To sell the house and drastically change our lives

[julyjulyjuly]

I’m in my 30s, married with one DC and live on the outskirts of London. DH and I are both self employed and whilst the year started off well, the lockdowns have been awful financially and have also taken a massive toll mentally on both of us.

We have a big mortgage (£1500 a month) which was doable before, but with things looking so much less certain due to Covid, we’d now like to hugely reduce our outgoings.

We’ve always wanted to live in the countryside and we’ve found a place we really like the look of. It’s a long way from London and is in bad condition inside - it would need a new kitchen and bathroom straightaway and all the other rooms need completely redecorating (paintwork, fixtures and floors). The garden is an overgrown mess.

DH and I have never done any painting, decorating or floor sanding in our lives and don’t know anything about that sort of stuff. But it’s always been a dream to take on a rural project like this, do as much of the work as possible by ourselves and create an amazing family home.

We could afford a “finished” house in the location where we want to live on our budget, but it would be two bedrooms as opposed to four, with one reception room compared to three. I’ve always wanted the big rambling house so we can have family to stay at Christmas and friends during the year. Obviously that wouldn’t be possible with a two bedroom cottage, but if we bought the house that needs work then we’d have that.

The major issue is the finances - whilst our mortgage would be reduced to around £600 per month (that’s the cost of the house plus £50k to do it up), we worry that moving hundreds of miles away from London is a risky move career-wise. In our current state we can work from anywhere, but what if our freelance work dries up and we need to get full time jobs again? This is something that would be much easier to do near London than the far flung but beautiful corner we want to move to.

I know I’ve probably answered my own question here, but is it too risky to take this step and rely on getting freelance work in the future to pay our bills? Is there any way at all we can make this work or is it a total pipe dream?

I just feel completely and utterly drained by this year, am craving a massive lifestyle change and feel like this is a now or never moment.

WWYD?

Same as others, 50k not enough, and do check mortgage out before you set your heart on somewhere, reducing monthly payments doesn’t mean they’ll give you a new mortgage!! They re do all the affordability checks for sure, and may be much stricter than when you took it out.

This isn’t the house we’re looking at, but it’s similar in terms of the state of rooms, just to give you an idea. Hopefully the photo will attach...

We moved from London to Cornwall over 10 years ago and love it. I work freelance now and do it all remotely. Internet speed where we are is super fast fibre but it does vary a lot so check that, especially if really rural. I always laugh at comments about think about not being able to eat out or go to the cinema or theatre - we do have both here as well as stunning pubs, cafes & Michelin star restaurants too. Lot’s and lots for kids and teenagers to do (admittedly most sports related) as well, but you do need to drive or have v good transport links.

Ok - that level of renovation eg not been upgraded since the 1970 - that's not just a bit tired and manky, that's you've got to renovate EVERYTHING. You'd be looking at way more than £50k for sure.

Not being facetious but have you ever watched Grand Designs? Renovations always take longer and cost more than you think. You need to have the mind set that it costs what it costs and it takes as long as it takes.

I think you're right to think carefully but it's easy to talk yourself out of stuff that seems daunting. If you have a dream, try and live it.

If you had to sell it and would make a good profit then its worth doing. If not then probably not worth the risk.

You might want to triple that 50k OP.

Is it the area you want or the house? If it's rural highlands and difficult with transport links you won't have the visitors you think you will at Christmas etc.

I do think while you have a baby rather than a school aged child it is a good time to give yourselves a better quality of life but you're taking on too much with that type of project as novices

I had similar fantasies when first browsing rightmove. Wow look at this wreck we could do up!
But reality kicks in. Doesn't mean you can't buy a doer-upper - but maybe go for one that is just a bit tired and that you can live in while you do it.
I have noticed where I am the true 'project' houses have all started falling into more realistic price brackets. Two I had my eye on have fallen £50k in the last week.

I think you've underestimated the cost of renovation. Could you ring round some trades to get a ballpark?

Ok - that level of renovation eg not been upgraded since the 1970 - that's not just a bit tired and manky, that's you've got to renovate EVERYTHING. You'd be looking at way more than £50k for sure.

Thanks @Babamamananarama - it sounds like it’s not going to be doable for us in that case. Our only hope is getting a shed-load of cash off the asking price (or winning the lottery)! I’m just so desperate to have the big house to really spread out and have family and friends to stay.

@Babamamananarama also your position sounds kind of similar to ours - we both work in the arts too. I’m so envious of your move!

We moved into a doer-upper, five years ago and went through it room by room. The kitchen needed replacing immediately. Ditto the boiler. The sitting room had to be gutted and replastered. All the windows needed to be replaced. We have redone the floors. The bathroom was slowly falling apart and finally did so this year. It took us three months to find a plumber (thanks, Covid!) and a plasterer to repair the hole in the ceiling. We are now tackling the dodgy electrics in the master bedroom.

We are lucky as my DH is practised at DIY - we have kept our costs down by doing a lot of it ourselves, such as installing cupboards, worktops, fittings and furnishings. Even so, we still needed to get key professionals in at certain stages; it was cheaper to pay someone to plaster the walls and we were not going to mess around fitting the floor, electrics or anything involved water and waste pipes.

We have easily spent 20k over the years and that's cutting out a lot of the labour you would normally ask a workman to do.

If you are serious about this...

1. Get a full survey. Know exactly what you are getting into.

2. Even small costs add up. That nice wooden floor? It's not just the planks. It's the underlay, beading, fixative and paint to touch up the skirting boards afterwards.

3. You have to be prepared for mess. For example, you may not have a working kitchen or bathroom for the week. Wrecks often throw up unexpected problems or you may be missing bits of the stuff you have ordered. Can you cope with wiping down surfaces, so you can cook after a long day at work, with an overtired child?

4. Speaking of which, we moved in and I promptly fell pregnant. That has (thankfully) put the kibosh on an extension as it simply would not be safe for a young child. However, I would think ahead to how practical it would be for you to renovate the house around a toddler.

5. Give some thought to maintenance, especially if the house has a lot of land. You can easily end up spending every other weekend in the summer trimming back the lawn/hedges/trees/other. Some people thrive on it, others buy goats to do the work.

Having said all of that, if you have found your dream house in the ideal location, it's worth doing. Just go in with your eyes wide open, get a full survey and some quotes (which you then add a buffer), before you know if it's practical.

FWIW, our house wreck has not put us off; like you, we are thinking about moving out further, for more space and a new challenge. We are planning to look next year - the recession is about to bite and I think house prices are due a correction. The chancellor's tax holiday, plus pent-up demand has caused the market to go a bit frothy.

Do it!

I don’t actually think £50k is that unrealistic. If you project manage yourself and only get professionals in for the stuff that really needs it (electrics, plumbing, plastering), you should be fine. From my experience of doing a lot of the renovations in my house myself, the finish is never going to be as good as a decent professional would give, but it’ll often be better than an average / poor professional - mainly because you care more, so will spend the time getting things just right.

And if it’s your forever home, you can always get stuff redone by professionals when you can afford it.

The work/life balance would be incredible. Imagine yourself in 10years in each place - will you ever be able to afford somewhere special in London?

@JoJoSM2

If it’s a large house with 4 bedrooms and 3 reception rooms, your 50k wouldn’t go far at all. It’ll probably need rewiring, perhaps new plumbing, what about the windows and the roof? Clearing the garden and planting it again would be £££. Given your lack of DIY experience, I think you’d be taking too much on.

IMO it would make more sense to buy a more affordable and manageable house to give you a chance to settle, see how you get on with work and countryside living etc You can always move up the ladder into a larger house in a few years.

Totally this 50k won’t even touch the sides of a 4 bed 3 reception room wreck.

We have a period house - probably slightly smaller than what you’re looking at. Our roof cost £13k to replace- plus when they went up there the chimneys needed repointing & re-rendering. That’s another £2.5k. Moving and fitting new boiler with some plumbing - around £4K. Landscaping our not huge gardens and redoing the drive- over £10k. That’s before you do anything “cosmetic” like kitchens-bathrooms etc. Plastering could cost you thousands.

Friends have just bought a lovely big period house- their new windows are costing £20k. £50k will get swallowed up in a renovation on a house that size- unless one of you is a builder and works on it full time for 6 months.

It’s also hard work doing diy with a small toddler in tow, they run off and pick up screws, tools etc unless you and DH clean up meticulously. Do you think you will have the time to work, raise a young family and do DIY?

Personally I wouldn’t do it. Like PPs said, rent out your London house and rent somewhere in your chosen location to see how you get on. You can always save the difference in living costs and consider a renovation later on.

If it’s like the condition you posted I would be amazed if any lender was happy to lend on that in the current market

OP the issue with houses like the one in your photo, is you think “oh we just need to redecorate in this room”, you take the wallpaper off and realise that actually there’s a massive damp problem that needs sorting, or the walls need replastering, or whatever. Likewise, replacing the kitchen or bathroom will be major undertaking because you will find a minefield of problems once you take the units out that will need a professional to sort. It would be a miracle if you didn’t.

There is this thing called “the romance of the wreck” that Kirsty Allsop talks about and she’s absolutely right. People get so swept up in the romance of imagining how they’d bring an old house back to life, and family scenes therein. The reality is expensive, difficult, incredibly stressful, and did I mention expensive?

I am trying to work out why you wouldn’t go for the modernised house that’s on for only £60k more??

I've completed some ground floor renovations. The kitchen, flooring and re wire alone cost 26k and thats without going for top end fittings or uncovering any horror stories.

I like the idea but fear youre swapping one financial struggle for another.

I have just seen your update and the picture.
Don't do this unless you can

a) push the price down, hard. It's going to be a lot more than 50K's worth of work.

b) You have somewhere else you can stay temporarily free of charge, whilst the kitchen and bathroom get done. You will have to completely gut that room and get it refitted.

South Wales has some nice semi rural places and house prices are relatively cheap. Cardiff is easily commutable and great for employment if you eventually need to find work. Look at the lower Rhondda valleys.

We have just done something similar but not too far from London so the commute is perfectly possible. We have also done up a few properties now. You would need to budget between 120-180K in my opinion and in a remote place you may be limited to the contractors you can find (you won't be able to do it all). It could be weeks or even months until you can get people to quote and start work, and the works would probably take at least half a year. You really wouldn't want to be living in (and possibly couldn't) during the re-wire, re-plumb etc. so you would need to rent too. Things will very probably go wrong at various points etc. too.

You also really need to consider things like broadband, jobs, commuting etc. Is this really the best move for you as a family?

The best advice you have had is:

See if you can move to an interest only mortgage, rent your house and rent in the area you would like to buy, test it out for a year...
Even if you only change your mortgage you will give yourself room to breathe

If the house hasn’t been touched for 50 years, you’d really need to budget 100k for a basic renovation (Ikea kitchen price bracket) and more if you want an extension or a fancy kitchen etc.

It would really make sense to consider renting or buying a smaller, more manageable house. Perhaps you could find one that could be extended in the future but easy to live with for the time being.

Something like this maybe! 😂😂

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/94160672#/media?id=media1

I think the question for me would be - do you have the money outright to get the kitchen and bathroom done literally as soon as you have keys? Because living on take out if your rural will be hard work, washing via a kettle and a bucket will get tired quick.

If you can afford to get those done, and say the bedroom where you all sleep urgently, then the babies room , the guest rooms, the extra sitting rooms can be done over a longer period of time.

YOu say you're too far from London but what major cities are you within an hours drive of?