WWYD

[Blueelephant18]

Hi all any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated.
I have been given a 25% share in my late nans house alongside my other siblings. I have been toying with the idea of buying the house but I really don’t know if it’s the best decision for me. This house holds a lot of sentimental value to me (I grew up in the house) and it has lots of potential. The house is a 3 bedroom semi with a massive front and back garden. The whole house needs renovating from the wiring to new kitchen/bathroom, alongside my 25% I have £10,000 saved and I will use this towards the work that needs to be carried out on the house. What I’m asking is would you buy the house knowing that it has lots of potential to be a nice home But it will take you a few years to carry out the work needed as I will need to save more money once the 10k has been spent, or would you take the 25% and buy a different property that doesn’t need any/little work doing to it but the house will be smaller with less garden space? Thank you

£10k won't go far in renovating (do you have extra saved for solicitor fees?), but if you like the house and see yourself living there long-term I'd consider buying the whole place. You should get it independently valued, taking into account the work needed. That way you can negotiate a reasonable price with your siblings.

If you buy the property with your 25% share, you'd have a 25% loan to value. A mortgage broker might be able to help you borrow more ie if you borrowed 85% of the property value, your interest rate would be higher but you'd have an extra 10% of the value to put towards the renovations.

Alternatively, you could use your £10k for stuff like wiring and then save or use 0% credit card or finance options to do the kitchen and bathroom.

I’d buy it and do it up. £10k will get a fair bit done if it doesn’t need major structural work.

If you can afford it (and have money for stamp duty/ legal fees) I would go for it. We have spent the last 3 years looking at houses (on and off). I totally think you have to go with the one your heart loves and that you can make right and have ruled out so many ‘right on paper’ houses for this reason. Go for it!

Have you got somewhere else to live? It sounds like the house might not be liveable eg while it’s being re-wired.

Another issue is that 10k won’t even scratch the surface of paying for essentials like a re-wire, new boiler and re-plumb etc. As suggested above, I’d look into releasing some of the equity to afford more work. And are you sure the house is great in terms of location and ticks your boxes? It’s difficult to part with somewhere of sentimental value but no point holding onto it if it’s going to make your life difficult.

Get a couple of independent valuations- at least 3 - for the property as it stands today and with a view of how property prices in the area are changing with Brexit.

What stage of life are you? You don't have to answer here, but have a think about if the location works for you for work / career goals and the commute. If you have or plan on children, what are the schools and amenities like? Thinking long term, will the house suit you for more than 5 - 10 years?

If all the above works for you, before you mention buying them out to the siblings, spend out on having a proper survey done (not just a mortgage valuation or basic home buyers) and get a trusted builder or two around to quote on what you will need sorted.

What will be the cost of the work and the sale price once done? Will you recoup that layout quickly if you need to due to a change in circumstances? What will the stamp duty and solicitors fees be? Speak to a mortgage broker about affordability and what equity you can release. Remember to add at least 30-50% for over budget and over time specified for all works including labour.

Then sit down and do the sums. You'll have all the information to hand to be able to decide to walk away and find something else or to pay your siblings out fairly (and fight your own corner when they want more later after you've done & paid for the work needed).

I know the pull of the family home. It's hard to engage head when heart is pulling every heartstring, but go through it all step by step with all the numbers.

Good luck!

Hi all,
Thank you so much for all of your replies they are really appreciated. I think I will look into borrowing more money and using less of my share in the house towards the deposit, I hadn’t really thought of that idea so thank you!

The house is in a good location it is 10 minutes down the road from where I currently live. The house would tick all of my boxes if it was done up and required little work I think that’s why I’m hesitant but I don’t want to part with the house, it gave me so many great memories and it is the place that I will always think of as ‘home’. I wouldn’t be living in the house while the work was being carried out, so I wouldn’t have the added stress of living with the mess

It would be attractive for me, because you've got fewer unknowns than with a strangers house - you know how well looked after it's been, who the neighbours are, exactly what the area is like. If it's what you want I don't see why not.

Op

£10k will hardly scratch the surface for a complete reno project

It's surprising what you can live with til you have the money OP. Are the kitchen and bathroom usable? If so, then live with them til you have saved to do what you want. You don't have to do a complete renovation all at once. Things like the boiler and the electrics would be a priority for me, but everything else could wait.

I spent 7 years living with a kitchen I loathed, until I could have what I wanted. The bathroom functioned, although it wasn't lovely, and that didn't get changed until 2014, and we'd had the house since 1992.

The place we currently rent abroad is an older house (1774), and the bathrooms desperately need updating; very 1960s. However, I'm willing to fork over the rent as I will never get the chance to live in a Rococo house with barrel arched brick ceilings and beams again.

I'd decide what I could and couldn't live with, then plan from there. We bought our place in 1992, knowing it would be our forever home (well, 40 years anyway), and that things we would like to do would have to wait til we could afford it. The same still applies now!

Thank you everyone.
This house will be my forever home. I have a DS who is 16 months old and it has an amazing size garden which is perfect for him to run around. I would love to be able turn the back and front gardens back to what they were when I was growing up for my son to be able to run around in like I did. I’m going to ask a few builders to come to the house for quotes and use that as my starting point! The house isn’t in total disrepair the bathroom and kitchen are both useable but have definitely seen better days. The house doesn’t require a new boiler system so I don’t need to worry about that expense. To my knowledge the house hasn’t had any electrical work in many years so rewiring is a must! I would also like to take a small wall down which separates the bathroom and the cloak cupboard but both areas share the same door however that may be a future job if I was to purchase the property. I think once I have spoken with a few builders I will have a clearer picture of the cost and what work needs to be carried out.

Just because it hasn't had anything done to the electrics it doesn't mean it needs a rewire! Get an electrician to take a look too.
I'd also have a good look at rightmove around your price point and see what's out there, to help clarify your thinking.
It sounds like it's totally liveable in, so no reason to do a full renovation straight away!