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

[metronome1]

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?

We had a total renovation before kids it was hard fitting it around work then I wouldn't now I have children, even wallpaparing one wall is beat done whe the kids are in bed and mind are toddler age too so know how time consuming they can be, if it was something that could be turned around in 6 months or so and in a great area I'd probably go for it, butfor a so so area and such a long time scale I'd rather give it a miss.
However is your house even up for sale? If not you would be silly to set your heart your heart on something that is likely to be unavailable, if its already up for sale a builder will likely jump in first once things can get moving again.

I will never buy another fixer upper again.

After the updates 3 bed in area 1 definitely.
Have you checked other houses on the street of the 3 bed. It may be you can convert the attic in time if you need more space.

I bought a flat (NE London) last April, it was an absolute wreck, no working bathroom and just enough kitchen (sink and one tiny bit of worktop) to make it mortgageable.

The building it’s in one was by far my favourite building of the three I had chosen to buy in, flats rarely come up so I jumped at the chance, it was a bit over budget, but not too much. I managed to sort the toilet on day one so we could manually flush it with a bucket, I used to shower at the gym and my son (then 3) had a bath in a baby bath that I filled with saucepan water.

It took a month to get the bathroom sorted, then I had a kitchen installed in early August. Until then I just used a portable electric hob and borrowed a neighbours oven (I knew them before I moved in).

It was a bit of a pain, but by buying a wreck I saved around £250k. I have spent around £35k in total putting it right.

It’s an old converted textile factory so all internal walls are partitions, this summer I’m having some work done to create a third bedroom. It’s two at the minute, they’re both very big, so I’m keeping my en-suite master and turning my sons room into two still generous doubles.

Double the already realistic timeframe you think it will take.

Triple the already realistic budget you have set.

Now you can really reflect on if you have the time and money?

If it’s a true doer upper you will need to either move out or stay where you are and move in later for a period of time.

My Dh is a builder and we have done up two houses. Whilst it has placed us in a very different position it took triple the money and probably triple the time but if you are paying builders they will need to work to some sort of deadline.

If you don’t have the skills/time to project manage and understand the order of works, a great builder and more money than you think - go 3 bed done house and enjoy time together as a family and holidays.

It would really depend on which house I love more. If I loved the big one I’d make it work. If I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t. Which one feels like home? Have you viewed?

Our current house was a bit of a doer upper when we bought it, but you couldn’t really tell at the time, as it was done up very well. It was when everything was removed you could see it more. We have basically done one big thing a year for the last six years, as it was perfectly liveable.

Years ago, we nearly bought a deceased estate that was properly in need of gutting. It was absolutely beautiful though. Our offer was rejected by the family, so we kept our head in terms of the offer.

I’m not sure still to this day if we had a lucky escape or not. In reality as long as it isn’t falling down my opinion is damp treatment is easy, and surprisingly inexpensive, and getting bathrooms and kitchens done isn’t as big a ball ache as you would think. Internal decor can be done as and when. If windows and electrics need doing that adds to the cost and effort obviously, but everything doesn’t need to be done at once. A staggered approach works well.

What @thetwinkletoescollective said.

I’m afraid it won’t work for you OP to say “ he will have to do it all as I’m rubbish at DIY”. You will have to do labouring work and you can learn new skills.

And of course you will need to project manage, which takes time and effort to do well. It’s not just the scheduling and management of trades, materials and budget, it’s the hundred tiny decisions ( where do you what this switch / socket ? ) that need to be made correctly at the right time

But even if you and your DH do the labouring, you still need skilled trades people for lots of things plus materials and that costs money. And you don’t have much.

You need to be realistic about how many hours a week you can work on the house on top or work and childcare. And how you will feel living on a building site for a year ( or however long it takes).

You say the thought of the 5 bed fills you with dread. That’s not a good place to start a project, you should be full of enthusiasm.

I don’t mean to be rude but It doesn’t sound like you have the time, money and experience to do a major project.

I’d go for the 3 bed.

It comes down to money and then time.

How much money will you have in your bank account to throw at it, after you have bought it and moved in.

How much time realistically will you have to do the jobs that need doing?

you and DH will only have weekends and evenings to get things done, your family in the building trade may help but only in the time they get? this could mean you can't do anything whilst you wait for wiring/pipes/plastering to be done by relatives, who may be having to stop and start the jobs to fit in around their work.

whilst you are spending weekends/evenings/holidays doing DIY will you feel frustrated that you are not getting to spend the time with your DC living your dream life? days outs, parties at home, money for activities, nice holidays or just chilling with them?

I've done houses up, if the money isn't readily available to get important stuff done quickly. its miserable.

going on my own experiences, in your circumstances if you don't have a healthy budget for stuff. Then I would buy the 3 bed finished house in the great area.

It will cost more than you think, it will progress at a snail's pace, It will dominate everything. After bitter experience I would always buy a "done" house or at most, one that just needed a new kitchen. And never, ever buy a house with bus stop outside - again, from bitter experience.

If the house is liveable while you take your time to do it, just shabby/old fashioned, but otherwise ticks the boxes, I’d go ahead.

Both my dds have bought houses that were terribly dated as regards decor, kitchens and bathrooms, etc., but were perfectly liveable in the meantime and would scrub up very well once they had the time/money to do it.

Obv. this doesn’t work for the sort of person who ‘can’t’ live with e.g. swirly carpet/wallpaper or an avocado bathroom.

When DH and I were starting out, we bought a new build off plans, and moved in once builders were finished. So we had to paint, floor/carpet, do curtains, tile, dig and plant the garden, floor the loft, etc all ourselves. And as we were young and smashed broke, we literally did almost all ourselves (we got a plumber in to put an outside tap, and the shop sent fitters for carpet, but otherwise, it was us).

Less that 3 years later, a killer commute sent us screaming back to the outskirts of the city, rather than a commuter belt town. We bought an almost identical house, but 25 years old. Theoretically fine, but OMG the work we have had to do.

Still somewhat smashed, we did a lot of initial work ourselves. Repainting, new curtains, tiling in kitchen etc. But had to get people in for new windows to the back (replaced pine with uPVC) and new bathroom within 6 months. And since then, we've done a lot more (insulation, new windows to the front, extension out the back, loft conversion, garden landscaping/fence replacement, painted, built-in wardrobes, built-in bookcases, etc).

We have a very good local plumber that we call as needed. DH still does a lot of the electrics (changing lights etc) but we also have an electrician we can call when needed. We have just repainted DD's room - but that was the first painting job WE have done in years - we had got most of it done as part of the extensions, or once had someone in to do a number of rooms at once. We got a very good carpenter to do the cabinetry in the sitting room.

Partly, getting people in was about doing the job right. Partly a matter of time (we don't have the spare time to do things anymore - although lockdown has been good for that). And we have had the money to do it, and the time to plan it well.

We're here now 18 years, and it is quite different to when we started. The major works were slow to get done - once we'd dealt with initial priorities (the windows and bathroom) and done an initial cosmetic job (fresh paint and curtains ourselves), it was another 5 years before we updated the kitchen as part of the extension, and a further 3 years before we did the attic, with most of the other jobs being later again. And when DD was small, we didn't have the time to devote to diving into DIY and minding her, so that was when we started getting the professionals in.

Admittedly, now that she's 14, she is able to help properly. But with toddlers, don't plan on getting a lot done productively as you can only have 1 of you doing it at once unless you can get someone else to watch them. And you can't get as stuck into a job for a whole weekend, leaving tools and materials lying out overnight etc.

Although, having re-read your OP, the choice of a 3 bed done well, and a doer-upper 5 bed that is habitable, for a family of 4.

I'd do the 5 bed, as long as it is ok for living in at the moment, and plan to improve it slowly over time. The bad room to do will be the kitchen, but even that can be planned around. Don't get too much "stuff", so you can always have a room that you can put yourselves into as you need to work on a room (so 1 bedroom is storage or an alternative living space while you are working on the house).

Even when we had no back wall the whole of the autumn (and no boiler as that blew the night before builders were coming in September!), and only got the builders out on 23rd December (6 week job turned into 13 weeks), we managed to stay in the house the whole time with DD (almost 2 at the time) and stay working (I was doing a Masters at the time as well as working). It just took organisation - batch cooked ahead of time to have easy meals frozen, we had 6 weeks when the "kitchen" was the sink unit, the cooker, the fridge and the microwave; and the dining table in the sitting room was my worktop. We had a good few takeaways and many very simple meals. DD's toys were all in her room upstairs. I borrowed a neighbours' washing machine a couple of times, and went to a local launderette a couple of times while our machine was unusable.

But there was an end in sight, so it was doable.

So as long as you only take on a manageable amount in 1 go, or else temporarily rent somewhere to get a bulk job done if necessary (not necessarily a whole project - but a few weeks in the bad part of a major project can make a big difference), it can be done even with smallies. (I know I only had 1, and she was in creche all day as we were at work). It takes planning, organisation during, an ability to change as you go along, and be flexible. But it is doable.

And the long term result of a larger house that you want and like, can be worth it.

@NewYearNewTwatName has nailed it. You are not working to a 2 ish year plan, you are working on a, your builders working outside of their full time jobs. They will dictate the pace. Not you and dh.
Whether it is 2 or 3 years to do up the bigger house, that is a long, long time for your neighbours to suffer after hours building job noise.
If dh can give up his job to work on the house, well, that might work...if he can't, it is you and 2 dc on a building site for 2 or 3 years.

We have barely had time to put a shelf up recently.

Go for the done 3 bed. You won't suddenly have more time to renovate the 5 bed.

And you say that "we would be up to our limit, so would not have much money immediately to renovate".

Go for the 3 bed in the nice area.

Just to add, the only reason we bought a fixer-upper is because DH is a trained builder and plasterer and can do the work himself.

But that also means it's taking forever. He works five days a week and doesn't have the energy to do more work when he gets home. At weekends he wants to have some down time and it means a job that may take a few days with a professional coming in, suddenly takes several months.

It means you live in a building site because the walls are plastered but you don't have the time to paint. Or an extension is built but the walls are bare because you're too busy to plaster it. Your house is dusty, most things are covered in dirt and it's just horrible.

We've been living here four years now and we've only renovated the upstairs so far. We still have to finish the living room ceiling and do the bathroom and kitchen, which will require DH taking time out of work (self-employed) to do it as we can't go without a kitchen or bathroom for weeks on end.

I would really, really think about it. Yes, it's nice to decorate a house entirely to your tastes but it's time consuming and exhausting and expensive. And it will have an impact on your relationship if he's working all the time and you're stuck doing all the DC related care for years on end.

Oh, and we don't have children!