Not wanting to support my husband's home renovation idea

[Mrstherockjohnson]

Currently my husband and I are renting. He is wanting to purchase a house that needs renovations that we will live in for 1-2 years then flip for a profit (think 150-200k pounds profit). Renovations include inserting new kitchen and 2 bathrooms, painting the walls, redoing the floors, landscaping the gardens etc. I am wanting to say no for a couple of reasons 1. We both have really stressful jobs where we both work 12 hour days 5 days a week. Currently we can barely complete basic household chores (i.e clean the house, cook dinner). I don't know how we will manage doing a renovation on-top of our current work. B.) my husband becomes incredibly annoying when he feels like he has too much work on his plate (which I think this renovation will lead to) and he has a large project this year that will demand more of his time. C.) I'm really bad with living in houses that aren't up to scratch. Already I'm living in a city I don't want to be in. Doing this renovation may lead to me becoming even more miserable. Am I being unreasonable with saying no to this renovation/house purchase idea?

YANBU

A lot of the 'big fish' profits are long gone, many of the property programmes are years old and completely unrealistic now and his total lack of experience and inability to devote a lot of time to the build would mean probable financial ruin.

To be honest that doesn't sound like much of a renovation to me. We've always bought houses that needed new kitchens, bathrooms, new carpet and decoration and I don't think of it as such a big deal. Renovations are new central heating system, knocking down walls and rewiring. We've added extensions to the last two houses we've lived in.

However we only bought houses to live in and never to make a profit. I would be very surprised if a substantial profit could be made from largely cosmetic changes. I think he's been watching too many housing/diy programs on the tv.

I forgot to add that some of our houses took years to do up, but I didn't mind living with outdated decor for a period of time. I'm firmly of the opinion that you need to live in a house for a while to see it's true potential.

Can’t imagine refurbing the existing footprint would give you any profit, let alone £100-£200k. Increasing the square footage with extensions is the only thing that really increases the house value these days, and usually you are lucky if you break even straight away after the cost of the build.

We are looking to buy a £900-£950k house in Australia, where we are currently based (I used £ instead of $ as the reader base on Mumsnet are predominantly UK based). Renovated houses in the area are going for £150- 200k more. My husband is a bit of a dreamer :) (one of his best qualities to tell you the truth because I'm often very pessimistic). Thanks for the varied feedback. We will need to make sure it is addressed if we decide to take on the project.

I’m 2 years in to a supposed 12 month renovation (extension, structural work, new floors all over, fully replastered, septic tank, plumbing, kitchen, new windows/doors, electrics, major issues with services along the way, plaster shortages this year) and it’s still not liveable. It’s far more expensive and time consuming than I ever imagined. DP always wanted to do this and is very capable of any task he puts his mind to but I’m not! We both work full time in very demanding jobs. We had a plan/agreement but I’ve spent far more time and money than agreed and most days I want to scream. I’ve really injured myself from lifting plasterboard on to the ceiling. I’m glad DP got to do this renovation and I do love our house but never again.

I would say you have to be 100% on board. Also double your cost and time expectations! You may increase the value by 200k but you’ll probably spend way more than half of that in the process.

You need to be sure you're in a rising market to make a good profit - perhaps you have that in Oz but in UK the property market may be weak in some urban areas for various reasons including the reintroduction of stamp duty tax.

We've done this twice, and added about 40-50% to the value each time (much cheaper houses though!) However, we could only do this because DH is an experienced builder and we did 99% of the work ourselves.

It is all consuming and you definitely both need to be on board for it - it took all evenings, holidays and weekends for two years per house, and it meant living in chaos.

The only way to make 150k to 200k profit on a house with a basic refurb is to either A) buy a house for 150k-200k less than the, house us worth. Or B) for the house to increase in value over the 1-2 years that you own it.
If you are, looking at A) then you can buy the house and flip it and you will make a similar amount of money without doing the refurb. If B) big increases are not likely in the current market but if you believe the market goes up then you can make this money by buying any house in the area.

Renovated houses are going for £150-200k more and that's the profit your DH thinks he'll make????

Also, don't underestimate the costs (including medium and long-term implications) of your own misery.

OP, this is largely a UK site, although obviously has lots of people from different countries. The vast majority of us won't have a clue about the Australian housing market. Maybe try an Australia centric website.

Having spent many hours sticking my hands into voids to feed wires, pipes etc there's no way I'd do that in Oz. There's no telling what might be lurking in there.

Well, that’s not profit, is it? 🤣
So it’s a no from me on that score.

Otherwise - if he actually had a clue what profits means - I’d be really up for it. Have lived in houses during major works (using a chemical loo, sink washes) and I don’t really mind. For that money, I’d definitely do it because I’d like the money AND I’d enjoy the process.

Your husband sounds like a liability for a project like that though 🤷🏻‍♀️

@Mrstherockjohnson

We are looking to buy a £900-£950k house in Australia, where we are currently based (I used £ instead of $ as the reader base on Mumsnet are predominantly UK based). Renovated houses in the area are going for £150- 200k more. My husband is a bit of a dreamer :) (one of his best qualities to tell you the truth because I'm often very pessimistic). Thanks for the varied feedback. We will need to make sure it is addressed if we decide to take on the project.

In the middle of a pandemic with the government propping up housing? That would be a no.

YANBU,
But Id plant idea in his head of lets find a home in a location we love and that you’re ok with getting a house that needs some renovation. But when the renovations are done, tell him that you can stay there and enjoy the house for a few years after. The profit will be safe in the house value, it will earn more than in a savings account. Most of renovations he’s talking about will mean professional contractors so it’s really like adding another project to your portfolio.

Has he ever undertaken a renovation of this size before? How many? How did it go?

I think the question is who is going to do the work? If its you and dh, then do you have the skills, knowledge, tools, time etc? If it's a contractor do you have the money to pay them for one, the time to supervise them, for another. And he needs to understand the difference between profit and income. He might sell the house for 150k more, but he might spent 100k doing the work, if something goes awry. Is that worth it to you to live in hell for 2 years?