Teething issues budget?

[Orangade]

Inspired by the thread about awful discoveries moving into a new home.

Wondering how much it’s wise to have set aside in savings before buying a home?

I’m looking to buy but it’s so damn expensive right now it will leave me without savings for horrible surprises .

Anyone?

I just feel at the moment as though buying a house is potentially financially disastrous unless I also have 10k available for dealing with stuff not found at survey eg rotten wood, dodgy pipes and electrics.

I will be using all my savings for deposit, moving costs and then decorating the house itself, so without an extra big lump sum for contingency planning I wonder if I can afford to buy at all.

What do people do if they buy a house and find a serious problem they can’t afford to fix?

It depends on the condition of the house. There are very few actually urgent things which need fixing immediately. Most things can wait a month or two. Completely broken boiler or leaky roof or water leak would need repairing immediately but that would probably be a few hundred quid or £1000 unless it was a really really bad leak. Unless it is a total renovation project you are unlikely to uncover terrible expensive repairs which need doing quickly.

Decoration costs come after you've set aside an emergency fund in case the boiler dies.

Thanks for the reality check.

The house I have offered on is about 100 years old (I live in the countryside, no new builds around here) and even though it looks to be in good condition and a builder has been in to view it with me and couldn’t see anything worrying I am paranoid that I will uncover rot in the floor when I come to replace the carpets or big cracks in the walls when I strip the wallpaper.
We couldn’t smell any rot, but I’m still a bit worried.

I will get a survey of course, but I know they can only report what they can see and can’t lift the floor coverings or rip the wallpaper.

We bought a house of a similar age four years ago. The survey made scary reading! But to be honest, nothing was urgent. We had a budget for replacing the kitchen and bathroom and redecorating the lounge. We were generous with it, by about £1000- £2000, just in case anything needed doing straightaway. So if you can, that might be a good guide for a contingency fund.

It someone living in it at the moment? Does it look like it is being maintained well e.g. outside woodwork recently painted, gutters not leaking down the external walls, sealant in bathroom and kitchen been replaced recently and not all mouldy?

A 100 year old house will have higher maintenance costs I’m afraid, you need to factor that into your affordability calculations.

Nobody’s living there at the moment, it was let to tenants so has now been empty a while and looks a bit unloved. However, it had a new roof 10 years ago and a new boiler last year, so some maintenance is being done.

If it has been rented out and then empty you may find some hidden damage but with a new roof and boiler you can probably live with anything else and save up to sort bits out. I find it is very satisfying to work out how to fix things yourself hopefully you will too. Keeps costs down and you end up knowing how to fix things. I would recommend getting something like the Collins DIY manual which covers the basics of pretty much everything.

Thank you @Geneticsbunny.

I keep googling dry rot horror stories and am scaring myself imagining that the floor might be rotten under the bathroom (it is slightly uneven and squeaky in places). If there was extensive rot I imagine there would be a smell though? And we couldn’t smell anything when we viewed. 5k of repairs I could handle, 10k plus I would be in trouble.

Is there a shower with a screen or curtain over the bath ? If so they often leak and over time can cause dry rot. But that feels soft and spongey, not uneven and squeaky. It might just be Floorboards that need some attention.

However if you are concerned you should have a dampness specialist come and look at the bathroom floor as soon as you buy the property.

A small area of rot won’t Cost £10k to treat but it might be £2k plus removing and replacing the bathroom fixtures and replacing / repairing finishes.

We have never come across dry rot. Make sure you know what it looks like and then you can deal with it if you find it. If you do then it won't be super urgent so you will have time to assess the issue and work out how you are going to deal with it. I am guessing dry rot can be dealt with by a diyer if you find it? Or at least the removal can unless it is in structural bits.

I would also recommend having a look at what asbestos products look like (usually swirly artex plaster or roughly textured plasterboard) just in case you find anything suspicious. You can send off small samples to be tested online for a few quid.k

Last top tip. Buy a good battery powered drill and impact driver set. We did two houses up before I invested in one and I hugely regret not getting them earlier. Impact drivers are amazing. There is a good Makita twin set available for home users for between £200 and £300 usually.

You need to get a full structural survey (level 3) , rather than a homebuyers survey. They'll lift floor coverings, properly check loft etc. They aren't much dearer with all things considers. I find homebuyers surveys pretty pointless really. They tend to include lots of "may", "might" and "could". They just like to point out all potential issues to cover their bums.

@CellophaneFlower are you sure level 3 lift floor coverings? From the research I’ve done no type of RICS survey will lift floor coverings, even the most expensive.
I think you have to get a damp/wood specialist in and ask the permission of the seller, who usually says no.

If there's been a new roof and a new boiler, I would probably just factor in a larger contingency for the big budgets (bathroom, kitchen) - when you're doing those, that's when you'll probably uncover some things that might cost a bit more.

Agree with PP about the impact driver and drill!

[quote Orangade]@CellophaneFlower are you sure level 3 lift floor coverings? From the research I’ve done no type of RICS survey will lift floor coverings, even the most expensive.
I think you have to get a damp/wood specialist in and ask the permission of the seller, who usually says no.[/quote]
Hmm, I think they do if they have the owners permission. Then I guess it would depend on what the floor covering is... as lifting up wooden flooring is obviously going to be a no no.

It is a tricky one - I used every penny I had when I bought my house, but it's 'only' 60 years old. Any cracks large enough to be worrying would almost certainly show through the wallpaper I'd assume. Be wary of any recently painted areas, as these may be covering damp. Extensive rot in the floor may make it feel spongey/bouncy. The new roof and boiler are a massive plus.

Personally I'd go for it and just try to cut back as much as possible in order to start creating a buffer and I'd still opt for the full survey. Good luck!

Thank you so much!