Fixer upper or more expensive move in ready?

[Babygotblueyes]

I bought my first house 10 years ago, have done a lot to it and can now sell it for about 60K more than I bought it for. For various reasons I would like to move (particularly as I want to get an electric car in the future and need somewhere for a charging point). Looking around, there is not much on the market. I have seen a few houses which would be very affordable but need a lot doing to them. today I saw a different house which would be a lot more monthly mortgage payment, but needs nothing done. What would you do?

More expensive move in ready. But that's because I have 3 yr olds and no spare time!

More expensive move in ready. It's tempting to think of the difference purely in the cost of builder etc but in reality it's alot of your time too. Unless you actively enjoy DIY and would derive great pleasure from doing the work I'd get one ready to live in.

What about if has been done up shit and you have to redo or the kitchen/bathroom does not work for you .

@Myyearmytime

What about if has been done up shit and you have to redo or the kitchen/bathroom does not work for you .

Good point @Myyearmytime, I will have to see when I go to look at it. I dont mind painting and wallpapering, even getting carpets, but the cheaper places I am looking at need kitchens moving, or extensions building and it just seems overwhelming.

Move in ready every time.

just view them carefully and check the small stuff...a house opp me just sold for 900k...all done up...i viewed it as know the agent...sockets are all wobbly, poor finish on grouting etc..stairs not level.but first impressions are ' wow' !!..what an amazing job etc...ones that need work sell for around 700k.

We had to make this decision and went for move in ready.

I am glad we did. I am not sure if this is a London/ SE thing but the costs of renovating have increased a lot - we want to install a built in wardrobe in one bedroom (the rest have them already) and we asked a chap we have used previously, he was saying that the cost of wood has increased by 20% and he said that the extension we have on our new house would cost upwards of £200k to do to a similar house now (and similar houses sell for about £100-£150k less).
We are also not the renovating kind. We are ok with small projects, a new kitchen or bathroom but anything else I could see us being completely ripped off. With a few of the houses we viewed we would have had to rent whilst some of the work was done (small DC, WFH) which would have eaten into the budget too.

Some of our new house isn't to my taste but I don't feel I can change it any time soon because it is good quality and has only just been done - for example the bathroom has a big, beautiful free standing bath but a small shower cubicle, I would have preferred a more modest bath and a big walk in shower. Decor wise it is fine, neutral, but the walls are freshly plastered and it will be easy for us to decorate.

I do still wistfully look at doer uppers on Rightmove though, I could probably have got one of them to be my absolutely perfect house (eventually, probably after a few miserable years!) but I am happy where I am right now.

Thanks for all the comments, all. GIven me a lot to think about. The other issue is that I am a single woman - maybe builders are arses to everyone (I suspect they are) but I have had some horrendous issues with workmen (like the one who called my step dad with queries, despite it being MY house that I was paying for). So, I dont want to rule out that there are good builders out there who are decent people, but I am very aware it can be a nightmare to deal with them.

It depends what else you have going on in your life
It depends how much energy you have
It depends how much satisfaction you gain from saving money here and there, or making money over time
It depends how "fussy" you are about the way things are done - I quite often look at houses on line and see "done up to sell" houses that I think 'I wouldn't have put that there / I wish they'd left the bath in / I really don't like kitchen islands / etc', so I would resent paying top price for a kitchen (or inset any other 'improvement' that had been done in a way that wasn't to my taste. I'd rather have the 'cash' and put in the kitchen I like.

That said, now I'm old and tired, I'm very much more drawn to 'ready done' houses than I was when I was younger, poorer, but had more energy.

@Myyearmytime

What about if has been done up shit and you have to redo or the kitchen/bathroom does not work for you .

Yep that’s what happened to us. Our (new) flat roof flew off, within a month of moving into a newly refurbished and extended home. We’ve since found a long list of issues.

I’d be wary of buying a home that was renovated just so it could be sold on.

I bought a house "ready to move in" when we actually moved in we started to discover most of the work had been done very poorly e.g sockets coming lose, plaster coming off walls because it hadn't been properly bonded, an extractor fan that wasn't even wired in.
In future I would buy one needing work so at least I would know it had been done properly and everything was my own taste.

The house we bought was a property developer's home. They move every 5 years or so, doing a property up along the way - they said this one was meant to be long term as their DC are at a local school now but something else came up that they couldn't resist (we looked at the doer upper they bought but it was FAR too much work for us)
I well believe them - the kitchen is designer, the bathroom fittings are too. These aren't simply cheap things put in to look good for a few weeks (they had clearly dressed it for sale though which is a little disappointing when you don't get the "lifestyle"'you were sold ).
They have also left us a list of their plumber, electrician etc all are reputable companies.

I've just bought a doer upper and my sister has just bought a newly decorated place. Hers has already had problems. The plumbing was dodgy and the leak has ruined her kitchen floor which needs replacing. Just be careful buying a house which has clearly been done by someone who's bought to sell quickly as they often cut corners.

I would never buy a house that had just been done up to sell, too many horror stories from friends and family (dreadful, dangerous things).

However, someone who had done a beautiful (and expensive....) job for themselves but had later decided to move might be a very good investment.

More importantly, how cheap are the 'project' houses? Will you get your money back (or more)? Perhaps most important of all, are you prepared to do the work with all the stress it entails....?

I think it isn't just about doing the work but researching the stuff you want too. It takes up head space.

We renovated our last house from top to bottom and tested our DIY skills. We have been in this house for over a decade and have gutted it and extended it. But I don't work and am very good at researching and DIY (I can plumb in bathrooms, tile, paint, build walls etc) I just give Dh a short list of say tiles and then he say what he likes best and we go with that. So he looks at tiles for 2 minutes, I have spent 4 hours looking and pinning to Pinterest.

You have to be decisive and for anyone buying a ready finished house my advice is take your time looking at stuff. I know that one of the items I have on a list of things to check when house viewing is sealant in the kitchen and bathroom. Really look closely at things. We have had incredible builders, electricians, plasterers etc but I am here to oversee work. Not everyone fudges work.

I'd buy the doer-upper, as you can design everything to your tastes, budget and lifestyle.

It'll be a small disruption while the work is going on, compared to years of enjoyment in a space that's built exactly how you want it, rather than how someone else did.

Already done up means the price is close to the ceiling price. As long as you know that, and that if prices fall (which they probably will over the next 2-3 years) you probably won't be able to recoup what you paid by boss it g value through doing work to it, that's fine. It's also more fine if you plan to stay pretty long term.

Where buying a done-up house is a problem is when you borrow the vast vast majority of the value and expect to move within less than 5 years and very risky if within 3 years. You can easily be stuck with an asset that is worth less than you paid and have negative equity on your mortgage and so not be able to move.

Totally agree about done up houses saving all the effort and stress if doing them up. In terms of adding value, and also being able to weather financial storms, the doer upper is where it's at.

There's no straightforward answer...depends on your LTV, area you live in and liklihood of prices dropping as the economy sees rising unemployment and how long you plan to stay.

I think it's a really personal decision, either it's something you enjoy doing or not. The thought of a project brings me out in hives, doesn't appeal to me in the slightest, I hate the planning around getting someone in to do blinds and painting, let alone building work. Our garden took 3 days and I hated every minute of it. I'm also extremely impatient so if I didn't have the time/money/ability to have to all done ASAP I couldn't live in it. So it would be an easy no for me, but I know this limits my possibilities and particularly investment as I'm not increasing value. I'm happy with that though for an easy life, what will make you happy?

If you get lucky, and find something genuinely done to your taste, with the level of spec you'd put into a doer-upper or higher, then it could be a good buy. I found one, and compared it to a doer-up in the same street. It would've worked out more expensive to achieve the same level of finish in the doer-upper and that's without costing-in the time and hassle (popular area so base prices are high).

I am in the middle of doing up after moving last September, this is our second doer upper. We're not extending this time but have been removing walls/replacing bathrooms etc. I am knackered from it and taking a break over Easter to regroup (not least to look at how much money we have left!) so I certainly don't have any romantic notions about it.

However I would still never buy a "done" house as no one is going to exactly do what you'd want. If you are confident with how you would like things you'd still be itching to change things then wouldn't have the money to do it. Far better to buy something with potential and get it exactly as you want it even if it's not going to make you a profit.

Also some builders can be sexist idiots. IME you need to set out your stall out early and tell them where the money is coming from and be clear that you are the client, which is sh*t unfortuantely as there shouldn't be assumptions. I hope your step dad firmly told him it was you that was paying.