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Original poster

Fuckety arse biscuits. Bought the wrong house.

43 replies

SeanPencil · 15/12/2014 18:35

We bought our house in the summer, it's 10 years old, and I've never liked old houses, but it's unusual and in a lovely area, plus only really needed cosmetic stuff doing to it, so we went for it. We wanted to play it safe as our mortgage would be quite a bit higher and we were scared of the unknowns of older houses. At the time the only houses in the area we wanted in the price we could pay were the one we bought and an old one where the survey was too scary.

Well, a house for two thirds of the price has now come onto the market. It's an old cottage that needs work but had it been for sale at the time we'd have bought it. I'm sure the house we bought will appreciate more and have broader resale (better parking, more mass market appeal as a family house), but I WANT THE COTTAGE!

Fuck.

OP posts:
bearwithspecs · 15/12/2014 18:36

Move again ?

Original poster
SeanPencil · 15/12/2014 18:37

Should say never liked new houses.

OP posts:
nickeljrismybabesitter · 15/12/2014 18:37

Yeah, move again

Legodino · 15/12/2014 18:39

Cottages are deceiving. Underneath the carpets, plaster, structure and ceiling could be a 100k of work that needs doing. Total money pit!! Do yours up and resale

greengoose · 15/12/2014 18:41

You don't really. We are in the cottage of our dreams. Have been for seven years. It's damp and cold and dark and cramped and built from what was lying around on the field. It moves when you push it. Bats live in it. It will bankrupt us too.
But it looks beautiful. Everyone 'wants' it.
Don't do it, this way you can go on holidays, spend weekends doing fun stuff. Remember you have friends.
You have had a lucky escape, trust me.
(Bitter)

bestofthesunshine · 15/12/2014 18:43

It's only a house. If the one you live in is functional and won't have you tearing your hair out then what's the appeal of the other one?

People don't care about what you live in, they really don't. Don't waste a fortune moving so you can be 'seen' in a certain way. That's madness.

WhyYouGottaBeSoRude · 15/12/2014 18:44

Ooh having lived in both old houses and new builds i would always always opt for new builds unless you really love ongoing building/repair work going on in your house or have squillions set aside to entirely renovate/rewire/replumb. Old houses are a world of heartache and money pits. Wish i'd stayed in my lovely new build when i had it.

MisForMumNotMaid · 15/12/2014 18:48

Do the numbers. At any point in life you can only move forwards. The cottage wasn't available presumably when you moved. As you rightly say your current house is probably more saleable than the cottage.

What are the real costs and practicalities?

Original poster
SeanPencil · 15/12/2014 18:59

I'm not bothered about what other people think of where we live.

The numbers are as follows:

We paid 145K for our house, I think when we've finished doing it up it'll be worth about 180, it was a repossession and in a bad state so we got it for a good price. The cost of doing it up will be about 10-12 grand, I think, it's primarily a new bathroom and kitchen (got a great bargain one), lots of painting and a new boiler.

The cottage is on for 99, it's about 2/3 of the size of our current house, but is still family sized, not a tiny thing. We moved because we were living in a tiny house and needed more room. My estimate would be that, unless something awful like subsidence is found, it would need about 20 grand spending on it to make it lovely.

Although it doesn't have off road parking and does have one of those terraced cottage access lanes across the back separating the house from the garden, which I suppose lots of families wouldn't like.

OP posts:
Original poster
SeanPencil · 15/12/2014 19:00

No, the cottage has only just come onto the market.

OP posts:
WhyYouGottaBeSoRude · 15/12/2014 19:21

terraced cottage access lanes across the back separating the house from the garden, which I suppose lots of families wouldn't like.

I have this and was skeptical at first about having a shared access with neighbours but i love it now. Makes the place far more sociable and we know all the neighbours. The dcs can play in the entry without being in any one person's garden and all can be seen by parents just by popping head out the back door. The can go up and down on bikes and scooters which they cant in gardens as too small.

I suppose if you are thinking of resale it may put some people off but if you have DCs yourselves i think it is great. It works for us.

WhyYouGottaBeSoRude · 15/12/2014 19:24

"The dcs can play in the entry with the neighbour DCs without being in any one person's garden"

MisForMumNotMaid · 15/12/2014 19:34

So financially you wouldn't loose out by moving. At worst you should break even (check the mortgage for early repayment issues).

The decision is therefore an emotional and practical one. Can you buy before selling? Or can you dedicate a month to absolutely blitzing your current house and getting on market for the january post family gathering divorce market? Most crucially can you convince the rest of the family?

BaffledSomeMore · 15/12/2014 19:41

Go and talk to the people who are selling the cottage. Explain that you would be interested and see why they're selling up. It could be that they aren't in a hurry and would wait for you to finish up, sell yours and buy theirs if they believe you really want it.

northernlurker · 15/12/2014 19:48

Two questions come to mind (well three actually)

  1. A house 1/3 smaller than your current home is not a little bit smaller, it's a lot smaller. Are you sure the rest of the family would be so keen on downsizing?

  2. 99k is very cheap indeed. It WILL have something hideous like subsidence otherwise even in a poor state of décor it would be worth more.

and 3) WHERE is this that nice family houses are still so cheap?

RJnomore · 15/12/2014 19:55

Oh I remember my mum having a flight of fancy and buying a doer upper cottage when I was about 7.

After DF has his builder friend for a look he fell through the floor we lived in a caravan for a short while months on end while they did some minor cosmetic repairs put in new floors, roof and windows, had the place rewired and replumbed and sorted out the rising damp

It was definitely idyllic character forming

Stay where you are op, trust me.

Original poster
SeanPencil · 15/12/2014 20:03

Happy memories, RJ. Grin

Yes, we do live in a place where housing is mega cheap. Our current gaff is 4 beds plus 1 family bathroom, 1 en suite and a downstairs loo. It's bigger than we need, to be honest, we bought it because it was a bargain.

The cottage is three beds, 2 reception and one bathroom. I'd put in a new bathroom, new kitchen, and knock the dining room and kitchen together.

We're really skint at the moment (see my other post about changing career!), so finishing this house off quickly isn't an option. At the moment we're halfway through the kitchen and have run out of money, so the units are in, but no tiling and no flooring.

OP posts:
Noellefielding · 15/12/2014 20:18

we live in a newish house and for the first time in my life I have

NO

VERMIN!!!!

and NO DAMP!

I've lived in Victorian terraces galore, 30s semis, Edwardian semis, Country cottages, the worst vermin problem was the RATS in the 30s semi and one of the Victorian terraces.... I've had so many mice I cannot tell you. And snails/slugs damp

This new house feels dry and rat proof - there is something glorious about never seeing something scurrying across the room out of the corner of your eye....

Aethelfleda · 15/12/2014 20:25

"We're really skint at the moment"...

Then, seriously, don't even think about wasting £10k in lawyers' fees, stamp duty, moving costs and the inevitable cash you will have to throw at a purchase. Even with canny reductions, porting your mortgage to avoid fees etc, it's £££ and what happens if your idyllic cottage turns out to be lonely, damp, and deathwatch-beetled?

I'm in a new build which I never thought we'd go for: but the space is fab and it's just where we need to be. I too lust periodically after period loveliness (just missed out on a listed ex post office before we went on the market) but in practical terms your house is safe. Look again in five-six years when you have more cash and less mortgage.

Shakey1500 · 15/12/2014 20:28

I absolutely hated the first house we bought when we relocated. It was a panic buy as I was pregnant and "nesting". Literally logged onto Right Move the first evening. Two years later we moved again and it was the best decision ever. BUT, my way through it was utterly believing we were meant to be in that first house for some reason.

MisForMumNotMaid · 15/12/2014 20:28

So how short are you? Upfront costs for survey and any reports could run to £1000.

From what you've posted you'd need £5k plus to finish which I'm guessing if money is tight you're looking at a few years. Which is fine if there's no rush but very little chance your cottage will hang around for that sort of timescale.

So from a purely practical stance can you access the money to finish via loan/ mortgage extension/ family borrowing?

CatCushion · 15/12/2014 20:30

We were in a huge 5 bed cottage of our dreams, rented from friends who offered to sell it to us for so little we could have had it mortgage free. But it was never warm. Having the heat on full or round the clock made it bearable, but SO expensive. If it got cold, it took a day to warm it up again. And the pretty cottage got a lot of admirers, so was not very private either. There were other reasons too, but it stopped me from wanting to live in an old house.

MisForMumNotMaid · 15/12/2014 20:31

shakey i can top that. I saw another house whilst at the estate agents collecting the keys. We did really well out of the house though. It was a good price as the last to sell on a development and completed day before Christmas Eve so builders got the figure in their end of quarter. We were in our next house within eighteen months.

Original poster
SeanPencil · 15/12/2014 21:21

You're right, we need to finish this house and then see where we are. It may well be that I fall in love with it once it looks beautiful and feels more like ours. I do love the location, and as it's three times the size of our old house, I love having more space. Maybe it's harder to make a new house feel cosy and soulful.

It would be bonkers to move again so soon, in our financial position. I think our current skint-ness is adding to the attractiveness of the cottage though, we would have put less into it upfront, done the work out of our savings, and then had a smaller mortgage.

I'm just having a cottage fantasy.

OP posts:
bearwithspecs · 15/12/2014 21:28

And u suspect you would miss the space. Three years in, our house is feeling like ours

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