Are we mad?!

[lilystem]

We have a DC2 due in October (DS1 will be 20 months when new baby arrives so I'll have 2 under 2). We also have to be out of our current home by 1st October.

We haven't had much luck buying properties - 2 have fallen through for various reasons totally out of our control. We have a very restricted area of search (think 3 miles square) for job purposes so not much comes up. We looked round a pretty big house yesterday that has potential to be a beautiful family home. However, it needs a lot of work. My DH runs his own business that means he's literally unavailable to me for August/September. I work 3 days a week and do have a lot of family support available. I run some commercial property sites so have accounts with builders/Howdens and know and trust tradesmen I can use. However, I've only done commercial builds/refits and don't know anything about domestic! I think we'd have to plan on not doing any of the work ourselves. The house is about 15 years old and on an estate so we're not expecting any surprises in terms of searches. We have cash funds so don't have to wait for mortgage approval etc.

I have 2 questions. 1) Are we mad with this timescale? 2) Are our budgets way out?

It needs -
Kitchen/breakfast room knocking into one (stud wall only) and complete refit. Small utility refit at same time - 20k

Convert half the double garage to an office. Basically putting in a stud wall, window, plaster and decorated - 5k

Refit 3 bathrooms - 15k.

Redecorate throughout. Includes removed a lot of awful fitted wardrobes, a lot of wallpaper and repair and repaint walls probably new carpets upstairs and some sort of wooden floor downstairs. This would be for a large lounge/diner, master bedrooms, 2 kids rooms, guest room, upstairs and downstairs hall. - 10k.

The kitchen would have to be done before we moved in in my mind. Probably the kids bedrooms and master bedroom too. Ideally all the decorating. I'd rather the whole lot done before we moved in - is that totally unrealistic!?

Hoping others who have done similar can advise.

Bump anyone?

sorry, what is the timescale to get it all done?

what position are the vendors in to sell? you have a healthy budget and as long as you can get the trades booked in I don't see timecales being a problem, if the house is chain free.

Does it really need all that if it's only 15 years old?

will you live inthe house while all this work is going on, do you have kids living in the house, too? Or all go into a caravan?

You sound like you know what you're doing - but yes, a lot depends on the vendors and where they're moving to - if there's some hideous chain above them it might all be too ambitious.

Vendors tell us they'd be happy to go into rented. We are cash buyers. If we offered and were accepted this week we'd have 5.5 months to complete. I'd rather have the kitchen, master bedroom, 2 kids rooms and one bathroom done before we moved in.

We could live there whilst it was being done but work, 2 small kids and house renovation scares me! We'll probably also only be in the property for 3-4 years for reasons out of our control so I don't want to spend most of that doing it up!

Due to our funny location issues and timescales I can't see any other options. There's nothing on the market near us!

jumping yes, I bought a house 4 years ago when it was 11 years old, and hadn't been touched in terms of decor. It was the show home, so carpets are still awful, no underlay left due to all the foot traffic. Decor was gold and terracotta throughout with scalloped bathroom sink and matching toilet cistern top. Oh and gold taps. The worktop in the kitchen was that fake granite with large blobs of terracotta and the cupboard door laminate was all peeling off.

In terms of timescale for you lily it would firstly depend how fast you could complete the sale but then with an empty house, renovation can run quick as long as you know what you want. How decisive are you? Can you make decisions quickly if needed?

I haven't had as much experience as others but we gutted our last house from top to bottom and had a baby in the middle of it all. But it is more hassle when you have to live in it when it is being done. Just in terms of furniture moving, clearing rooms and living in one or two of them.

This house we are now in is our forever house so we are taking our time. But we did convert a double garage into a playroom for the children. Biggest thing to bear in mind is insulation. And we had a kitchen extension built last year.

Costing wise it depends where you are too. I am in Yorkshire so relatively cheap labour compared to London in terms of decorators and plasterers. I paid £80 for a decorator to come and paint my bannister and spindles.

x posts Lily, you need a priority list, for me it would be the kitchen (hard living without one even for 2 weeks, it isn't just the cooking it's the washing up and laundry) then master bedroom then kid's rooms.

You can then live in that whilst you convert the garage etc

I would love to have that budget and that amount of time!!

We're doing (about halfway through) two storey extension inc new kitchen, conversion of old kitchen into utility and WC, complete rewire and new central heating, complete redecoration, in 4 months for just over £60k. And we're doing all the decorating ourselves and fitting the kitchen (bar the worktops). And baby is due in June.

Can we swap please?!

Your not mad. The timeline might be a little tight so I would prioritise one bathroom, the kitchen and redecorating the masterbedroom, one of the kids bedrooms and perhaps downstairs. All of that should make the house largely liveable while you finish off other things.

There are only two reasons this might not be possible: where I live good builders can be booked up months in advance; how long it takes you to decide on what you want (kitchen style, layout, flooring, taps etc); and how quickly you buy.

If you are 100% certain of buying I would start thinking about everything you want and sourcing things you need to buy as well as speaking to builders to understand when they will be available to start.

Good luck!

Thank you everyone. We had a second viewing on the house today and it wasn't as bad as I remembered. Bigger and better in fact! We've had our offer accepted so will aim to do the kitchen and one bathroom as minimum before we move.