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Original poster

Would you pull out?

20 replies

Friedbanana · 02/04/2021 21:12

Dream location and views but terrible (full building) survey with woodworm in floors, rotting floors and some single skin brickwork including some of the bedrooms. Previous owners have DIY fixed a lot of things so more problems will potentially come up. Mortgage offer has come through at the offer amount. lenders also requested a damp and timber specialist report and were satisfied with that. Huge financial commitment but not right at the top of affordability, nothing saved to fix the problems straight after moving in, although will have expendable income to fix problems over next couple of years. Would you go for it or walk away?

OP posts:
Bigpaintinglittlepainting · 02/04/2021 21:15

We bought a fixer upper but we have 10k set aside and we can still afford stuff out of our wage as well.

As long as you can afford the mortgage and to pay for stuff why not ?

SchrodingersImmigrant · 02/04/2021 21:29

I would worry about the insurance in this case as well.

greenlynx · 02/04/2021 21:41

I would work out how long the works will last and how much it will cost than multiply by 2 and have a good think about it.
Also consider how long are you planning to stay? What kind of changes might happen in your life?

andoutofhere · 02/04/2021 23:20

If it's really dream location - and dream location for long term then everything else is fixable.

HollowTalk · 02/04/2021 23:26

I would double or triple the amount of money you think you'll need. It depends how much you can afford and whether you enjoy taking risks - I'd rather play safe, tbh, as I don't have any practical skills.

AcornAutumn · 02/04/2021 23:28

I'd walk away.

78percentLindt · 02/04/2021 23:33

@AcornAutumn

I'd walk away.
Me too. Sounds like a money pit. Having no cash to sort any urgent things that crop up would worry me.
Zenithbear · 02/04/2021 23:41

If you like being skint, have a lot of spare time, have great DIY skills and doing up a property from scratch excites you then go for it. If you want a life and money to spend, walk away.

Andthenanothercupoftea · 03/04/2021 06:55

Can you negotiate anything from the asking price?

I would say you need to go in with your eyes wide open, but also be realistic.

Can you see yourself doing/project managing the required repairs. How do you feel about sinking a lot of disposable income into it? Will you get stuff done or learn to live with it? (I'm guilty of this one) Time will fly by, how would you feel if you're still living with the issues in 3 years time (again, this is me, finally replacing awful skirting the week our house goes on the market....)

Answer those honestly and it should give you and indication of what you should do.

MaryIsA · 03/04/2021 07:05

Are you going to live in it while its done? If you have a reasonable income then just crack on, it’ll all be fixable and frankly what else are you going to be spending money and time on for the next 12 months.

LadyWithLapdog · 03/04/2021 07:08

Sounds like an Escape to the Chateau project.

drpet49 · 03/04/2021 07:09

Huge financial commitment but not right at the top of affordability, nothing saved to fix the problems straight after moving in, although will have expendable income to fix problems over next couple of years.

On that basis, I wouldn’t buy this house. Fix problems over the next 2 years isn’t viable. What if an emergency came up?

Chocolatehabit · 03/04/2021 07:10

I’d walk away - that would be too much for me.

mummabubs · 03/04/2021 07:10

I think I'd be unable to make an informed decision until I'd asked some local professionals for rough estimates of how much they thought it may cost to fix (best and worst case ranges). I'd also be looking to renegotiate the price (we just did this as our homebuyers report valued the house at 30k less than our agreed price and whilst we could just about physically stretch to the price we'd agreed we wanted to ensure we'd have money available to address the issues raised in the report).

NewHouseNewMe · 03/04/2021 07:13

I am not afraid of a project but what puts me off here is the single brick in places and concerns over the woodwork in the floor and attic. I'm actually surprised this got a mortgage.
Very unusually for me in these threads, yes I would walk away.

Sunflowergirl1 · 03/04/2021 08:22

I wouldn't if it was fixing it out of income as things can change..and some of the things sound fairly pressing and need sorting out

NotQuiteUsual · 03/04/2021 08:56

I'd pull out at the mention of woodworm. It will be everywhere and probably much worse than was picked up. Houses like this are usually beautiful but a constant expensive carousel of work and finding another job while completing one. The work will never end. Are you prepared for that?

sunshinesupermum · 03/04/2021 09:48

Pull out. Wood worm, money pit, drain on time and resources. There is ALWAYS another house!

GreenClock · 03/04/2021 12:36

I would reduce the offer before pulling out. At least there would be spare cash for renovations then.

candlemasbells · 03/04/2021 12:41

How much woodworm? A few holes or the wood is now dust? If its a few holes just slap some 5* on and it will be fine.
Single skin brickwork can be solved.
Damp is usually fairly easy to solve as well.
It depends on if you want to spend the time sorting it.....

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