House Conflict - New Build or Not

[JediStoleMyBike]

Looking for a bit of advice as I am not sure where to turn.

Husband and I have a couple of choices of property to buy, both with pretty major hang ups and we're not sure what to do. We keep thrashing the issues out and are coming up with the same 'I don't know' response and so I'm hoping others can weigh in with some experience. For clarification we have 1 daughter.

House 1:
£155,000 and needs a lot of work. Semi-detached 2 bed. We will need to update staircase, have electrics sorted (as DIY extension cables with plugs to light fittings are everywhere) as well as lay new floors and move the boiler, which is currently in second bedroom.
There is no dining area, just a long and thin kitchen. Conservatory which we could use as a dining room. Stairs in living room so we are already losing space, would struggle to fit a dining table in the living room.

House 2:
New build, £199,999 and ready to move into. Can use the Help to Buy scheme (but obviously worried about the 20% loan and ability to pay back while in interest free 5 years). Lovely area and much more space than house 1. Freehold. No charges to pay for upkeep of area, etc. No conservatory, kitchen-diner and WC downstairs.

Really, we are stuck between the space and possibilities of house 2, countered by the fact we'd have to use Help to Buy loan to buy it and house 1 which needs a lot of work, is pokey but we won't have the equity loan so when we came to sell we'd (hopefully) get what we paid for it back. We much prefer house 2 but if we want to sell, we are worried we won't make what we put in back. Houses with 3 bedrooms are going for £180k+ in the same area.

Any advice / experience gratefully received.

How did it go? Did you find anything?

The first house was perfect. It's been on the market for a few days and already has an offer of just short of the asking price. It's on for £152,500 and it's a three bed with more space than I'd know what to do with, a massive garden that overlooks fields and a vegetable patch. The estate is lovely too, very quiet and calm. Next door is an elderly lady, and the house over is a small family. We met the owner who was happy to chat, and she told us who lived where. We've already put an offer in of the asking price and can go up to £155,000 as we have received confirmation today that we now have a finalised mortgage offer. We're hoping we don't have to but my heart is absolutely set on this place.

The second house was just as big and lovely with a fantastic garden, on for £155,000 but the estate wasn't great. It was fine in itself but it backs out on to a very rough estate that just seemed like it could be an issue. Everyone seemed nice enough, there didn't seem to be any issues but the back fence had obviously been damaged by someone walking past and a window in the back bedroom was damaged. Owner said he'd get the window sorted before we moved but it just didn't compare to the first house.

We actually had a home buyer's survey done on house 1 that came through today also, which put the final nail in the coffin of DH's thoughts on the matter.
Basically everything needed doing. The conservatory had been built over the drains, so no access, and was leaking down into the kitchen and there was damp behind the cabinets there because of it. There was no exterior door between kitchen and conservatory so it didn't mean building regs. Kitchen also needed a fire door into living room. Electrics needed a total overhaul, stairs were deemed unsafe for children, boiler couldn't be tested and therefore deemed to be needing work. Porch and conservatory roofs were knackered. It was a report full of a lot of reds. So so glad we've put that to bed.

Need lots of luck to get the dream house, we should hear tomorrow morning!

Any news??

THE HOUSE IS OURS!! For asking price, which is £2,500 less than the shitheap house 1 and £47,479 less than the new build! It won't need much work at all and anything we want to do we can as we go along!

Over the moon. Thank you so much everyone for your help and support

Wow!! Congratulations, so pleased for you!

Yay! I said on Saturday that you should buy House 3.

Yay that's great news 🙂

Yay. So pleased

Thank you everyone 😊

Great news. Good luck for a smooth purchase and move

May not be smooth sailing yet, turns out the property may be in a 'rough' area despite not looking bad at all when we viewed!

Oh my days! 😓

I hope it works out for you Jedi I'd also suggest that you check out the local schools and work out which schools your daughter is in the admissions area for. It sounds as though this house might be one you could stay in for a long time and I know it seems now like years and years away, believe me, it creeps up on you and before you know you are applying for primary schools!

Good luck

Thank you Yoga.

We've had a good look into the area using the streetchecker website. In our ignorance (and excitement) we didn't do this prior to making the offer as the house was so popular, with viewings and offers everywhere.

The street or streets beside it have had crime of varying different degrees at least once per month, ranging from antisocial behaviour to sexual and physical violence, to burglaries. We've checked all the way back to May last year and there's been a fair amount. This has obviously scared us. We were also told by a relative of husband who lives close by that someone was stabbed in March, though I can't find a news story.

So we are back to house 1, and trying to get some money off the price to compensate for the work we are going to have to do.

Basically we are stuck, either;

Renting - and we are constantly turfed out due to landlords selling their property. It's a massive financial drain on us having to pay for referencing / credit searches and a new place

House 1 - making it work for now with a view to building a small extension asap to create a hallway and upstairs space

House 2 - equity loan that we will be stuck with forever

House 1 sounds knackered though, from your survey. You'd be spending £££ just to get it straight again. Maybe continue he search for a house 3?

It's going to take the rest of our savings to put to liveable standard but we could manage it.

Basically we either take house 1 which is in our price range in a quiet area that is way overpriced due to it being a very popular seaside getaway and full of second homes or we move to the town, what we can afford there is perfect but high crime and no where near as nice an area.

I think plenty will keep coming up in the town in similar areas that are high crime, nothing in our price range where the area is nice.

I'm sorry to hear that Jedi. I tend to agree with the others though - you need to be looking for house 3 rather than settling for 1 or 2.

If you can afford to wait for a while I suspect that prices will fall a little soon. They seem to be here (south east) anyway. I've got EAs coming round later to value my house with a view to putting it on the market and I suspect the valuation will have dropped compared to the valuation I had 6 months ago for my re-mortgage. Just my interpretation of the market at the moment though - I'm certainly no expert!

Thanks Yoga, I'm swinging between seetheing and being really upset about it all.

Basically we can't wait and have to get shifted asap.

Really, not sure I'd be swung by the 'rough' area considerations. We bought in between 2 areas that are historically considered rough, definitely reports of assault monthly etc. However, I trusted my own research. I scoped the street at different times of day. I knocked on the doors and chatted to the neighbours. That led to us ruling out one gorgeous house a few streets away, but our street is super quiet and I feel safe. Our neighbours were burgled, and I witnessed a domestic incident since we moved in. That's mostly because the guy who lives opposite is a piece of work, but despite me standing in the street saying I was phoning the police I've had no issues from them at all. Our neighbours are great.

House 1 does not sound good and if you don't have the capital you may well struggle to borrow money to do the refurbishments. Also if there's that much on the survey, trust me that you will uncover more when you start refurbish. Our house needed work but was mostly cosmetic. We still had plenty of 'wth' discoveries. If an owner has scrimped on one aspect of maintenance you bet there will be problems as yet unidentified. We had to get our ridge tiles lifted and rebedded (£2k because scaffold) and deal with a leaking mains under the house (only £600 after I argued with the water company). That was on top of the gas not being connected, replastering, new bathroom, decorating, new carpets, new doors. We knew most of the stuff would happen but the ridge tiles became more pressing than anticipated. We love it though, helps we got it for a song ;)

I'm not sure I would have ruled out house 3 simply on online research. IMO the street and the neighbours make more of a difference.

Reetgood - thank you for your thoughts. We have spoke to people who live in the area, husband's uncle lives close by and said he would absolutely not raise a family there. That was the thing that turned it for us.

I am really worried that we will uncover lots more that needs work and I know I hate living in small houses as I think I get claustrophobic somewhat but we have zero choice in the area we are in. Husband can't change his job currently, at least for the next year or so and we are stuck.

We are still trying to get some money off and they haven't confirmed what they will offer so there's every chance that house 1 won't work out anyway.

Ah I see. The thing I'd say is that if you don't have the cash to cover additional renovation, a first time renovation mortgage may be tricky. It will also increase your Ltv, raise affordability criteria and take you into additional borrowing. We allocated about £6k for work when we moved in then spent another £4K on a new bathroom.

The survey highlights drain, electrical and structural issues. These are all Expensive. E.g. Rewire = £2-3k. Have either of you done any substantial diy or managed construction projects? I would be concerned that shift work and managing contractors isn't going to match. I also think a half hour commute even on shifts is reasonable. I'd wait. It took us a year to find our house as we had a tight budget, but find it we did.

That's a tricky decision to make. With both its important to research the area, transport links and schools etc. (basically all local amenities and services).

I wouldn't rule out the new build because of cost, the Help to Buy Scheme won't be running forever and if you're in a position to meet the requirements of the scheme, it would be fantastic to use it to your advantage. Plus there are other ways that new builds can save you money in the long run, like these Five Ways

For house 1 - do you have any friends that are qualified or competent in building, plumbing or electronics as that could bring the cost down quite a bit, although you do have to keep in mind the inconvenience of any work whilst it's being carried out.

It sounds a bit like you're trying to convince yourself that House 1 would be best because of the area and for your husband's work, but these aren't really deciding factors - and you said that you don't actually like anything about it!
What does your husband think about the choices?