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

The cellar is far too small - I certainly couldn't live there .

I think it's horrid and way too expensive. You could buy a mansion for this price in Dorset, right next to the gorgeous coast :)

The semi is a much better house. no idea how the particular streets compare in terms of good location, obvious, (since I live in cheapsville, up north!)

The house I linked to is up north, PickAChew! But I'm stuck living about 300miles away!

This is working, thank you. We already live in the area and love it. Unfortunately prices have shot up since we moved here, making moving up the ladder very difficult. Both houses are very close together, the second is in a slightly nicer location. My current house is a 3 bed terrace, no drive, beautiful inside and has 2 bathrooms. It's worth about 200k less than these as it's not picture perfect Victorian. I must have s thing for ugly houses.

I meant the semi the Op had linked to.

If the second is in a nicer location, then it's a no brainer, really. You can always have a few lovely ceiling roses fitted :o

Oooooh - I am not the one to put you off! I love it. Tons of potential. Wonderful original details. It could be absolutely gorgeous. Please buy it - and then send us the photos once you have refurbished it....

The garden is horrible and it's so so so expensive. I can't get over that price for a terraced house. [shocked]

The roof looks shagged, and it will be cold as bejaysus. Your gas bill will be insane.

ps - the ensuite is obviously the fourth (tiny) bedroom - but then of course you have a three bedroom house - although it looks as if there might be room for more bedrooms/baths up in the loft....

I think it's asbestos, the roof and the damp that's opening my eyes. A bit of remodelling and new kitchens and bathrooms I could have dealt with. 700k would realisticslly be the very top of our budget.

I actually fell in love with the semi first. It sold, I was gutted but got over it by crushing on the terraced. Now it's come back in the market.... How do I convince DH?

House 1 is definitely haunted... in pic 3, look really closely in the window, there is a figure...

Yes, there's a man in the garden! He looks a right wrong 'un - would definitely kill you in your bed

It's a period house with period features in a good location.

You could end up spending a lot of money doing it up, but you would probably see an excellent return on your investment.

The questions are: can you realistically afford to do it up, and are you both prepared for all the hassle?

The semi is way nicer from the outside - and inside could be made more period-ey. Like PP said just stick a few plaster roses up ;-)

Oh I knew you meant the op's link. I was just pointing out that mine was up north. But, a) I'm not so it's too far away and b) I couldn't afford it anyway.
I was just pointing out what a done version for the same budget looked like/fetched.

Ooh the second one is lovely! Yes to that one!

Ok - what with the asbestos and the spirit in the garden you are really making me see sense. How could I squeeze s second bathroom into the semi?

The living room is too narrow, only 11ft at it's widest.

I'm no expert but could you somehow angle the door to the larger back bedroom to mirror the other one and push the dividing wall back slightly between that and the front room to fit an en suite in bed 1?
I like both houses but agree you need oodles of cash for house 1, it's really something that needs a complete renovation before you even move in (new roof, wiring, plumbing, heating and plastering - before you even get to kitchen and bathroom

I love the style of the first house and don't think it is ugly at all - I saw the external photo and thought 'oooh!'. I can see why you are crushing on it.

But if £700k is you maxing out your budget then no way, you cannot even begin to afford it. Renovation costs will be insane!

You're very very unlikely to get a mortgage for house 1. you would need to be able to buy it for cash. Then you'll need cash for the new roof, rewiring, fixing the damp damage, new plaster etc. Basically, do you have about a million pounds in cash?

House 2 is much nicer. There isn't much hope of adding value, but you'll be able to move in and enjoy your life. Also, if that's worth 700k, then house 1 is massively overpriced.

The second house is alright but some of the rooms look small - it doesn't sound a good move at £200k more than your current house.

Right. This is what you need to do.

The kitchen needs to be blocked off from the breakfast room with a door and turned into a utility room with access to the garden.

The breakfast room needs knocking into the dining room to create one huge open plan kitchen/informal eating area/family room.

The sitting room is long and ahrd to make work as one space so it's ideal and plenty big enough to accommodate a more formal sitting area at the front with a formal dining area to the rear.

Upstairs, you need to make that small bedroom next to the bathroom into and ensuite to the bedroom in front of it. That can then be your master suite.

You could leave it as three bed with really big bedrooms but if you need or just prefer four beds there is scope to divide that massive front bedroom into two so you will have either three large bedrooms and one box room or two large bedrooms and two just okay sized ones, (about 11 ft x 8 ft) but fine for kids or guests.

I realise I am not remotely fulfilling the brief asked in the OP, sorry.

It's a nice house. Loads of scope.

But seriously, without knowing what the fair going rate is for the area, it needs a shit load spent on it before it would look attractive from the outside, let alone the inside. I have no idea whether the money required would be reflected back in added value or not as I know nothing about SE9.