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Original poster

Advice about buying and living in a doer upper

62 replies

PurpleLeopard · 26/10/2019 21:23

We have seen a house which we love, but it's fairly close to the top of our budget and will need quite a lot of work. But it could be our forever house so we're very torn about what to do. It's in an ideal location and it has a beautiful big garden too.

So I suppose I'm looking for words of wisdom from people who've been there. What's it like to live in a doer upper before you can afford to actually do it up? Is it awful or do you get used to it? How much of a money pit is a Victorian semi likely to be?

OP posts:
user1573334 · 26/10/2019 21:53

Beautiful house btw.

alwaysmovingforwards · 26/10/2019 21:54

I'm just coming to the end... total back to shell. As others have said, at times it's hell, but I'm so pleased with how it's all now coming together. This time next year I'm sure I'll have forgotten all the grief.

My advice would be if you need to rewire, then budget to move out and rent, turn it into a building a site and then do everything in one hit. All the ceilings down, horrible sorted gone etc etc. Also great fun putting lights and power where you want rather than working rooms around existing infrastructure.
New boiler then turned into complete re-pipe. May as well whilst it's a building site. Now have full mains pressure in all taps and showers - lush! And the house has another good 40 years lease of life so much easier to sell in 7-10 years if I want to. The modern boiler systems can deliver the pressure, but can cause failures in old pipe work. I would have been gutted if in a year started to get damp due to old pipes starting to fail. But again, rads now where I want them rather than arranging furniture to suit a previous design.

My struggles were often in deciding the details. Kitchen, bathrooms, room layouts, flooring, all need to be planned and purchased. Oh, and fun conversations like;
"What sort of architraves we putting in?"
"Err handbrake thought about it, never bought them just painted whatever the house had..."
"Right we'll make a decision, we need them on site next week"
Evening then spent researching bloody architraves!! Hmm

Fun though and learnt a lot. Not sure if I'd ever do it again though to this extent, basically robs you of a year or two of life / holidays / weekends. Ask me next year.

Yeahyeahyeahyeeeeah · 26/10/2019 21:54

Seriously, we had to do a rewire and remove asbestos before we could move in. The ceiling in the yellow bathroom fell down after a couple of months and water started pouring into the front room from the 60’s sink in the corner of my DD room. The walls look like we’ve been shelled, the paintwork is mainly dark brown. Kitchen drawers collapsed into each other... I could go on. We love it. Good bones.

Having sa

lalafafa · 26/10/2019 21:55

We’ve just finished a similar project, 40 years of neglect. £400,000 and counting.

Original poster
PurpleLeopard · 26/10/2019 21:58

Alwaysmoving how much did the reword/repipe/new boiler cost?

We're actually currently living in rented because our chain collapsed earlier in the summer so we proceeded with our sale and are now chain free. So it could be that we may be able to do that before moving in, dependent on price!

OP posts:
Original poster
PurpleLeopard · 26/10/2019 21:58

*rewire

OP posts:
DENMAN03 · 26/10/2019 22:00

I wouldn't count that as a doer-upper. I've lived in far worse! It's just not to your taste. I love it! You could certainly live with it as it is and do the bits over time. It took me 5 years to save for my kitchen extension but time does fly by and you get used to it.
I would go for it.

madeyemoodysmum · 26/10/2019 22:01

Blimey that expensive!!

Is Winchester really that expensive.

I don’t think it looks in a bad state though. Easily livable

Cyberworrier · 26/10/2019 22:04

Re plumbing and new boiler is costing us 10k, project happening now. Your possible house looks lovely and way less of a project than I imagined! Go for it! Lovely garden too.

SleeplessWB · 26/10/2019 22:06

I think it's lovely and you can easily live there and do it up a bit at a time. Mine is similar and was in a similar state when we bought it 6 years ago but we have done it bit by bit and only had to move out when we did the side return/kitchen extension. But those houses are a money pit as every bit you do you find more that needs doing.

KristinaM · 26/10/2019 22:07

Are you sure it needs a new boiler straight away ? That looks like a Worcester. However cost of a new boiler is small compared to new windows and roof.

But you can do the windows as you go along, don’t have to do them all at once.

No photo the bathroom so I assume it’s awful.

What are the electrics like ? At least it’s been rewired relatively recently .

The kitchen is usable.

It’s a lovely house and garden , I can see why you are tempted. It could be amazing but needs time, love and a lot of cash.

Can I be blunt and ask how much money you would have to do it up?

Original poster
PurpleLeopard · 26/10/2019 22:12

No Kristina I'm not sure about the boiler. It was just based on thinking it looked a bit elderly! Happy to be corrected though. Smile

Obviously we would have a full survey prior to buying it but we haven't got to that stage yet.

Long term, we would have the money to fund the work. But we will have a high LTV so we won't have the cash to pay for the extensions in the short term. We would be able to pay for the smaller jobs piecemeal through our income though.

OP posts:
ShirleyPhallus · 26/10/2019 22:12

Beautiful house!! I agree with the other comments, looks like it is mostly cosmetic

I’d put an extension on the back though and make a lovely kitchen / diner then utility and downstairs bathroom if I were you. And hopefully extend in to the attic at some point

But yes, definitely I’d go for it

Original poster
PurpleLeopard · 26/10/2019 22:16

DH actually took a picture of the boiler - it's a Potterton Promax HE.

OP posts:
AthollPlace · 26/10/2019 22:16

You have to be dedicated and willing to give up your weekends and holidays, possibly for years. We spent every weekend working on the house, when we took time off work it wasn’t to go abroad, it was to tile a wall or something. Our parents bought us flooring for Christmas instead of gifts. It’s tough and you need to be the sort of person who can make do for as long as it takes. But the eventual reward is a nicer house than you could ever afford otherwise.

Oct18mummy · 26/10/2019 22:19

I’ve done it and would do it again for the right house and a step up the ladder. We bought a 1950s bungalow from the original owner and nothing had been done since then. Barely any electrics, an aga which heated the house and hot water, avocado sweet and an awful kitchen.

We lived in it to get a feel for the property and how we would live in it and what we wanted from it plus it took a year to get planning permission.

We had ideas to put in a cheap heating system etc or new cheap bathroom suite which we would eventually replace and then we thought why waste the money and make good with what we had.

We did strip out all the old carpets and wallpaper. Painted everything white and put down the cheapest carpet we could find with no underlay it made a big difference and made it a blank canvas which felt more liveable.

We then lived in it until the water and electrics were switched off at that point we had no roof and no back of the house in winter. It was cold and dusty but we kept focused on the end goal.

Now we have done everything it was so worth it the house is lovely and we have had it valued and made a very decent profit on it.

I would do it but it is not easy

Oct18mummy · 26/10/2019 22:20

*suite (bathroom) not sweet!!

Slightlysurviving · 26/10/2019 23:28

Living through it with 2 preschoolers. Ours was far far worse. No hot water, blocked drains, asbestos you name it we are dealing with it. It's tough we are tired but it's an adventure. And we did our last pre family and survived. It always costs more than you think we do lots ourselves think tiling plumbing all decorating etc. The first £12k disappeared and you couldn't really see where. That place looks perfectly livable if you love it what have you got to loose?

earsup · 27/10/2019 01:34

We did it..inherited a wreck off my mum..took about 2 years part time to do everything mostly ourselves and had plasterers and electrician and heating people to do stuff we could not. One thing that kept us sane was doing our bedroom and a lounge first so although not logical we had two rooms to get away from the chaos and dust etc. Doubt I would live in again if we did another house.. probably rent for 6 months.

SellingHouse · 27/10/2019 01:54

So many great renovation Accounts on Instagram to follow

Time40 · 27/10/2019 01:55

Oooooh, it's lovely, OP. I'd kill for a house like that.

MaybeitsMaybelline · 27/10/2019 06:45

Unless you were very young and had loads of money to do it up quickly I wouldn’t.

At my age, 53, far too many of my friends including ourselves have taken decades to do up our houses. You get there about 50 when the kids are leaving.

unless you have lots of money or a DH in a trade with loads of contacts and mates rates to call on I wouldn’t do it again.

alwaysmovingforwards · 27/10/2019 07:11

@PurpleLeopard

New electrics and hot water / central heating systems coming in at about £30k.

MrsMozartMkII · 27/10/2019 07:30

Dust!

Bloody dust gets everywhere. Seal off rooms wherever possible.

As PP, you get used to not having wall-to-wall floors, to having holes in strange places, and a whole myriad of weird things. But it's all so very worth it. Eventually!

custardbear · 27/10/2019 07:38

Depends on what you can get out of it- our house we bought for 175k 12 years ago, we're in the process of doing a second renovation on it - massive one costing over 200k but it'll be worth around 750-800k after that so financially worth it and although me and husband /kids are in a rental for 6 months it's been ok - it is stressful though - latest problem are potential asbestos floor tiles in two rooms 🤬

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