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Property/DIY

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Original poster

Which is best: ready to move in, or a bit of a project?

9 replies

Misty9 · 14/06/2013 20:51

We're a young family (21mo ds that is, not that we're young..) and may well have baby2 in the near future. Husband works from home.

Have seen a beautiful house all ready to move into, with potential to extend the kitchen (to add a bit of value) BUT we are still ever so slightly attracted to being able to put our own stamp on something...but would ready made be better, given our circumstances? Planning on staying for at least 5-10 years.

Experiences of others needed!

OP posts:

Wincher · 14/06/2013 21:02

We're currently doing up our house - we have an almost 3 year old and I am 6 months pregnant. I wouldn't really recommend it... I feel really frustrated not being able to pull my weight. Having said that, we wouldn't have been able to afford such a big place had it not needed all the work. what with that and the market having gone up even since we bought it earlier thisbyear, we will have made a profit of about £60k. Plus we just felt the places we saw that were all done were boring - not 100% to our taste, dull, neutral, but not worth changing as nothing actually needed doing.

Just got to keep repeating "it'll be nice when it's done...".

AngryFeet · 14/06/2013 21:08

After looking for ages we decided our lives are already too full to cope with a project house. We have ended up with something that we will extend in the future (extension and loft conversion) but that is more than liveable as it is. That is the most I can cope with. Moving into somewhere that needed redecorating etc straight away would drive me insane!

CreatureRetorts · 14/06/2013 21:12

You can put a stamp on somewhere that is done eg paintinf etc. I wouldn't take on a project as when baby arrives it won't happen! (I speak from experience - second is 18 months and still haven't finished the hallway)

tapdancingelephant · 14/06/2013 21:17

we moved into a real project about 15 months ago. dc3 is now 14 months, so obviously it was not an ideal time to move

we have done loads to the house, and while it has been chaotic and frustrating at times, it has been worth it (sadly there is still loads more to be done!)

it depends on what kind of works need doing/what budget you have (whether you are doing work yourself or can afford help, etc).

we couldn't have afforded the same size of house/same location if it hadn't been a wreck, so that was a large part of the decision, tbh.

ItsAllTLAsToMe · 14/06/2013 21:20

We just bought a ready to move into house. But we're quickly realising that there still is quite a lot that we'd like to do to it. So we've bought a good DIY book, and we're going to do it all as and when we can. We already love the house, but it will also be lovely to put our stamp on it too.

Mandy21 · 14/06/2013 21:22

I agree. We moved into this house 3 yrs ago - we had 4yr old twins and a 9mth old baby. It was horribly old fashioned, think woodchip, peach bathroom suite etc. Knew at some point we'd extend and update it.

There are 2 issues with a house needing lots of work - you've got to have the time and money, both of which are a bit thin on the ground with a young family. You never really get a "run" at DIY - you might get a morning here or there, but then you generally have to live with a half-done job for a few weeks until the next opportunity.

So I'd say a real project is probably too much - something that is relatively done / live-able is a great compromise until you can afford the extension.

Original poster

Misty9 · 14/06/2013 21:34

Thanks for the responses everyone.

It's not in our ideal location, but it seems that doer upper properties just don't come to market in our favourite location (and we can't afford what we want there otherwise). The house is decorated in someone else's style, so I'd want to make some changes fairly quickly I think - I'd feel I was living in someone else's house otherwise!

Hmm..project not seeming to be a great idea then.

OP posts:

poocatcherchampion · 14/06/2013 22:11

like many others we are going for a project I'm 6 months pg and we've got a 15 mo. we are getting 5 bedrooms as an upgrade from 2 bedrooms and everything cosmetic needs doing inc kitchens and bathrooms.

we figure we won't move again anytime soon and this will be our family home so worth putting the effort in. it will be frustrating but amazing at the end! totally worth it IMO

and yes we'll be doing most of it ourselves!

mamapants · 15/06/2013 21:54

We are doing up a house at the moment, we got the house 2months ago and have a 11month old baby. It needs total renovation - DP is doing a lot of the work himself.
It is a sacrifice as DP is missing out on time with our son, and me. Also I can't help except with organising and choosing stuff. But we spent a lot of time looking and nothing was right. By buying a project we have a detached house, with garden, character, in a lovely location that is the right size for us. We couldn't have got this otherwise, we won't be moving again so we figure its worth it.
Also budgeted to rent while doing the work which I would recommend if you have young toddler/ baby.

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