FTB - Mad to choose house needing lots of work?

[HouseHunter123]

Hello!

New poster but long time lurker. We are FTB with limited DIY experience (no chain, can move in pretty quickly, good deposit), and are comparing two houses on the same road. I would appreciate some practical advice over whether house 1 would be biting off more than we can chew....

House 1: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-80236121.html
House 2: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-83762999.html

House 1 has had its price dropped by 30K since going on the market in March. It needs new everything - we are renting currently and would be staying in the rental while we would renovate (if we bought it) - this would mean knocking down the wall between dining and kitchen, new kitchen and 2 x bathrooms, carpets and repaint (+ anything else that would become more apparent on survey). We are also considering a single storey extension to make the kitchen diner a bit bigger open plan. We both work full time including weekends and nights so would be paying for everything to be done...!

House 2: basically ready to move in but 80K more and its semi detached vs detached with 1 instead of 2 bathrooms. It is also towards the top end of our budget. It is 200 sqft larger than House 1/.

My question is: how much would it cost to make house 1 to an acceptable standard - especially as we can probably not do much ourselves at all due to lack of skill and time? Or should we just save ourselves all the hassle and go for something less ambitious? And how much would you offer for house 1 considering the work that needs doing?

Thank you for your expertise!

There's no wya it would cost 25k for a new kitchen and the rest as above poster mentioned if you cannot do the works yourselves.

We have spent 20k plastering, new kitchen which was 3500, new bathroom which cost 1600 plus tiles etc maybe 2k. Radiators. New skirting. Flooring throughout. Carpet throughout. Paint throughout. Knocked 2 walls down and put in rsj. Ours is a bungalow and we were quoted 6k just for plastering a small bungalow.

My Husband and is a plumber and gas engineer. His dad is a tiler. Grandad is a painter and decorator. And we have diy the rest. And spent 20k.

If you're paying tradesman id expect nearer probably 60k mark if you won't paint or lay floors and need windows and doors changed an d upgraded. New boiler and new electrics id probably say more!

Tradesman aren't cheap

Depends where you are, WB

The new information would make me wary of paying as much for house 2. With a wide semi, you can put noisy kids in the outside bedrooms to minimise neighbour annoyance. Given that link detached is euphemism for badly terraced, you can't here and have no guarantee that the flat next door isn't home to someone young with a love of bass and loud shagging.

If you work all week plus weekends and evenings don't buy somewhere that needs work. Even if you are paying people, do not underestimate the excessive amount of time it takes to decide on plans, select fittings and fixtures, find potential tradesmen, get quotes (difficult if you are never there), call said tradesmen 500 times to actually get the quote and get them to commit to a date, be around to have the work done/check the work/contact tradesman about all the things that are not right/snagging. Sure I am missing many things. It's a fucking full tome exasperating job!

I’m not sure about either and would probably keep looking. Not sure I’d want the flats car park next to me for house 1 and it is a lot of work to renovate as per previous post and I think it would be hard going if you both work full time.

House 2 I wouldn’t want now you’ve explained the set up.

If forced to decide between the two I’d do house 1 and get someone in who can with the lot in one go but you’d have to up budget to do that. I’m pretty local and would have been able to recommend my builder unfortunately he’s probably having surgery, though it’s not definite. I do have others I can recommend though who have worked on houses of people I know, PM me if you would like contact info. There is a big demand at the moment as people seem to be extending and not moving so cost of renovating is high.

What the vendor and EA reckon is that the 2 houses were once a single property - if you look at the pictures, you can see that the roofs are actually one continuous construction

Sorry just noticed this bit. Either you have misheard or misunderstood what they said or they are talking rubbish.

You can clearly see these were 2 separate properties, they were originally identical, but next door has had extensive building and extension work done. Then at some point the 2 houses joined together. when looking at front you can see how badly. It is not continuous its like extra bit fitted badly between the 2. There is actually an upstairs window in the gap under the new roof section facing the wall of house 2. There maybe legal paper work now, but the joining of the two houses looks like cowboy builders! who leaves a 1-2 foot gab under a roof with a window too

No way in hell was this one big single property.

Unless you have flexible jobs so you can let workmen in, don’t buy a project house.

this would mean knocking down the wall between dining and kitchen, new kitchen - that will be 10-15k. 2 x bathrooms - that will be roughly 20k carpets - if for whole house around 8k inc underlay and repaint - my painter and decorator is £200 per day roughly inclusive of materials dependant on what you want. ,(Anything else that would become more apparent on survey) - how long is a piece of string?. We are also considering a single storey extension - that will be 25k ish, if you are even given planning permission.

Personally I'd go house 2 which is all done. The difference would not be enough for me to want to cope with all the stress of dealing with trades people tbh.

I’ve had change of mind and would go for House 1 after looking at Streetview . I wouldn’t be too put off by the flats next door I don’t think and much more worried about having them attached as in House 2 plus the other situation with house 2.

On balance I think House 1 would be worth doing, as long as you get a good builder who can sort it all for you. I think it will be a good practical home as has utility room, garage that can be accessed from house and en-suite, The garden is a blank canvas and could be lovely. Inside knock the kitchen and dining room together with doors to garden and double doors to living room and you’ll have a lovely living area.

It’s not attractive outside but new windows, garage door on the front plus possibly the brick rendered and cladding added depending on your tastes and it would look much better. The trees need a bit of pruning and the fence in Streetview if still there needs to be replaced and front given a bit of a makeover and it would look hugely better. You’d then have a detached house with none of the issues of House 2 so easier for resale plus you get the benefit of having it done exactly as you want it.

It is a lot to take on but if you have a realistic budget plus contingency and a good builder it will be ok, though stressful at times and worth it long term in my opinion, though others will disagree. It will cost a fair bit more than you originally said but less than the difference in price between the two houses.

House 1 looks livable to me. Depends on how quickly you would want to bring it up to spec. Renting somewhere else whilst completely redoing it would be very difficult in your situation - as everyone else has said there are so many decisions to make even if you aren't doing any of the physical work. But if you live in it and do it bit by bit it would be more manageable, just a much longer process. I personally quite like 80s brick houses (and it's probably better in terms of insulation etc) but I suspect I'm fairly alone in that!

House 1.

That weird stuff with the roof on H2 would put me off. Plus, I think H1 is dated but functional. Easy to live there will work is ongoing, save yourself the rent money and spend it on the house instead.

That garden does need a hard prune, though.

Oh yeah, that dodgy being attached to three flats and the terrible roof design has put me RIGHT off 2.

Re House 1 - the decision making burden doesn't have to be crazy. Like, if you want the house to be the most perfectly designed thing ever and each room to have a theme and each bathroom to be all boutique styled... and if you enjoy all that, fine.

If you just want something nice and neutral it isn't a huge chore, but it is for sure probably 3 months of your life being dedicated to house not fun in your time off.

You do also need to be on hand to check in everyday with the progress on site and catch issues quickly.

House one is move in able .
I think it better to live in house and see what need to be done to it it make home .

90% of houses in poole are detached so there is no way I would buy a semi detached house .

As someone who has lived without an airing cupboard for 13 years whilst abroad - house 1 every time. It also has a utility room, which is worth its weight in gold not to have your laundry in the kitchen. There is also an en suite, which is useful for you when you have guests, so no need to share a bathroom.

House 2 is pretty and house 1 is ugly. However, given all the other issues described I’d choose 1 over 2. Getting work done is stressful but you can get it just the way you like + add value.
Tbh, though, ideally I’ll look for a house with other houses rather than flats for neighbours.

I would love to get my hands on property one, it seems to be on a nice road, you could really turn it from a sows ear to a silk purse if you have the money and imagination, like Postnotinhaste says renovations like this will cost a lot more but if it’s a long term home could be worth considering.

How are 90% of houses in Poole detached? Lots are in lower parkstone but not the whole of Poole!

Thank you for all the helpful responses. We will have a think and a chat to some builders - there are a few detached houses around that we are also viewing in the area so options are open!

Good luck! Looking at more sounds a good plan, you are in a very strong position at first time buyer with nothing to sell so make it work for you. I’ll send you a quick PM with a couple of builders to widen your pool a bit.