Please help!

[TreeBird16]

I posted here a little while ago about buying a 50s semi d that needed a lot of work. We think 20k just to move in. All our money is going to go on the deposit so we don't have a pool of money to put into it and can't borrow so soon after getting a mortgage.

However this house is close to where we currently live so our lives could continue as normal ie. no school moves etc. Its a decent sized 3 bed but needs heat, windows, floors etc just to be livable.

Option 2 - 10 year old warm 3 bed semi in could nick. Cheaper than 50s house. However it is 20+ minutes away from where we currently live. Its in a commuter town with good train links but would require school move and possibly job move.

50s would completely drain our resources for years to come and is at the tail end of a good area backing onto a rather dodgy area.

Option 2 house is in a nice estate but far from everything

I hope that stream of consciousness makes sense. I would appreciate very much if someone could let me know your experience/thoughts.

Thanks!

Sounds like the 50's one is best. Perhaps the owners would accept an offer? Could you talk to the mortgage advisor about getting extra funds for renovation? Have you liquidated everything to come up with the money?

Exactly how far away is Option 1? Is it about 20 minutes away, or much further. I can't imagine changing jobs becauseI moved 20 mins away unless it pushed the commute over 90 minutes.

Option 2 doesn't seem to have much to recommend it.

Thanks! I appreciate the quick replies.

I currently work 40 min drive away from where i currently live and would be moving further out so commute to work would be minimum 1 hour depending on traffic. I could get a train there in about the same time.

We don't currently own and have saved our deposit anotherday. We don't have anything to sell really and have 2 small kids with a large childcare bill so have very little disposable as it is so saving to the do work would be a slow process.

I am in Ireland and banks no longer lend extra for renovations. Perhaps in a year i could see about remortgaging but we are borrowing to our max capacity to get the mortgage.

Thanks again, its great to have a sounding board.