Wwyd move in ready or fixer upper?

[TiddleTaddleTat]

Two houses, and I'm torn!

1. Smart Victorian mid-terrace. Lovely features, well maintained. Small garden but adequate. No potential to extend up or out but no obvious work required. In catchment for my preferred schools, but would mean moving DD away from existing friends/school (10 mins drive). Area is perceived as very desirable. £265k.

1. Repossessed 1950s semi. Off road parking, detached garage, south facing but small garden. Existing small downstairs extension and partially boarded loft offering scope for large upstairs conversion. Needs new kitchen, walls moving downstairs, new floors, bathroom, installing downstairs utility. And probably more. Area is more buzzy, mainly small terraces, and not as expensive generally. Area is increasing in value rapidly. We've bid £225k.

We've sold our property to an investor with no chain and should be exchanging within the next month. It's owned outright so after all fees, stamp duty on a purchase etc we should have £216k in cash. Plan to get a mortgage for £60k ish in either scenario.

Have offered the above for both, cash for the repo (will have to scrape it together).

Any wisdom?

Should have said that the schools for option 2. Mean not moving DD - they are still highly rated and I'm happy with them.

1 if you don't really need anymore space.

2 if you think in the future you may need an extension.

@Chickencellar
We have one DD aged 5 , either house has 3 double bedrooms so space is adequate for us.

I think option 2 is a wiser investment but option 1 is the easier choice. DH wants 2 more because he sees a lot of future potential but I worry about renovation costs spiralling. I guess since it's a repo I am particularly cautious about debt.

Opt 2 it's not like it needs underpinning or walls being rebuilt. Get a proper survey though

It really depends on how you and your OH want to spend the next few years, option 1 sounds like you could pretty much move into it, maybe redecorate a bit and then not do much else to your home. Option 2 will mean you need to spend time and money to get it the way you want/need it. Depending on your budget and what you want to do you could take a few years to do it slowly or push through and complete it in a year - I would doubt it would be less time with what you have mentioned as possibly more things will crop up once you start working on it.

We were faced with a very similar decision a few years ago and we went with option 2 - I LOVE our house now, even though we are only about half way through getting it finished. I do like home decoration/renovation though which might be the difference, I feel like my home is also my hobby. I know if I had chosen my option 1 I would have ended up renovating at some point whether it needed it or not - or getting bored and moving.

Option 2 definitely, you can add value and make it your own.

Option 2 - are you 100% sure of your costs and timings. That feels like more than 40k worth of work there and will probably take a year at least to do. Can you live in chaos for a year? Can you really afford to finish all the work straightway?
Long term it’s a better investment but I couldn’t stand living in a building site for that time.
If you can honestly answer yes to all the above then Option 2 is better otherwise take Option 1.

Location location location.

Personally I would go for 1 but hats because the idea of spending my time and effort doing a house up would be a total nightmare hassle which I would hate. If you enjoy that kind of thing then go for it but be clear eyed about how much work, time, money and inconvenience it will involve. If you’re moving walls etc then you may need to live elsewhere for at least part of the process - do you have a plan for that ? Etc.

By that I mean go with your heart on the area/road you'd rather live in long term, not just place A is more desirable than place B.

Also check the ceiling price on the street for option 2. It will get to a point where you won’t get back the money you’re putting into it.

Ps Option 1s catchment area for preferred schools would swing it for me.
We’ve just been house hunting and chose the smaller more expensive house in the area with the best secondaries over the big cheaper houses with less good schools.

I would go for option 1 - but I am lazy and don’t have the stomach for long protracted works. I would just want to move in, make it my home and get on with my life!

Having lived in a doer upper I would never want to go through that again. So it would be option 1 for me or look for another house.

Does this mean you are thinking about pulling out of your deal?

Thanks, these are important points to think about.

I should add that option 2 is just within the catchment boundary for an excellent secondary. If catchments change in the next 5 years I would not be happy with the alternative school.

OH is keen on option 2 but is not DIY savvy. Logically I know 2 is smarter because of being able to add space but I know all the tradesman management and decisions would ultimately fall to me and I'm doing a very demanding FT training course.

However I do get excited about the idea of a project... tough

@lazymare neither offer has been accepted or rejected yet, so I really have to make a decision today and go for whichever house tomorrow

Living in a doaupper I say option 1
Your daughter will make new friends.
The work is never ending if I by again it will be a new build ( my DH is a builder)

So option 2 would likely be worth more when completed

I wouldn't worry about secondary at this stage you have 5 years and things change quickly - you could move again

I'd go for option 2 - get the kitchen and bathrooms done quickly and the rest you would do anyway in the other house

@GreenTulips it's really hard to say how much opt 2 would be worth when finished. There are very few semis in the area let alone large ones with big lofts. I would guess the ceiling value is about £280k at current market rates, if it was fully renovated inc. the loft.

Option 2 if this is a home you are going to stay in for next 10 years. Option 1 if you will likely move within 5 years.

Can you not get the money for refurb from mortgage? It would be a worthy investment- scrapping the money together will make it more stressful and you might have to make more compromises than you would like to.

With terraced you might look to move again.

With semi you might never need to (want to) move

@PurpleFlowersInMyHair I agree, if we went for 2 we'd apply for a mortgage now to cover the renovation (and to give us a little leeway if someone outbids is near exchange). However it depends on the position of those we're bidding against, if there is a cash buyer ready to go who matched our offer we'd not get it.

@JuliaRobbers that's true - but with the semi we might want to move within 5 years because it is right at the edge of the catchment boundary for the good secondary.
If the catchment moved an inch, the house would also be worth a fair bit less on resale.

Personally I'd always go for 2 given the option. Just allows for more should you decide to extend in the future.