Please help me decide which house to buy!

[livinginabox1]

Just as the title says really! I haven't a clue anymore and would love some advice.

I'm a FTB, and buying a house by myself. I went to see a house and really liked it - it's done up to a lovely standard, and looks to be newly plastered and decorated, new roof on the garage - it looks really looked after and I wouldn't have to really do anything - maybe repair the driveway as it's a bit holey (?) and potentially I would move the boiler from the spare room to the kitchen in the future.

The only things that are putting me off are that there is a takeaway to the back and I'm a bit worried about noise etc, and it's a small kitchen so couldn't pop a table in there. I've met the neighbours and they're lovely (as is the lady selling). It's up for 140-145k guide and is a semi detatched with 2 bedrooms.

On an attached street is a 2 bed, semi house I went to see after - it's up for 127k but I was told they would accept 125k. It's a similar style, but the living room is smaller, and the kitchen is bigger so could fit a table, and it has a larder which I like. The living room has a nicer fire. The bedroom has one slightly bigger than the smaller one of the first, and then another much smaller than the first's master. Bathroom isn't as big. House needs replastering and redecorating. Needs a window made double glazed. The kitchen is completely livable but not to my taste. The garage looks to need replacing really. Garden isn't as big and is overlooked by a large business. The rendering to the outside looks patchy and has some cracks in. It's currently being let out but I've been told it's a rolling contract.

I've leaning towards the first more expensive house as I'm thinking that by the time I've had to make the changes it will have been much more expensive. I realise it's a bit of a rambly list, but does that sound right? I have no idea how much things really cost and obviously haven't had to spend money on doing up a house but any advice would be really appreciated! Many thanks

Another saying wait until after Christmas. Takeaway smells would be awful and hard to sell on.

We bought a house behind a takeaway and it had been on the market for quite a while so it may have been putting buyers off. We have experienced no disruption whatsoever. It's a village though so may not be as busy as town centre takeaways.

if interest rates go up, prices will go down ir stay the same. do not panic buy!

As a FTB you should go low and add value. If you buy a house that is already nice inside - how will you be able to add anything to the value?

I actually really disagree with this misnomer about FTB 'adding value'.

It is virtually impossible to 'add value' over and above what you spend on the property as an amateur. Most people who think they 'added value' did so by riding the wave of rising house prices. There is very little developers margin available for people who need to get trades in.

The take away would put me off - can you go and hang out near the front of the take away on a friday or Saturday night?

I would have to say no because of the takeaway. The last thing you want is to be dealing with rats. If you bug the second one and do it up it will be much easier to sell.

I would say neither too. I used to live opposite a fish and chip shop in a small market town. It was the constant stream of vehicles pulling up, and in summer, the smell of f and s in the garden (tempting if you are hungry, but otherwise unpleasant), also drunks lounging around outside after closing time dropping food everywhere.
I would never live within earshot/smell of a takeaway, pub, garage or restaurant, having done so in the past.
OP, make a list of what you want from a house, then only look at the ones that fit your criteria, it makes it easier to sort the wheat from the chaff.

If interest rates go up, house prices are likely to come down! Interest rates make debt more expensive, which may dissuade some people from engaging in the market. So don't worry about that.

The market is flighty at the moment, but if you're choosing a house you don't mind staying in for some time, that is not a huge issue. If you're buying to move quickly, it is a much bigger deal.

And, as others have said, do be aware that changing a wall from a decent shade of beige to a really nice shade of white, and changing a wall from a godawful shade of dark red to a nice shade of white are not too dissimilar as jobs! Doing a whole rewire, replaster and reheat for a house where those systems are coming to the end of their life is, however, in a different ballpark from just changing a few wall colours in a house that has been modernised. Look at the underlying work, not at the superficial stuff and you'll get a much better sense of the "cost" of each place.

The takeaway would put me off too. But you need to check sold prices of done up houses on the road the doer upper is to see if you would be out of pocket doing the work. Tbh I would wait it out and find something you really love if your in a position to do so

Flood risk by postcode:

flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/long-term-flood-risk

For your lake house. Worth asking neighbours too though - I've lived in a house seemed at high risk of floods and the road floods regularly but never had the house flooded while we lived there and next door's family had lived there for a century and had never seen the houses flood.