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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to say no to dh dream house?

168 replies

BakerBear · 29/09/2017 22:33

We are first time buyers. We currently rent and have viewed a house today.

Its £300,00 and needs around £60,000 spending on it.

Its a lot of money even though we could afford it. Dh really wants it as its been his dream to renovate his own home rather than buy a home thats already been renovated to someone elses tastes.

I feel that as first time buyers buying a house needing £60,000 on it is out of our depth.

I dont want to live in a bomb site whilst things are getting done and also once you start renovating you can find all sorts of hidden problems.

Dh wants to do some of the work himself but i feel hes too busy with work and then it wont get done but he assures me he will find time.

We will have to get trades people to do some of the work.

There is nothing in the area that needs work doing that is such a big house.

The area if great with very good local schools etc

AIBU?

OP posts:

BackforGood · 30/09/2017 17:31

That is nothing like I was expecting.

Look up the difference between need and would like

However, if your heart isn't in it, then it probably isn't the house for you.
Personally I like it, but if you don't, then don't buy it. A house is too big an investment to go ahead with if you don't 'feel' it, as not only is it a huge financial investment, it is your whole life - you can't get away from it at all.

TroelsLovesSquinkies · 30/09/2017 19:21

That house is livable. In fact it's rather nice. It's in better shape than the one we are living in and doing up.
You could live in it as you do it, bit by bit and still be comfortable. Go for it.

RosyPony · 30/09/2017 19:25

That's not renovation, that's decoration 😂😂

We moved in to ours after 4 months, it was half finished and the rest was done within a year. DH is in the industry but we mostly paid for the work to be done as his time off is very limited, obviously though we got most of our materials at trade price so that did help and meant we could use a really high spec on a low budget.

We're planning to move again and are happy to take on another project, something like that we'd move into with young children right away, I've been to view much worse!

RosyPony · 30/09/2017 19:25

But you sound like you just don't like it, so don't buy it!

MoonlightandMusic · 30/09/2017 20:37

What Rosy just said (both posts)! Although, if your DH does want an actual doer-upper, there's always this small project...

littlebillie · 01/10/2017 00:13

You will save on stamp duty etc going for it now rather than jumping house to house

PeterBlue · 01/10/2017 03:19

Our first house was a tiny 2 up, 2 down terrace that needed work. Took years and cost much more than we anticipated. If you've got a quote/estimate of £60K, I'd want twice that in the bank before I'd even consider it. YANBU.

Mummyoflittledragon · 01/10/2017 05:35

I was expecting something like that link Moonlight. I have bought and done up a couple of houses and sold them on. These are photos from one of the properties. They're from rightmove as I forgot to take some before photos and aren't clear as they're saved in my rightmove but have a deleted status, which go light in colour. This is even more extreme and not liveable. However, the old lady did live in there apparently until 18 months before I bought it. This needed a damp course btw.

graziemille · 01/10/2017 05:50

Renovating houses has been the bane of my life since the day I got married. That was over 30 years ago! Stress, bad temper, mess....the list is endless. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Small renovations, fair enough. Whole houses....NO!
DH is talking about one final renovation when he retires. Over my dead body........

SoPassRemarkable · 01/10/2017 07:00

House looks ace. Only thing I can see which needs doing is painting over the orange walls!

Dianag111 · 01/10/2017 17:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Maireadplastic · 01/10/2017 17:56

If you like that house, buy it.

Jux · 01/10/2017 18:00

DH has been doing up a one-bed flat, en suite rather than bathroom, kitchen, living room and loo. He hasn't quite finished but he had surgery a few weeks ago so OK. It was in OK nick and needed nothing radical done. He reckons he'll finish in about a week.

He started in February. It is September. One bed, OK nick, nothing radical. 7 months.

Don't get into that. The house you've linked to needs a few licks of paint but not much more. Give him a deadline after which you will call in professionals. Stick to it.

Cessj · 01/10/2017 18:05

You need a good surveyor to carry out a FULL survey - not the basic, cheaper one. We employed a surveyor to do a basic survey for our first house purchase, and came to bitterly regret it, as he missed lots of stuff that involved quite substantial work and a lot of money to fix. Our house was next to a trainline and we discovered after we purchased that there was a degree of subsidence which would have been reported to us had we gone for a full survey. We learned our lesson the next time around.

SherbrookeFosterer · 01/10/2017 18:10

He has been watching too many of those silly tv shows.

Get a new build, then when you can, buy a wreck or a piece of land somewhere about an hour's drive away in the sticks and make it the weekend project.

If you need a while to save up for that, get him some Lego off eBay.

LuluJakey1 · 01/10/2017 18:28

It is a matter of taste. That house does not need new bathrooms or a new kitchen, or new windows. It already has an ensuite that looks fine. No house needs laminate floors. It has a damp proof course. It doesn't need new skirting boards nor the wall between the kitchen and dining room knocking down, nor a new front door. The conservatory roof needs a good clean and the trees at the back need 10 ft lopping off them and thinning.

The house is large and if you can get it for £300,000 (it is actually on the market for 330,000) you could move straight in and re-decorate as you go.

You are being overly dramatic about it. All houses, even new ones need work. A new house would seem perfect at first but within weeks you would see all of it's faults. This is a lot of house for the money I think. Check out what fully updated ones go for.

LuluJakey1 · 01/10/2017 18:36

Mind you, having looked on line you can buy houses of a similar size, new for 300,000 or less. If you want it, I would offer him less- £270,000. It is empty and will be hard to sell and he may need to sell it.

FaveNumberIs2 · 01/10/2017 18:57

Just do it. You may never get this chance again.

cpjoli · 01/10/2017 19:09

We moved into a house that needed tidying up 4 days ago. I hate it already !!! You need extreme patience, willing to call about a hundred different people to get what you want and have nerves of steel. It's caused huge arguments with dh despite having rarely argued in the last 3 years !!
Don't do it !

WashingMatilda · 01/10/2017 19:12

I just can't get over you being first time buyers with a budget of 300k!!
Not jealous at all, nope nope nope

Btljalrrl08 · 01/10/2017 19:17

We bought a house that needed taking back to the brick in every room and a one story extension putting on. Some walls taking down, others being put up. Other than the extension my husband did it all. We were able to stay living where we were though whilst we did it. Is this an option for you?
It took us a year in total with my husband in his second year of uni. He work tirelessly for the whole year and myself and the kids hardly saw him but we were able to move in to pretty much a brand new house 10 months after we bought it with just a few bits left to do when we moved in.
If the passion and drive is there to do it then it totally can be done and my husband loves the fact that he knows where all the wives in the house are and that we have plugs exactly where we want them. Also you get such a huge sense of achievement afterwards, that you did it all yourselves.

Maelstrop · 01/10/2017 19:20

I think I'd go for it, but have a full survey done and mention the damp. You can move in then do it up. There's nothing drastic by the sound of it. We replaced a kitchen over two days then the bath and toilet over two days. We didn't remove/replace tiles/cooker, tho, which would extend the time needed. I think your dh will need annual leave and to have everything bought and ready for the bathroom/kitchen. Going back and forth to suppliers is what wastes the most time.

We had the windows replaced in the whole house last year, took one guy 2.5 days and he was incredibly neat.

Leapfrog44 · 01/10/2017 19:24

worst house, best street. That's the most sensible kind of house you can buy. Assuming it's price accordingly, do it.

GardenGeek · 01/10/2017 19:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

rosy71 · 01/10/2017 19:39

I can't see anything wrong with that house at all! I wouldn't say it needs renovating. The bathroom looks quite new. The whole house doesn't look that old so unlikely to be anything wrong with it.

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