How much to do up this house?

[Osakasunset]

DH and I have seen this house online and we both instinctively really like it but are first time buyers and it looks like it might need quite a bit of work.

Experienced mumsnetters - what budget do you think you would need to do up this house?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64526470.html

We would certainly want to change the bathroom and kitchen, as well as take down the wooden garage to start with.

We haven't been to see it in person yet and don't want to waste the seller's time if it would cost a ton to do it up. (But we know and love the area)

What a fantastic house and position. I'd jump at the chance if it were me. Your budget is good. Is there any all fired rush to get it all done straight away anyhoo.
Ripe for en suite and downstairs toilet as well.

Venys, if the house was in London in the 500-1m bracket, I’d be suggesting 80-100k but it’s surprising how much cheaper stuff is elsewhere + you’d put in a more expensive kitchen and bathroom... Different price bracket really.

Would you be borrowing on the mortgage to do up the house? Will they lend like that nowadays?

Fabulous house - i think you could get wiring and central heating done first then live in it and do the rest as money is available. Good luck!

Jojo yeah I was also going to go higher too, but I just assume labour will be somewhat cheaper outside of this. The likes of materials and appliances can be cheap or expensive as you like. We got a new kitchen but no appliances, and a couple if other bits ans bobs, but all mid range kind of stuff.

How can you tell it "looks like it needs a rewrite"you can't tell by looking at those pics. The electrical fittings all look modern as do the radiators.

I think there is some doom and gloom on here, as said, Check for damp, Check boiler is fine, past that I suspect everything else is cosmetic. New boiler and damp proofing will be less than 10 k. If indeed it's required. The rest you can do bit by bit. The house has clearly been well maintained in areas, it's just old fashioned.

I'd view it fast, i think there will be a lot of interest there.

I've just noticed it says "under offer", I didn't notice that when I first looked at the link earlier on. That's decided that then!

Well looks like someone beat me to it! While we've been writing this thread it has gone under offer.

Maybe someone read the thread and jumped on it!

Oh well - thanks for all the advice :-)

Bluntness, I saw sockets in the skirting boards which is an indication of dated electrics. Even if the sockets and switches work, it'd be worth doing the work now rather then replastering and repainting to have to take it all apart when electrics go in a few years. It's also an opportunity to add appropriate numbers of circuits on the fuse board, spares in the kitchen, sockets, lights and switches + things like USB chargers etc to bring the house up to date and make it comfortable to live in.

Oh wow! That was quick as it'd been on the market for only a few days.

I was about to point out that it's under offer!

Probably no bad thing because the wallpaper in one of the bedrooms looks all ripply which means you could easily add several thousand in roof repairs and attention to the guttering etc onto the cost to fix it.

Potentially gorgeous, though!

Tbh I’d just buy the house, white wash it and move in.

After moving in live in the house to get a feel for the place, see how it works

You may want to put the kitchen in the dinning room, as you don’t use it very much as a dinning room

Put double doors in the lounge out into the garden

Make the fourth bedroom an bathroom/shower room

Doing one room at a time you can create a beautiful home to suit your needs and taste

Agree £50k but just seen you missed out. Never mind, though it is a gorgeous house.

It’s a lovely house but I would worry about what was under the wallpaper.

Only just seen the update.

Well it’s someone else’s problem now.
It could be wonderful but I think you might have dodged a bullet there.

Call the agent anyway and ask to be informed if the current offer doesn't work out - that's how we got our house.

Don't be put off by "under offer" unless it has been taken off the market - sales fall through, although that kind of house wil probably be attractive to lots of people.
I'd guess it does need a rewire, sockets in skirting boards is a sign that it hasn't been done for a while, I don't think you are allowed now to put sockets in skirting boards so is always a bit of a telltale sign.
From the pictures, roof looks sound. Never put a damp proof course in, they don't work. If there are damp issues, sort them out properly. The down pipes look as if they might be the original cast iron ones, not always a problem, but could be at the end of their life. Leaky down pipes can cause superficial damp problems, as can leaky gutters. As can paths or patios which are too high and above the engineering brick level.
Personally, I love original windows and would not replace with plastic. We had a specialist window company double glaze all our original windows. Not the cheapest option, but aesthetically the most pleasing.
The rest, you could easily live with and tackle a room at a time.
Looking at the floor plan, the kitchen is pretty small though. I would want to extend or knock through to the dining room if it were me. All doable, but not necessary to move in.

I don't know about the dodged a bullet comments although I have no idea of the relative values in the area so possibly it would have cost more than it was worth but broadly speaking it looks like a good house to me. I'd far rather have a house with good bones and do the updating work required than wonder what was underneath someone else's decorative work.

We viewed a similar house but it was in terrible condition and had structural issues. I'd still have bought it but the vendors had completely unrealistic expectations on price. 7 months later it went to auction with a guide 25k lower than our revised offer after survey. Don't know what it went for in the end. As I said I don't know the values in that area so it might be that it's overpriced and I know it's under offer anyway but I'd still keep an eye in case it goes back on the market (though if it does I'd hazard a guess it's for a reason).

I was going to say the same GoodMorning. I was going to mention that my neihhbours bought their 3 bed house in a similar condition at same time as us. Before they moved in, they did rewire, plastered walls, put in basic bathroom and new carpets. All magnolia. Not sure what it cost them - I would say £12-15k. They did nothing structural to the house and there is definitely need for some work like new roof etc, bit it is clean and habitable while they save for more serious works. Thinlmit only took about three weeks for the actual work.

1/3 of all house sales fall through.
I would still ring the agent and register interest, and ask to know if the sale breaks down As you are renting, you are in a strong position, as you don't have to sell a house in order to buy theirs.

Don't know, but I love the house. Some beautiful features, and that part if the world is gorgeous. It could be amazing.

suited a third of sales fall through? That’s astonishing, I didn’t think it would be so high a rate. Good to know! (Well.. bad if you’re selling)

You're not going to understand the structural condition of the house without a full survey. You can guess whether the house is structurally sound from visiting.

Good things to look for include damp patches or cracks on the walls, whether there's a dated/dusty fuse box and boiler, missing tiles/clogged guttering, and any signs of poor central heating (e.g. portable heaters on the upper floors). Also, signs that problems have been covered up, such as a new paint job.

This house, on initial inspection, looks dated but well maintained - so probably an elderly person. This potentially means only cosmetic changes are needed, although these can turn out expensive. I'd budget £5-6k minimum for a kitchen and each bathroom, plus a decorator (£2k). You don't need to do this work all at once, provided that the house is usable in the meantime. You can also save money by doing DIY so decide, early on, whether you enjoy standing up ladders for hours and spending your weekends at Screwfix.

Be careful too because - if this is your forever home - there's a temptation to use the best materials you can afford. You'll also ideally want furniture - watching TV sat on a camp bed for six months because you spent your home improvement budget renovating a conservatory can be frustrating (speaking from experience).

Also, depending on the age of the house, even minor changes can throw up a handful of expensive problems. We're renovating a late Victorian house in London that has no structural problems, but is 'tatty' (as DH's parents described it). We've so far spent £500 on internal doors alone because, although the doors are solid, none of them fit properly when we moved in - and that's using a local carpenter and second-hand doors from a reclamation yard. If we had a proper high-end London budget, we'd be looking at £7k just on doors.

Finally, if you want to understand doing up houses, I'd recommend watching Grand Designs or Ugly House, Lovely House. Although they're often doing wacky projects, in general, the constant discovery of pricey problems and budget constraints are applicable to just about any major building or redecoration work.

Hope that helps. It's a beautiful house and doing renovation work can be an enormous sense of achievement - so don't be put off!

[I know the house is under offer, but sales fall through and the OP is obviously tempted by fixer-uppers].

Unless you have a bottomless pit of money to throw at it, you definitely need some canny DIY skills for this sort of house. Never mind the big things and complete re- decoration, we spent the first month fixing little things that had been neglected, like a plunger operated sink plug that had fallen apart, central heating controller that didn't work (£3 capacitor fixed that), door handles that didn't work properly (lots of abrasive paper and WD-40 fixed them, after DH took them apart to clean up).

We still have miles of manky sealant to remove and replace but DH is practicing on his mum's house that needs cleaning up before it can be sold, first!

It's Under Offer :-(