help but it's all I've got.

[WinkyWinkola]

Maybe no central heating? Rotten wood windows?

[WoodyAllenJesus]

May have been repossessed and trashed - prepare yourself for the worst (IME)

[AThingInYourLife]

Agree with NickNacks - definitely worth taking a look, but it might not be habitable with work (or at least habitable with children).

There again, it might be a wreck you could put up with until you have the money to do the work.

[realhousewifeoffitzrovia]

I once went to view a flat with a similar description (needed updating, no photos on the website) and it was an absolute tip. I thought it needed more cosmetic work than structural work, and it really was a good size in a good location, so I bought it. When I brought the builder round to quote on the work, he said, "Sorry love, I don't do derelict properties". I panicked. But I persevered and finally found a less discriminating and less doomsaying builder, and gutted the kitchen and bathroom, changed the carpets, knocked down a wall and painted the entire place (including all woodwork) white. I spent more doing it up than I expected but much much less, when tallied with the purchase price, than I would have had I bought a "ready-to-wear" flat in the same neighbourhood.

My experience is that sellers want buyers to pay them back for the seller's extravagant renovations so you are better off buying a house that needs updating than paying through the nose for someone else's updates. Good luck - sounds exciting.

[AThingInYourLife]

might not be habitable without work (sorry)

[FriggFRIGG]

So,
It looks like pretty new windows in the picture of outside,double glazing,nice and big...the garden is a decent size,and looks like someone cared for it once...I actually can't believe we could be in with a chance of it...we've been looking at tiny 2 bed terraces,flats and avoiding ex council houses,this is in a nice (bit busy though) road,nr the town center and train station,it's a lovely looking oldish building with 3 beds AND a small study/nursery,2 reception rooms,kitchen bathroom,garden!!

[FriggFRIGG]

How much would all that cost nicknacks?!

[FriggFRIGG]

Oh DPs dad was an estimator/build manager for a big building company,and is also very handy with DIY,my dad was an engineer,also a pedantic good DIYer and we know plumbers...so we could possibly do a lot of the work 'ourseves'...

[thereinmadnesslies]

If it is already at the top of your budget, how are you going to afford the renovations?

[FriggFRIGG]

Ummm,we have a little bit of flexibility.not much though...
it's sooo close to our budget,and would be so perfect for us,we just can't ignore it.
We've been looking since September,I'm sick of looking at tiny property's and wondering where we'd all fit.

[CailinDana]

I think you need to decide in advance what level of renovation you're willing to commit to. We decided we'd be willing to put in a new kitchen and decorate from top to bottom, but not put in new windows/heating/doors or do any major structural work. You would be surprised how many people turn down excellent houses just because they need to be decorated. My view is, even if I got a house in pristine condition, I'd still want to decorate it to my taste, so why not get somewhere cheap so I'll have money left over to decorate it the way I want? Anyway, in the end we got a house whose asking price was £35000 (yes, that's thirty five thousand) less than the smaller, more modern houses that we viewed. We then paid £9000 less than the asking price, so an overall possible saving of £44,000. That saving was partly due to buying an ex-council house. Snobbery about council houses benefited us hugely!

[myron]

Know your Market - we have paid asking price for a house needing a complete refurb as a minimum because we felt it was priced to sell. It had 3 offers after 1 day on the Market and we viewed it on the 2nd day. We only beat off other asking price offers due to being a no chain buyer - thankfully, it didn't go to sealed bids and we have now completed on the sale. No regrets - it's in a fantastic location where houses come on the Market rarely. We do have the budget to renovate though and are choosing to do some basic work before moving in.

[FriggFRIGG]

Thankyou all,brilliant advice.

It has a sign on the listing saying 'hot propery,priced to sell NOW!'
Does that mean anything?

We are no chain FT Buyers,we have a large deposit,but we will still need a mortgage...it's only been on since Friday evening,so hope to get a viewing tomorrow.

[suburbandream]

It may not be as bad as you think! I would take "in need of updating" to mean that maybe it's been lived in for a long time by perhaps elderly people who have not done much to it. If there were major cracks, structural issues etc I'd expect the blurb to say more along the lines of "needs work". When I was looking I saw a house that was a lot cheaper than most in the area for exactly those reasons - was a bit tired looking and the person living there had to go into a nursing home so the grown up children were trying to help her sell it quickly.

[FriggFRIGG]

Thanks suburban I will keep my fingers crosseed for that!

[CailinDana]

That sign could mean anything really. It could be that the owner has died and the family are trying to tie up probate as quickly as possible or there's been a divorce or some such. Go and view it and pay careful attention to the important things - look for cracks, mould, uneven floors, condensation on windows, that sort of thing.

[Yeahthatsnotgonnahappen]

Ooh I'm excited on your behalf! As others have said I would take as a minimum that it needs rewiring, replumbing and replasyering plus all rooms redecorating. Do you have children? When you view the property decide if there is one room you could do up first to base yourself out of and then do rooms in order of priority.

It's amazing what a difference just a total clear out plus painting everything white will do to a property's liveability. Oh and ask the estate agent - they have to tell you the reason why it's priced so low.

[FlyingTeapot]

Get a full survey done if you are interested in buying.

[Yorky]

I'm with realhousewife - much better to do your own decorating a room at a time as you can afford it than to pay for a place in good decorative state, but to someone else's taste
We bought our house knowing it would need an extension (even though we didn't know I was falling pg with #4 almost as contracts were exchanged!) but we got a house in a nice area for 15-20k less than what the estate agent valued it as for us within 6months of purchase! Yes, it was a reposession but most of what we've done has been cosmetic (so far I have plans!!)

However, the house we looked at before this, was, like yours, described as 'in need of modernisation throughout', and, 'an exciting renovation project' which looked doable to us, but the survey scared us well away - its still for sale and the asking price keeps coming down, it nearly sold at auction in November but the for sale sign is still up so it wasn't just us who thought it was too big a project.
It was only part DG, the CH boiler was a museum piece, there was a question over the condition of the wooden floors, possible damp in an external wall - we were quoted about £30k for work :(
TBH, the lack of photos would make me nervous, have you seen inside yet?

With hindsight, and having owned a house for nearly 6months (!) and realised how hard it is to paint walls and/or woodwork when pg and knackered, but have to do it when 3 under 5s are asleep I am very glad we didn't go for the house which needed more work, most of which we would have had to pay someone else to do

[SpecialBranch]

We bought a house where there were no internal pictures and priced below the norm for its area. It didn't actually say "in need of updating" but we obviously assumed that before viewing.

Our belonged to an old lady who had just gone into a home. There was a bed and a commode downstairs which was a little eerie at first (we didn't know at that point that she was still alive).

Property was not derelict by any means. It had UPVC windows and a pretty new boiler. It did however need new kitchen, bathroom, full decoration and carpets etc...

The biggest thing was that it needed rewiring. Not sure if you've ever had this done but it is a big, messy job. (c. £1K per bedroom in the property was the guide we were given for budgeting and this was pretty much bang on in our case). We managed to get this done before we moved in which was a godsend with a small baby. We still had to live with the messed up walls etc until we got round to doing each room however.

I don't regret doing ours. We ended up with a property in the area we wanted and with the decor that was exactly what we wanted. As others have said above, you don't end up paying for someone else's finish. I don't think we saved or made money, pretty much broke even. But it got us in to a property we might not have achieved otherwise.

I'd view it. Then, maybe a 2nd viewing with some tradesmen if you are still interested. Keep us updated!

[franke]

Have a good look at the roof. If it needs mending or replacing that will be a major expense and will need to be done straight away.