Is this house (fixer upper) a really bad idea?

[BoyMeetsWorld]

Advice greatly appreciated, especially from those with experience of fixer uppers.

We've been looking forever and are in danger of losing our buyer if we don't go ahead. The market is totally flat and there is nothing else the right size in our area that we can afford, hasn't been for months.

This house is a 3/4 bed - the 4th being a very unofficial loft conversion. We know we couldn't sell the property as a 4 bed as won't get retrospective building regs (it has safety stairs not proper staircase). It's priced as a 3 plus bonus room so that's ok. We knew it was rough around the edges, but it's on an excellent street in catchment for the best secondary (and good primaries) in the area.

Survey has come up with:
Potential asbestos in cold water tank , chimney eaves, garage soffit
Central heating system needs flushing and boiler needs replacing, tanks are all unfit for purpose so ideally needs replacing for combi system
Utility room needs rebuilding (we were doing a garage conversion anyway but this would now have to be done in addition)
Bathroom needs refitting, bath isn't watertight and it's completely dated
Gutters all needs raking, repointing and a downpipe is missing
A couple of Windows need resealing. One needs replacing
In addition I suspect there could be funky things with the living room electrics

Before survey, we planned to do the garage conversion, bathroom and fully repaint on a budget of 20k . Now the survey has shown the heating, asbestos and other issues, not sure what to do

That 20k would be using every penny we have unless we go back and renegotiate (done that once already so don't like our chances) and wouldn't cover all the other stuff. How much do you think we'd be looking at for all that (South East)?

And is it just too much to take on? We aren't any good at DIY ourselves and have two young children though not babies. We'd need the loft as a bedroom, unofficial or not. But the location is spot on and nothing comes up there that we can afford of a big enough size. DH is determined to carry on.

I'm scared we could end up bankrupt and would be getting in way over our heads....

If agree on the heating system - ours is old - so was the previous house we brought - both kicked out some heat

The combo boiler in the rented house was rubbish - always cold and the hot water was like warm - I'd keep the old ones any day

seems like v tight budget.... but it is a big negative to say you arent any good at DIY - you can learn to do DIY big hardware stores sometimes run courses or you could both do a local City & Guilds Painting and Decorating DIY short course and learn to do DIY for at least basic things like painting...that would save you a tonne of money. like this www.barkingdagenhamcollege.ac.uk/en/courses-for-over-19s/courses.cfm/page/0000000080/level/1/course/CityGuildsPaintingandDecoratingDIYshortcourse

"but it is a big negative to say you arent any good at DIY"
What cestlavie said!
We've saved loads of money over the years. And with the internet, everything is on youtube, and there are heaps of forums to help with any problems. I really recommend having a go yourself if you're short on cash. Not the asbestos, obviously! But window resealing and replacing, for example.

We bought a 1963 house which hadn't been changed since it was built & had all the same work as you plus extra.

We installed a new boiler & radiator & got the plumber to take away the tank in the loft as it wasn't needed anymore. We also had asbestos in other places & this was removed in one piece, sealed in a bag & taken away. It wasn't a big deal really.

This is some of our costs. I can't remember exactly but close enough.

New boiler, replace 7 radiators, remove pipes & water tank £3400. Pick a cheaper boiler to reduce costs.
Rewire electrics & move box £2400
Fit kitchen & tiling £1300
Fit bathroom & basic tiling £950
Paint £800

Other things like kitchens, bathrooms, carpets etc can be as cheap or as expensive as you want.

It's so daunting but it's worth it in the end.

Wowow - how much did you manage to renegotiate by based on that asbestos?

Lesley gosh those costs sound hugely cheaper than we're being quoted - we're looking at min 6k for new bathroom and 5k to repaint! Around 5k for boiler / tanks. But the garage conversion obviously biggest cost. It's the possibility of rewiring I'm scared of, doesn't that cause lots of damage to floors and walls?

We bought a doer upper. You need to do heating/boiler and new electrics as basic. Get company to remove the asbestos; get rid of it all, you don't want it.

A few of our windows needed resealing. Four years later they're about to be replaced: it's not urgent.

We absolutely need a play room and utility room, plus we have nowhere for a large freezer; but we can't afford it yet. We had to get the house safe and sound and all the basics done first.

New bathroom did cost £4k for nothing fancy. We've never paid for decorators etc.

We've spent a lot of money but you can't see a lot of it as it's all the behind the scenes stuff, but imo the infrastructure needs to be right before you do any extras.

I don't know how many dc you have , or ages?? Ours have delayed a lot of our work and it was a nightmare when they were babies and toddlers.

Oh and yes, rewiring will trash your floors and walls, which is why you have to do it first. We thought we'd live with some of the rooms and decorate step by step; after rewiring you have to do the whole bloody lot!!! Obviously you have to plaster/patch up first.

Oh God, it's all coming back....

Hi
I can understand all your worries, I really can. But maybe rethinking more positively may help. You have won a house in a bidding war and have some money to start renovations. You could do the work over a few years and then probably make a really decent profit if you then up sized to a bigger place or remortgaged to a better rate. This could be a fantastic opportunity for you.

we painted the house ourselves so the £800 was the cost of paint not labour. We did pay £300ish for someone to do our woodwork but he screwed us over & didn't prep it or do a second layer so looked lovely until it peeled & flaked off months later.

The kitchen & bathroom costs were also just to fit. Our bathroom plus tiles was about £4000 + the fit costs. The £950 was to fit & 2 rows of tiles around bath & sink so we paid extra as we have two walls tiled.

Our re wiring caused no damage. Our electricians went under the floor boards & fed all the wires through & up the existing gaps in the wall. I
Can't remember the name but from the description it sounded like the previous wires were encased in little tubes & it meant the new stuff could just be pushed through. Your house might be the same as it's the same age. We were lucky with that because the other guys we got quotes from were going to rip into the walls for access.

This is where you ask around and get loads of quotes, it's surprising how much you can shave off. We've just done some major outside works that were done in two stages. Stage 1 the quotes were £900, £1633 and £1980.

We went for the cheapest then got him to quote for next phase, he quoted £6350. Tried. Some more quotes and in the end got it done for £3300. It went a little over budget as we changed the spec and there were some unforeseen cost but if you look at the most expensive for each versus what we actually paid then it's about half the price and I'm very pleased with what's been done.

When we did our bathroom we got someone to put in the new bath etc. Found Laura Ashley tiles at £7 per square meter instead of £30 then shopped around for tiler quotes. I can't remember what it came in at but it was very reasonable,

I usually paint but can't do outside the two gable ends so got a decorator for that - £320. That's compared with the 2k my neighbour paid for his whole house.

We had to get a rewire after we'd done a lot of work having had a dodgy electrician do our initial remedial works when we got the house. That was a bit of a nightmare though not as bad as I feared, you definitely want that and the heating done first. Get a decent boiler (Worcester Bosch or Vaillant), a good heating system important and not the place to cut costs.

You can save a fortune shopping around . I'm looking at my wardrobe which was supposed to be a temporary one whilst we were remodelling upstairs and came off eBay . It was £33 and is so nice that I didn't bother doing the fitted wardrobes we were planning. We've found a local light shop that supplies John Lewis so all our lights were half price. It does all take time though so you have to weigh that up .

We have just done a loft conversion and redecorated whole house. Definitely decorate yourselves - we only paid for someone to do stairwell due to height. Everything else we have done ourselves which wasn't original plan but ran out of cash! Bathrooms have ability to be cheap it depends what standard you are looking for. Again low on cash so got a basic toilet and sink from bath store for £150 including taps! I decided to only tile shower area to save again. We had a new combo boiler - valiant. It's very good - water temperature compared to old combi is fantastic. I'd agree with pp don't skimp here. The old one was just not powerful enough for the house even before adding a shower room. Spent fortunes on paint - never realised that could add up so much. Probably about £600.

Also if you need furniture look in charity furniture shops. I bought 3 pine bedside tables and a tatty blanket box for £20. Painted them up and they look great at a fraction of cost of buying already tarted up!

I wouldn't necessarily be put off by that survey. It could give you some leverage in negotiating the price though.

I'd offer what you can afford and see if they accept- so if its on at 200k, you reckon on it needing 20k plus 15k total 235k, but can only afford £220k total id try 180k offer. Nb offer a random figure and make it clear you are on a budget but v serious sold buyer eg £178k, position is xyz can complete in X weeks etc
It's only worth what it is to you!
Take a builder round and get clear idea on spends
We did all above and has worked out v well giant mortgage but still nicest house end result for money

By the sounds of your situation I'd go for it. Use the money you have to do the most important things first, everything doesn't have to be done all at once. Our garage roof is asbestos, which I knew about, will be selling on with same.

£20k for what you want doing sounds tight but doable. I spent £80,000 last year turning a badly designed 2 bed 1 bathroom 1950s bungalow with a separate garage and stable into a 4 bed, 2 bathrooms with a games room, gym, shower room and kitchenette after converting the garage and stable.
You can do a huge amount with the money. Get to know ebay. It isn't just about people selling second hand furniture. I got my front door from a company advertising on there. Normal price elsewhere for the door I wanted was £450+. Same door different company £260 and they delivered.

I would grab your buyer with both hands if to find a buyer is that difficult and I do think this house sounds good. You can do stuff at your own pace. We moved out of our house at one point for 6 weeks whilst work was being done. We moved into our local hotel and got a great deal because we were staying that amount of time.

Can't you just sell your house and rent short term until something else comes up? I couldn't be doing with that amount of work-ime it's very difficult to find time to do anything with children.

Lots of houses have asbestos. We had a separate asbestos survey done when possible asbestos was flagged in the first survey. This was done before exchange. The suspected asbestos was not asbestos in the end, and there was no asbestos in the house. Which was a relief. Like a pp we would have renegotiated the purchase if asbestos was flagged. Make sure you use a register/ licensed asbestos surveyor.
Regarding the work on the house you will be amazed at how much you can do yourself if you are patient and watch lots of YouTube vids!
Good luck!

I think I said asbestos too many times in my last post!

If you children are under 6 years old then it might be a struggle - but if they are old enough to 'camp ' with you with minimum services and a lot of mess while you save to get the bits you want done in addition to the £20k spend it's probably a good investment.

One is over 6, the other only a toddler. Though he's very grown up.

The orchard did you or your seller pay for the asbestos survey?

I paid, it was about £200 I think, seller said there was no asbestos but survey brought it up as a risk, so I wanted to be safe. I'm glad I did it gave me peace of mind when doing all the work.