Buying an ugly house in a lovely location

[CordeliaBrideshead]

I'm getting divorced and need to buy a new home. Desperate for a fresh start. Have a son living with me (17) and my daughter isn't (16) but if I live in sane town may see more of her

I've got about a 450k deposit and can get a mortgage if about 200k but only due 15 yrs due to my age. I'm in rented.

I live in the SW and this house is in Stroud.

My dream is a Victorian semi but I can't afford/find one. Lost a gorgeous one recently in a road I love.

Saw another today advertised for 425k. It's 3 bedrooms and needs a complete overall. Plus a two story extension to add a 4th bedroom/2nd bathroom. Has the ugliest kitchen, a utility room under a lean too etc Prob Art Deco though all the original
Windows have been replaced with UPVC.

It's on the road I love with views to die for and is detached. It also has a home office in quite a big garden and a large art studio I could make a teenage Den/Airbnb accommodation. Garden has some gorgeous mature trees.

Estate agent wants offers by Tuesday. I'm undecided. Such a lot of work but I could add value.

Any ideas about what I need to think about re cost of extension.

Any advice?

@CarmenThePanda

Not many recently divorced people have large budgets including me

Divorce is distressing and tears our homes from under us. One family house often does not equal 2 new smaller houses. But A budget of £450k plus ability to borrow £200k is hardly bargain basement or struggling.

Good luck with your offer and onwards.

Fair comment. I guess it's all relative as well as subjective. I'm terrified of borrowing anything as I'm self employed. So a large budget to me would make me think of my old pre divorce life.

That view is brilliant op the house has loads of potential and is liveable nothing needs to be done immediately. I'd jump at it if was you.

We are in a house in a good location but that needs remodeling and we don't have the cash at the moment but the location more than makes up for it, as the house is liveable.

I love that house! Good luck OP

Made an offer. Made another.

It's gone to best and final offers.

7 bidding.

Hear today 🤞

(Changed my name a bit)

Cordelia

Ooohh good luck!

Fabulous!

I’m keeping fingers and toes crossed for you.
I think it has huge potential- even without huge building works - and you cannot beat that location.

Im in a similar situation to you, not quite divorced (but sold family home) and have teens to house. Their DF has bought a swanky number - so the teens live there- while I camp out in a small rented hovel.

One of the few consolations is that his food bill must be huge. The teens come over for supper and a sleepover, and I’m far closer to the station so I’m a useful stopgap.

Good luck with it all. This process requires a lot of readjustment post divorce.

I think it's a beautiful house and agree it doesn't need extending. You'll make it work if you're lucky enough to get it.

@ByeByeMissAmericanPie

I’m keeping fingers and toes crossed for you. I think it has huge potential- even without huge building works - and you cannot beat that location.

Im in a similar situation to you, not quite divorced (but sold family home) and have teens to house. Their DF has bought a swanky number - so the teens live there- while I camp out in a small rented hovel.

One of the few consolations is that his food bill must be huge. The teens come over for supper and a sleepover, and I’m far closer to the station so I’m a useful stopgap.

Good luck with it all. This process requires a lot of readjustment post divorce.

So true!

Divorce changes everything.

I would change doing it but boy was I unprepared.

Would NOT change...

Didn't get it

9 offers in the end

Highest was 75k over asking price

I've decided to only view lower value properties so I can be a cash buyer

😩🤞😩🤞😩🤞😩

Bloody hell! Sorry you didn't get it.

Guess what.

Buyer pulled out. 😬

Now it's me and one other in the running.

I'm a cash buyer not in a chain.

Other party offered more but need a mortgage and are in a chain.

They went with the other party. it's probate and 4 people involved.

So I've gone back in with a slightly higher cash offer. My absolute maximum and it's making things v tight.

The estate agent says house is not worth what the other party are offering and they doubt they will get a mortgage. They advised them to go with me.

If I'm turned down again (3rd time) I need to walk away.

Fingers crossed for you!

Fingers crossed for you. Bisley Road is a great location, if you can avoid the industrial units, even if many of the houses lack the absolute wow factor of other nearby properties.

The industrial units?

Have I got the wrong road in my head? @CordeliaLOVEScocktails

Ooh good luck OP!!

By the way, I wouldn’t be surprised if the house is actually Victorian, just been mucked about with over the years. If you imagine it with different windows and that front lean to bit removed, it could well be Victorian.

Location above all else. I'd buy far uglier than that if the location was right.

Who in their right mind would choose a mortgage + chain offer over cash?

That could so easily fall apart.

Once render/roughcast has been painted, that's it, you have to keep doing it. Ours - and believe me, if you think that house is ugly you really haven't seen how ours looked when we bought it😜-was painted before we bought it, and it hadn't been done for donkey's years, so looked grey and grim, as dirty old white paint will do. I've been doing ours. A good coat of a good quality paint like Dulux Weathershield, and it's looking really fresh and nice where I've 'been'. I'm using Jasmine White- looks white, but with a sunny light to it - more fashionable types might want a grey on a house without the red brick we have. I think if that house was freshly painted, it would look pretty good. Our house is really very odd looking, so we'll be growing roses up the oddest bit. That's another option if you choose the right plant for the site, stand it off the wall properly, and plant it in the right place/way. I think that's a nice house, ready to move into, where you can work on it bit by bit. And a good view is a great thing to have.

Oh gawd @CordeliaBrideshead as a fellow recent divorcee, I’m keeping fingers crossed for you.

Just bear in mind that you are either destined to have that house or not.

I’ve had to walk away from a house that I was outbid on. That was last September, and for about 6 months, I rang the agent weekly to see if the buyer had pulled out. There are access issues that are taking a long time to sort. It’s still under offer, but mentally I’ve moved on. It was early in my house search, and I was so naive. Mentally, I really went through the mill.

It sometimes works out. The flat I’m in now had just gone under offer when I found it. I rang the agent regularly asking if the sale had fallen through, after 3 months I’d given up hope. Then one day - my birthday in fact - I got the call. I had the words ready as I’d rehearsed that moment it so many times in my head.