First Time Buying

[Scholesfan]

Hi

I'm currently in the process of looking for my first property.

This will be our first property together for me and my partner, she has her own rented place with her son and I'm technically moving out of parents house (been living Mon-Fri in serviced apartment from work due to working away).

I've been to view a vacant property today that we first short listed. It's been on the market for 12 months and had been reduced by 12k from £122k to £110k. Photos on rightmove didn't seem to show much of the inside and when viewing it was apparent why, it basically needs gutting from head to toe. The only useable part of the house seems to be the kitchen and even so, it's need replacing at some point. Walking away from this one, just gives me a bad feeling in my stomach.

Have another viewing lined up for tomorrow for another property. Currently been on the market for 5 weeks and up for £130k and is an extended 3 bed semi and looks to be well renovated inside, modern bathroom and kitchen and neutral decor.

£130k is the top of our budget that we want to spend, though affordability calculators show we can borrow a lot more I want to save the spare cash for improvements and savings.

What would you consider a reasonable offer on said property if we like it?

There arent that many sold properties within the same street to compare with, Zoopla shows an increase of 3% on house prices in the area and average price of £129k.

I was thinking of going in at £123k with room to negotiate up to £127.5k and include their range cooker in at the price? (Dont want to spend 2k on a cooker when moving in)

Scholes

Would it cost more than £20K to do up the 'fixer upper' enough to get it to the same state as the £130K one? We were in a similar position and eventually opted for the fixer upper as it meant we had much lower monthly payments which gave us the opportunity to do it up as we go. The money we spend was less than the difference between the prices of the two option IYSWIM. Also the more expensive (more recently renovated properties) were really nice but I would always want to change something meaning we would be paying a premium for someone else's taste.

If you don't fancy doing the work (not to everyone's taste!) then the 130K sounds really good, and I think your offers sound more than reasonable. All they can say is no! And the prices of a house are always negotiable pending the results of a survey so anything (within reason) is possible. We bought the dishwasher from our sellers separate to the sale of the house.

Good luck with your search!

Thanks for the reply.

The fixer upper is an extended 3 bed semi but it would need new flooring throughout the entire house, complete new bathroom, kitchen tiling, re-plastering throughout and decorating, new windows and doors.

I like the house and can see the potential, but it looks like a hell of a lot of work and that's without running into any nasty surprises. Risk vs reward I guess.

I'll see how I feel tomorrow after viewing the second house wether it's a fixer upper or already done house that want. Perhaps something in the middle?

Yes, we went for something that needed a total cosmetic update but no structural/building work. That in itself is a huge job - ripping out a house-ful of wallpaper/carpet, gutting and replacing a kitchen/bathroom etc. Worth it in the end (I think!) but always, always more work and money than you expect. As you say - risk vs reward.

Hope your viewing helped you decide!