to want to buy a cheaper house and renovate?

[OhTheConfusion]

DH and I are house hunting... this is ment to be fun :(

DH wants to buy somewhere pretty much ready to move into and has focused his search on this only as he sees it as the easiest way to move and we can re-decorate a little while down the line when the money is available.

I want to buy somewhere that costs less but needs a good pinch of modernisation. No extensions or anything required but would need new kitchen, bathroom, a few walls knocked down and a lot of plastering/decorating.

BOth houses are in the same street, roughly the same size and 'kerb appeal', but the one I like is a good bit cheaper.

AIBU to want to spend the spare money on making the cheaper home perfect for us rather than setteling for someone elses tastes etc just to save any hassle? The DH works away from home so it would be me and the DC's there for most of the work.

[MummytoMog]

We went for a ready to move into house. It has fallen apart around our ears. We are now looking at spending in excess of £70k to fix all the problems and make it liveable in. This is on top of the £10k we have already spent making it warm enough to live in with children. The cosmetic finish covered a complete fricking nightmare of no insulation, badly fitted windows, a lethal central heating system and a loft conversion which doesn't meet building regs. YAY.

[Laquitar]

I think with the ready to move houses it is harder to negotiate the final price. The owners want to make their money back plus profit for painting the feauture wall!

I'm with you and i would prefer to do the house myself.

[cozietoesie]

All house purchasing - unless you've seen (in detail) the thing built from ground up - is a gamble. You don't know where structural and planning corners have been cut, where problems have been covered over cosmetically, where fingers have simply been crossed. And that applies to new and renovated houses as well as older ones.

You just have to get the best facts you can, to try your best to minimize the unknown, work out your options and PLAN. Buying a fixer upper may not be to everyone's taste or do-able with their family circumstances but buying a spankingly renovated or great new house may mean that money is so stretched that life becomes difficult (if not near intolerable) in other ways.

It's everyone's individual choice of battleground.

[Pendeen]

" would need new kitchen, bathroom, a few walls knocked down and a lot of plastering/decorating. "

That is quite a lot of work especially if the "... few walls knocked down... " are loadbearing.

Aks your surveyor for his advice on the practicalities before deciding.

I agree with the contributor who said that most of the TV renovation-type programmes vastly underplay the sheer hard work and frustrations in the name of good TV.

[oscarwilde]

One thing to bear in mind aside from the doer upper/buy it done arguments; is that if the houses have £50k in the difference as a valuation, the bank will only lend you a % of the value of the house. These days they will not lend you tons of money against future perceived value subject to work being carried out.
Therefore, you may find yourself approved for eg: a £350k mortgage on a £500k house at No21 but unable to get £350k for no22 if it is valued at £450k.
Do you actually have your estimated £50k in savings or equity to do the work that you want to do?

[OhTheConfusion]

Thanks for all the replies!

The £50k is available to do the work due to equity and savings, were currently renting after selling up and moving so it's sitting in the bank alongside the deposit. There is a 70k difference on the house prices, we would need to put £45k extra onto the deposit for the more expensive house to afford it.

I took the advice from here and viewed the house I love with a builder today, he thinks the walls that need removed and the wall that would need to be put in else where would come to roughly £4,200 including the work done by the structural engineer to pass the planning process. If this is the case then I really do want it even more!!!

We have instructed a survey on both properties for tomorrow afternoon... they did not find my request for buy one get the next survey half price suggestion funny . DH has agreed to sit down with the report and take it from there.

[oscarwilde]

Take whatever quote you are given from a builder and double it, at least.

[BlueSkySinking]

I'm with you.

[urbanproserpine]

Also get the fullest survey possibe. Our survey missed 40k of work.

Suveyors can't lift carpets, take down wallpaper or see anything non-cosmetic. In our case damp behind the plasterboard and gloss-painted anaglypta wallpaper, and everything done by a lunatic (who lied during the survey and sale through his teeth)

One good thing you can do for free is get a roofer in to do a quote for the roof. Surveyors will not go on your roof, but roofers will, and they will tell you what needs doing.they are usually happy do do this even if you don't own the house (my roofer told me I should have got him on to do this). Similarly get a good electrician to come and tell you what needs to be done, as surveyors won't do this either. These tradespeople will do quotes free of charge, and are worth knowing..