Put me off this house please

[SexNamesRFab]

I have a crush on a house...

If we put ours on the market today, and got a good price, we could just about stretch to it. But we'd be increasing our monthly morning gage repayments by 1/3 and we'd need cash to do it up. DH says no, it's not worth the hassle or financial risk.

And yet, I still love the house. Here it is:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62775227.html

What are the other recent sold prices? There is usually a link on the listing but I can't find it.

What's Eltham like? I bet it's nicer than I think (not having lived SE for donkeys). I think it's nice but if you're stretched to buy it you can't afford it unless you're a builder.

I wouldn't normally criticise but as you asked us to put you off, the reasons I think you shouldn't buy it are:

• it's a mid terrace. Trust me they are NOISY!

• the front doesn't look very nice and there's no driveway so no where secure for your car which might mean it gets scratched, stolen and your insurance will be higher than if you had a drive way. Also it's pretty much a guarantee that other people will park right outside your house and piss you off!

• the back garden is small, dark, muddy and miserable looking. Looks like it might be north facing too so you'll always be in the shade

• the living room is too long and narrow so you're limited on how you arrange the furniture

• of course the coving and fireplaces are nice which I suspect are the allure for you, but they're certainly not unique to that house- there are much nicer houses with just as nice fireplaces and coving.

• plus why pay a third more on your mortgage if you don't have to!

Those are my thoughts anyway, hope it helps! But do what feels right for you, we can advise but only you know what's right for you. Good luck!

I used to live in the road behind, this house looks like it has the same floor plan as ours. The bathroom & kitchen are both small for the size of the house but the other rooms are very spacious. I will be honest, the front of the house you have linked to is not great, most of the houses on that estate are red brick and lovely looking, this one isn't.

Gorgeous fireplaces, but that's about it. I suggest you research the cost for getting all the work done: new roof, getting rid of damp and woodworm, electrical rewiring, re-plumbing, new boiler and central heating system, double glazing, intruder alarm, re- fitted kitchen, re-fitted bathroom, adding an ensuite bathroom and downstairs cloakroom, landscaping the garden...then add the cost of redecorating the outside of the house front and back and then the hall, stairs, landing, reception rooms and bedrooms... then work out what the cost of this house really is. Good luck!

Lovely house...with potential, but it looks like a money pit...it will take thousands of £ to get up to standard.

No pictures of bathrooms & kitchen is concerning....lots of detailed photos of fireplaces and other features trying to distract from the state of the place.

You need to view the property, I don't think the photos represent it well.

I'm estimating £300 000 to bring up
To standard, I wouldn't be comfortable investing £1 mil on a mid terraced property

Molly's post nearly brought me out into a cold sweat.

What about this one?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-55952998.html

Way too much work involved if it's not something you've done before.
The write-up says it's barely been touched in 50 years.
The roof looks in bad nick
There's obvious damp on the walls and it appears to be almost pouring from one of the plug sockets

So at a minimum you're probably looking at
-asbestos survey and any necessary treatment

• new roof

• new wiring throughout
• new plumbing

- new boiler - check the DPC and any vent bricks, etc as it looks to have ground level damp. It's possible that you'll have a subfloor that you'll need to excavate

• Is that a flat roof at the front? Check that for leakages as well

Oh and that's before replastering after the wiring and plumbing. They probably just have lining paper so you'll have to replaster the walls that haven't been ripped to shreds anyway. That's just from my amatuer building survey I'm not sure if you'd be able to live in it while all of that is being done. It would be much less painful to get the roof/wiring/plumbing done before moving in.

Does that help?

What Molly said.

We bought a 4 bed stone built Victorian house in Somerset last year. Nothing had been done to it since the 70s.

In terms of renovations, we went back to the stone and started again, and added a single storey rear extension for a kitchen-diner. We had thought the renovations would cost around £60,000 and take around 3 months.

Renovations (plus extension) came in at £185,000 and we moved in 11 months and 3 weeks after completion, 9 months after the first plaster was removed from the wall. For much of that time, the upstairs was propped up with acrow props and there were no ceilings and only half the floorboards.

I love my house. I truly do, it is precisely how I want it. I also wish I'd bought the one 20 doors up the road that had been done already.

Sorry, cross post. That second one is MILES better. I'd still want to cry at spending that and only getting one small bathroom, but I don't know the market.
Is the first one in a brilliant area compared to the second or how can the justify the same price?

First one is a money pit. Molly is right.

That's a guide price for auction on house 2. It will sell for far far more.

It's in london - what are the "done up" houses worth. Sorry but I'm going to put you off - London price increases will easy offset any expense in doing it up

Nice big house close to train station, I don't think it is ugly from the front.

You cold make it lovely - but by the time you have done the extension, drive way, and renovated it it will have cost you over a mil I reckon. Are the 'done' houses near by going for over a mil?

That's a guide price for auction on house 2. It will sell for far far more.

I can;t see that it is an auction? Don't they normally say "for sale by auction on [x] date"

I think you should go for it. There are some lovely period features-fireplaces, floorboard etc. The property has a good sized garden and would allow you to put on a rear extension to extend kitchen should you wish. Three double bedrooms, 2 reception rooms.

The only downside I can see is that it is a mid terraced house and not particularly attractive from the outside.

Do you know the area well? It's hard getting across town sometimes. Traffic can be bad and not much choice of public transport... .

I'm surprised horrible Eltham is so expensive tbh and I'm used to London prices.

The first house is not for an amateur. Whoever is selling will want a professional property developer who won't be put off by the inevitable awful survey and will be able to carry the costs of redevelopment before selling on for a small profit.

I think it looks lovely and has massive potential but if your budget is 700 then you can't really afford it. If, however, your budget it 950+ then go for it!

I miss living in a period house with beautiful features. We live in a large but fairly ugly 1970s house near the coast. We used to live in Manchester and I miss it but no chance of a move back as DH firmly stuck in town work wise. However I've just had a nose on rightmove and if you fancy using your budget up there you can get a done version of the house you're looking at
here

Sorry
this one

I can absolutely see why you love it, but I suspect it needs a lot of work, not just cosmetic. The wiring is probably ancient, if nothing else. If you're already expecting to stretch yourself to cover the mortgage then it's going to be hard to find the cash for anything major.

I like the first one but it really doesn't sound as if you could afford it. The second one is lovely

There's a bloke stood outside the window.