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Original poster

If you had to choose...

27 replies

StylishDuck · 14/03/2018 21:31

Property 1 -
Perfect location (good schools, close to shops, close to train station)
Price is an absolute steal for the area
Good sized living space
BUT needs a lot of work (ie fixing damp in the roof, ground floor needs treated for damp and completely refloored, new kitchen, new bathroom, decorating throughout, garden needs landscaped)

Property 2 - Good location but not as good as 1
Needs absolutely no work done apart from a bit of personalisation
Smaller living space but potential to extend and therefore increase value at a later date
BUT at the absolute top end of our budget

Which would you choose? We are a family of 4 (one 3 year old, one 8 week old).

OP posts:
lalalonglegs · 14/03/2018 21:36

It depends on your budget and how enthusiastic you are about organising works. I'd always go for a doer-upper because there is a chance to (a) add value (b) do it to my own specification. I also believe that getting the location right is the number one priority. Can you afford to rent/are you able to stay with someone while the bulk of the work is done?

17caterpillars1mouse · 14/03/2018 21:36

With children of those ages i'd go for property B. I can't imagine living with little ones when the house is a building site. Many do though but for me it would be hell

If your children were older i'd probably say property one

emsyj37 · 14/03/2018 21:38

Number one for sure. However perfect a house seems you always end up doing something. May as well get it cheaper and choose it all yourself in the first place.

AJPTaylor · 14/03/2018 21:39

b.

Original poster
StylishDuck · 14/03/2018 21:41

We could live with my parents while any work was being done. But it would be hell Grin
Our situation is that we have a certain amount of cash so any mortgage we got would be for the property only minus the deposit.
For property 1 we would have a smaller mortgage and therefore smaller repayments and most of the cash would go towards the renovation.
For property 2 we would need to use more of our cash for the deposit and our mortgage would be bigger therefore bigger repayments although we could just about afford them.
It's the age of the kids that puts me off property 1 slightly due to the amount of work, however I think the location being better is a big sway for property 1.

OP posts:
pallisers · 14/03/2018 21:43

property 1.

Location makes a huge difference. You may have a bit of disruption at the beginning but it will end and then you will have smaller mortgage payments, better location, more equity (probably) and a better house - you'll have the bathrooms and kitchen just as you want them.

Original poster
StylishDuck · 14/03/2018 21:44

2 votes each so far...

It's so hard. (Of course this doesn't guarantee we'd be successful in securing either house!)

OP posts:
MacaroniPenguin · 14/03/2018 21:44

Now, I'd do 1. Get the floors/roof/rewire done straight away before you even move in, renting short term if you have to. Then move in and decorate, change kitchen & bathroom etc in slower time.

In reality with children that young, I'm not sure I'd have the appetite for it though.

xxxbdjaix · 14/03/2018 21:44

I would do option 1 in the long run when it's all done it sounds like you would be much happier. I moved into a house that was all done. Only to discover I wanted to changed everything when I moved in. Option 1 you can put you stamp on it. We are now trying to decide whether to do it up or move.

Soon2bemum2017 · 14/03/2018 21:46

I would do option 2... Damp is a Bitch to get rid of and would not risk it coming back with the kids living there!

snowplop · 14/03/2018 21:46

First option. It's true about location location location (for me anyway)...especially if proximity to a preferred school is an issue. Just don't do what we have done: don't move into a doer-upper and not get round to actually doing it up Confused

BifsWif · 14/03/2018 21:46

We bought a house that needed less work than yours, we renovated it while living there with two children.

Never again. House B would win hands down.

Original poster
StylishDuck · 14/03/2018 21:47

1 is winning now.

It actually doesn't need rewired. The electricity and gas are fine according to the survey. It was an old lady who lived in it who has recently moved into a home at the ripe old age of 103 Shock Fixing the damp is going to be the big coat, the rest is just cosmetic.

OP posts:
JoJoSM2 · 14/03/2018 21:47

I'd definitely get A. And rent in the area for 6 or 12 months while the works are carried out. Sounds like the end result will be a bigger, better house in a better location than B for maybe the same amount of money.

And once it's all done up, you won't need to touch it for 20 years. Whereas the other house might put you through projects at a later date and you'd live in the property with children while they're going on.

Original poster
StylishDuck · 14/03/2018 21:51

We couldn't afford to rent somewhere and pay a mortgage for property 1. So we'd have to live with my parents, which is fine with them but is not a long term solution so work would have to be done quickly to at least make it liveable.

OP posts:
BewareOfDragons · 14/03/2018 22:09

We had a similar choice just over 10 years ago ... we had a toddler and a baby. We initially went for Option 1, thinking we could do all the work that was needed the way we wanted to ... and then we looked at the property again. And again. And checked the reality of my husband's new job ... and withdraw our offer. We bought a new build, which ended up being the right option for us at the time. We barely found time to just paint a few rooms for the first half dozen years, let alone do major repairs!

It truly depends on how much patience, time and money you think you'll have to do the work. We didn't have much of any at that stage in our lives, so we went with Option 2.

MacaroniPenguin · 14/03/2018 22:21

YY by rewiring I just meant anything else with a big "footprint" really. Kitchens and bathrooms are big jobs but only 1 room at the end of the day.

But it's easy for us to say 1 sat at a keyboard, when it's not our lives being disrupted and not our money buying a house with a known damp problem. If you only asked people who currently have babies, you'd get more 2s than you are here I think.

JoJoSM2 · 14/03/2018 22:49

Macaroni, My sister did a self-build whilst pregnant and with a tiny baby in tow. She felt maternity leave was better timing than doing it whilst working full time. I think it's not that bad as long as you've got builders to do the jobs. DIYing it is the really challenging option. Or living on site.

Original poster
StylishDuck · 14/03/2018 23:46

I think we're swaying towards option 1... just because it feels like a once in a lifetime opportunity. It would be hard work though. Putting a note of interest in tomorrow...eek!

OP posts:
NurseryFightClub · 15/03/2018 06:13

House 1, especially if can stay with parents, we are renting whilst our house is renovated, we will move in after first finish, and do rest of decorating around us.
My 2.5 year old loves going to site, when it is safe to do so. We had damp one wall, having a two storey extension on the back, garage rebuilt, new electrics, boiler, internally reconfigured rooms so walls knocked out and doors way reinstated or blocked up. So we couldn't realistically live in it at the time

CanIBuffalo · 15/03/2018 06:20

We chose house 1. I'd only do so again if you have enough money to get all the work done as soon as it's bought. I also regret the time it stole from enjoying my baby.

SandysMam · 15/03/2018 06:21

I’d go for #1, location is so important. I would definitely set a time limit on basic works to be done and not move in until they are. You could look at renting a static caravan on a local site for 6 Weeks if really can’t bear to stay with your folks? Not as expensive as a proper rental.

Original poster
StylishDuck · 15/03/2018 09:09

Does anyone have any experience of overlapping mortgages? Basically we have a certain amount left to pay on our current mortgage and the mortgage we would need for property 1 would be less than the maximum amount in our mortgage promise from the bank even if we added it onto our current mortgage. I'm wondering if the bank would maybe allow us to take the second mortgage on top of the first for a few months to allow us to continue living where we are until the work is done. Then we could hold off selling our current house until we were ready to move in.

That's a bit garbled sorry. If it makes sense to anyone I'll be impressed!

OP posts:
Motherof3Dragons · 15/03/2018 09:25

Another vote for #1. You can work on the house, but not on the location. Good luck!

JoJoSM2 · 15/03/2018 10:00

It sounds affordable to keep the two houses so shouldn't be a problem if you have enough cash for another deposit and refurb work. It would make you attractive buyers as you'd be chain free.

You'd also need to look at stamp duty for second homes and (I think) you'll need to pay the 3% extra in stamp duty. I think that you'll get it back once you've sold the old house within a certain time period but it's just another thing to sort out with HMRC.

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