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Original poster

Would you get a run down house and renovate or a done house

67 replies

metronome1 · 19/04/2020 17:28

Hi all,

There is me, dh and 2 young dc (toddlers). We bought our current house before dc and are quickly outgrowing it (2 bed). We want to stay in this town as this is where family, friends and nursery is and its in between our work places. Unfortunately it's quite an expensive place to live and you don't get much for your money. We are OK money wise at the moment with a small mortgage and can therefore afford days out, holidays etc which is something we are keen to maintain.

To get somewhere bigger here we would be stretching ourselves. We don't earn massive amounts and I work part time and wish to continue to do so, at least until the youngest is in secondary school.

We could afford a 'done' 3 bed. This would be smaller than our dream forever home but we have to be realistic, as much as I love to day dream otherwise. The 3 bed would be in a nice part of town.

However, a 'run down' 5 bed has come on the market. It's in a less desirable part of town but still OK all things considered. It would need fully gutting and modernisation. We would be up to our limit, so would not have much money immediately to renovate and would therefore have to do it room by room, while living there and it could take some time. The thing is it fills me with dread thinking about working, looking after two small children all while living in a building site, but I can see the potential of this house and feel we could make it a wow house and our forever home.

What would others do? Does anyone have experience? How was it? Worth it in the end?

OP posts:
TulipsfromAmsterdam · 19/04/2020 19:32

I would go for the 3 bed that's done. 12 years ago when we sold there was nothing much available so we ended up buying a doer upper. Agreed to have damp proofing and rewire done before moving in and access was between builder and estate agent. Day we completed arrived to find all the plaster that was removed piled in the middle of the living room floor! Totally unexpected and we were very inexperienced.

Had to stay with parents for 6 weeks till it was liveable. Tight budget meant nothing finished properly and lack of experience meant we got things wrong.
Spent weekends and evenings at home and missing out on enjoying family time with youngest dd 3.
Moved twice since and would always want something ready to move in to in future.

Beakyok · 19/04/2020 19:37

Currently in the process of doing up a house. It needs everything doing as hasn’t been touched since the 70s. The sale went through when I was 7 months pregnant and we moved in when baby was 5 weeks old. In that time the house had been rewired, new boiler, pipes and radiators, woodchip stripped and some rooms re-plastered. Never again. There is still so much to do and truth be told I have serious resentment with the house at times. I resent the intrusion on family time and I’ve learnt my husband is sooo very slow at diy projects which look end up looking bodge! There’s still so much to do and what we thought things would cost have always ended up as more.
I wish we’d done it before children.

TheSandman · 19/04/2020 19:38

I have done this three times now. Bought houses in dire need of repair and done them up. The last one had boarded-up windows because the windows had rotted and blown in in a gale, fungus, growing out the walls, and water coming through the roof. Basically we had to hollow it out and start again - while living in it. I didn't have kids at the time but it was the most fun I've ever had.

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Home improvement
homeschoolchaos · 19/04/2020 19:40

We live in a large fixer upper, and have, over the past 6 months done a huge chunk of it. We went in with money to renovate though and I’m not sure I would have been up for it if we were really stretching to buy it in the first place. For context, the first £30k we spent was on things you can’t see - utilities mainly, heating/hot water, electrics, new water supply, leaking roof. They’re important and I’m pleased we did them, but they were also quite urgent in some cases. We also spent £1.5k on stripping woodchip wallpaper (ok so we could do that ourselves but it took someone weeks full time to do it). Bear in mind that if it’s a big house that means the volume of work (and the cost) will be much higher

Original poster
metronome1 · 19/04/2020 19:43

The (small) 3 bed is in area 1.
The 5 bed is detached and has a large garden which surrounds it. It's not by others like it, it's a bit stand alone. However it is on a junction of an occasionally busy road (during school drop off) it has a bus stop outside but its not rush hour main road busy. Basically it's not in a quiet cul de sac. But the price reflects this.

OP posts:
PickAChew · 19/04/2020 19:44

I've never seen a "done" house that I wouldn't want to do stuff to. Unless very high end, they're usually horribly bland and the kitchen is never configured how I would want it and the paint work is almost always shoddy. I CBA with a total renovation project but a bit scruffy tends to suit. There's plenty of slightly scruffy but livable houses to be had, normally.

Freddiefox · 19/04/2020 19:46

I’d go for the nicer area to be honest. The location is so important

carly2803 · 19/04/2020 19:46

before kids - the do-erupper

with kids = done house

would i shite do another house up again!

AnotherEmma · 19/04/2020 19:47

Location, location, location.

Based on your description of the areas, between 2 and 3 isn't good enough. I would want to be in area 2 as a minimum, preferably 1 but would settle for the right house in area 2. Provided the house is in the catchment area for a good secondary school, that is.

As a general rule I would go for a "doer upper" but not in area 2/3 and not when you have two young children and can't afford to get the work done quickly and ideally live elsewhere for the worst of it.

In your circumstances, I would choose a 3 bed with potential for extension and/or loft conversion, or a 4 bed with a bit of work that needs doing, but both would need to be liveable to begin with.

It sounds as if the right house for you hasn't come on the market yet. Keep looking.

Mumdiva99 · 19/04/2020 19:48

Go with school catchment areas. Would you be happy with your kids going to the catchment area school for both houses? (Primary and secondary).... maybe there's a third option you haven't found yet....bigger than 3 bed but not in the 'best' area. If you would happily live in second best area for 5 bed do-er upper....could you also live there in a 4 bed just needs some paint on walls??

Original poster
metronome1 · 19/04/2020 19:48

And sorry forgot to add. No we are not planning on anymore dc. It's not so much the bedrooms but obviously with more bedrooms you get a bigger downstairs.

Both would be in the catchment area of our preferred school.

OP posts:
whenwillthemadnessend · 19/04/2020 19:51

We have gone from a nice 3 bed to a 5 and it's a lot easier to renovate a 5 bed as you have spare rooms to store stuff or too shut the door on so you can forget it for a bit.

Just make sure you have at least a few rooms done upstairs and down quickly so you have a calm pleasant. area to retreat too. The rest can happen as and when.

vanillandhoney · 19/04/2020 19:51

We bought a fixer upper as it was 40k cheaper and all I can say is...never ever again!

We bought it four years ago and there's still work needing doing to the kitchen and bathroom. It'll be at least another year or two before it's done and it's horrible having to come home to a building site.

Not worth it.

AnotherEmma · 19/04/2020 19:58

"it is on a junction of an occasionally busy road (during school drop off) it has a bus stop outside but its not rush hour main road busy. Basically it's not in a quiet cul de sac."

Nope nope nope

PearPickingPorky · 19/04/2020 20:01

If I were you, I'd do neither.

Get a livable 3 bed in the good area that you can extend and do up in your own time.

Wetcarparkrain · 19/04/2020 20:02

I agree with pp that because it's a 5 bed, you can use one bedroom, or one downstairs room, as a junk room while work is going on. We've renovated three, and the last has been a nightmare turning a neat three bed into a neat four bed with wiring upgrades, new windows/doors and new bathroom etc. Mostly because we have kids and nowhere to put the endless crates of crap/painting supplies/clothes that would be stashed in a wardrobe.

It also depends on the kind of work - Loft extension can be hell if all the ceilings below damaged. Bathroom, if going in same space, not actually so bad.

Things to think about

Roof
wiring
heating
plumbing

Four boring expensive things to get right as soon as possible.

Then

kitchen
bathroom(s)
sundries (replacing internal doors, moving any walls/doors/stairs etc)
decoration (replastering, repairing, caulking, painting, papering can all add up)
furnishing.

Write a list with the costs and the likelihood of you being able to afford them. Planning is everything with renovation. It worked for us because we've hoiked ourselves the property ladder that way. If it's a forever home, it probably is worth it even if it takes a couple of years (which it will if you're living in it/saving up for it!)

Wetcarparkrain · 19/04/2020 20:03

Ooh, sorry, forgot to add windows and doors on - could be anything from £5k to £50k to replace those!

Fuchsake · 19/04/2020 20:04

We bought a fixer upper. It was very hard because we worked during the week and I was stuck with DC every weekend while DH worked on the house. He didn’t spend time with his DC and I didn’t get a break. Plus the obvious disadvantage of living in a building site and being confined to only a few finished rooms. In the long run it’s nicer to have a bigger house that’s done to your own taste, but it’s an absolute pain and you lose all of your days out and family time etc.

anothernotherone · 19/04/2020 20:09

I think the "dream forever home" thing is a load of old nonsense. My parents bought into it and we lived in a building site all our childhoods. They got it as they wanted it after all their children moved out and envisaged all their children and grandchildren there all the time, utterly ignoring the fact we're separate individual people with spouses and jobs/ careers and all had to move away for work, plus all wanted our own homes not to be satellite moons around the parental "home planet". It's rare the house is full as they anticipated.

I'd buy a house for my needs now, not a house that'll be perfect for a growing family just as the kids leave home.

Unless it's a hard headed business/ investment renovation and you acknowledge that your family are just perching in it while you renovate until it's time to sell up for afar profit, but that's something else again.

Carouselfish · 19/04/2020 20:12

I love the idea of doing up a house. But in reality I know Id really just want to have the ideas and get someone else to do all the work.

RingaRosie · 19/04/2020 20:13

Having rented a lot of places, old & new, I’d buy new / already done up.

Bathonian2020 · 19/04/2020 20:17

Definitely the three bed in the good neighbourhood. I can promise you now that the 5 bed will need twice as much spending on it as you think at the time you buy it and living in a house being worked on is no fun at all especially with small children.

Been there, done that, not doing it again. You need to enjoy your lives.

JoeySpecial · 19/04/2020 20:21

With children, a done house.

You wont have time or energy to do DIY and it will literally, take over your lives and time.

Wetcarparkrain · 19/04/2020 20:25

Yes, I will say that after doing it three times we are a bit like, never, ever again! One more move to go I think then that is IT and turning down DH's great fixer upper suggestions all the time.

TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince · 19/04/2020 20:25

I live in an area with high house prices.

Dore-uppers often fetch quite a high asking price, as people see them as some sort of bargain. And they are snapped up by property developers who can pay over the odds.

So be carefuk