Home improvements before moving in or wait?

[user686827]

We are first time buyers and have had an offer accepted on a house that needs some work.

It has a very dated kitchen that won't fit a dining table with the way it's currently laid out but will once we change it.

It is a large three bed with a big master bedroom. We have three kids, and plan to add a stud wall to the master bedroom to make a box room for one child.

There are other things we'd like to do like swap the laminate our for wood floor, but that is easier to live with.

We can afford to continue to pay our rent and the mortgage but then won't have any spare money to save for the work that needs doing and we won't have enough upfront to do it all. Would you get a loan/credit and do the work before you move in? Or have the kids share for a while and live through a new kitchen being fitted later? How disruptive is it likely to be? Would I really regret not getting it done before we move? Or would it be much better to save up the cash up front? What would you do?

Always easier if the house is empty to get the work done. That said, you should pay close attention to your finances, don;t over stretch yourselves at this time.

How old are your kids? Can two share for a while?

If they're all little I'd get stuff done before you move in; if they are older I'd wait as most would be done during the day when they are at school anyway; if theres a big age gap and more difficult to share it might be easier to get the room split before you move in; if they are used to sharing you could hold fire and save up, I'd have thought it won't take long or be too expensive to do.

I would try not to get too much on credit before you move in incase you get any surprises and find stuff that is more vital to do rather than cosmetic.

There is something to be said for living in a house before you make changes to it, seeing where the light goes/ how you use the space. You might find that your plans change or new ideas occur.

I would wait if you can.

I'm also facing this question. In our case, we should also replace the electrics but equally we know that it's a huge job that will trigger lots of other work asap - redoing plastering etc.

I'd prefer to move in to see how the house "feels" - the light in particular.

It's hard to know what to do.

Personally I'd move in just because I'd hate to pay rent mortgage and 2x bills - we moved out for 8 months whilst we did a renovation - £10k swallowed up

There is a lot to be said for waiting to see how the house works for you - unless it's really obvious.

We moved in and got work done .

Also factor in that where we are we've been waiting months for good tradesman to have a slot to fit us in to do the work.

All good points, I think there are equal positives and negatives. Two of them could share for a while, and they do want to, but I know they would fight. The youngest is 3, 4 by the time we move and sleeps in our bed now anyway despite having their own room, and we don't mind, so the stud wall isn't the biggest concern. We could potentially not split the big room and convert the basement instead at a later date, so waiting is maybe best.

It's a fair point about not overstretching ourselves, we have gone for a house over 70k under our AIP though because we don't want to be stretching ourselves financially. So we could afford repayments. On the other hand, if we move in before the work, we should have the cash up front for a new kitchen in a year or less. I am worried we will just live with things and not prioritise them though. I bet everyone has grand ideas they never follow through on when they buy a house. Which is one reason I'm keen to do them asap before we become complacent.

I think in part it will depend on how long the buying process takes and how much we've saved by then and what state of lockdown we are in. It's just helpful to gather opinions.

I’d move in & then do these jobs: both stud wall & laminate are quick and not messy jobs...

The kitchen : probably 1-2 weeks, so eg 1 of you could go on holiday with kids & othe stays to deal with renovations