House regret

[Fluffy21]

Hi everyone,

sorry for what will probably be a long post. We moved house about 2 weeks ago- upsized to a 50’s 3 bed house from a 2 bed new build. Since we’ve moved in I can’t help but think we have made the most horrendous mistake. The house was advertised as in need of modernisation and is dated, but now we’ve been here I can’t help but think the whole place needs gutting and isn’t cosmetic which we just can’t afford.
we are having a new bathroom in October, have had some builders in to move a few bits in our kitchen (really need a new kitchen but can’t afford it yet) and we have replaced the flooring throughout and replastering will be done in the hall and landing.
we had a full structural survey which highlighted some roof issues, but I asked a roofer to have a look and he said it wasn’t urgent work. I literally lie in bed every night and think it’s going to fall down, we’ve had the wallpaper stripped off the hall and there are cracks everywhere (no subsidence noted on structural survey). It just doesn’t feel like a home. We still haven’t been able to properly unpack as the house was absolutely FILTHY and we’ve just unpacked what we needed while it was cleaned. Has anyone ever been in a similar situation and has a positive story or regretted it? I just can’t ever imagine this House being our home and worry I’ve made a massive mistake for our family.

I absolutely love my house and was very single minded about selling my house just to but this.

but i cried the first night here. It needed more work than I remembered and smelled of damp! The road noise was also an issue that I hadn’t noticed on viewings.

I am in a year now and am spending a lot more money than I had planned. my renovation budget has been increased from £40k to £110k!!!

i still have the occasional panic - but I am happy here and I do live the garden.

Oh this was me. Moved in 6 months ago and I HATED it. Went from a gorgeous Victorian semi with high ceilings and huge rooms to a 1930s semi where the bedrooms are all smaller. Woodchip everywhere, it had been rented out for a decade so was dated and grotty. Bathroom is absolutely awful, kitchen needs doing... I genuinely almost put it back on the market but we moved for location which is excellent.

We've gone room by room, starting with the bedrooms, I love that I've got a nice place to come and sleep and relax in. Stripped all the woodchip, skimmed, new floor and painted them all. We've now moved on to downstairs, it's going to take a good while but we'll get there.

I don't hate it anymore.

3 years ago this was us bought a doer upper because of price and location we went from a three bed with a nineties but decent large kitchen and fabulous wet room bathroom to a two bed with a very 1980s dated kitchen with an integrated cooker that blew the electrics when i tried it , mould on the walls where it had been empty for a few months, very florid flowered carpets everywhere, plug sockets in the skirting boards, a fuse board that needed updating urgently, a bathroom that while not that old isnt brilliant very old fashioned, a stair lift going up the stairs ,we did our bedroom first as that was my escape from the eighties sanctuary, three years later we have updated all the electrics decorated all the rooms and hall, put in a new kitchen, recarpeted throughout , still not completely finished yet still have the second bedroom to sort , the bathroom is being done in a couple of weeks time, and after trying to save money and having vinyl on the kitchen floor last year which fell apart very quickly we have just spent the money needed to put in a porcelain tile floor

Hi OP thanks for starting this thread, I've found it to be a very interesting and useful read. We have had an offer accepted on a house which needs a lot doing to it - some artex walls, ancient textured wallpaper, old fashioned bathroom with peach tiles and a blue cathedral style kitchen. The worktop is this weird double layer type thing I've never set eyes on before in my life.

On the surface, it appears that the owner has done repairs when needed etc but admitted he wasn't overly interested in modernising. The work needing doesn't faze me especially as we have money set aside but I do worry at times that I'll hate the place when we initially move in! All the replies you've had have been reassuring to read.

I had the same feeling, OP, I felt so homesick even though we were just a few roads from our previous place. We basically moved into 1986, and every morning as I opened my eyes, I was half expecting to head downstairs to a bowl of Ready Brek and TV-AM on the telly. It took a bit of daydreaming and standing back and trying to see the quirky home I saw when we looked around rather than the tired building I saw before me. I think the change started to come when I realised little corners were starting to feel like home. The dated kitchen became somewhere I tried out some new recipes and sang along as badly as ever to Depeche Mode (who fitted in very nicely), and the lounge somewhere to cuddle up with a hot drink and some mindless telly to switch off after a long day. Lots of nice memories and now I love looking at the photos along the way, and at the old building that became home. Hoping this doesn't sound too 'G'night John Boy', it's lovely seeing how people started to love their homes after initial doubt. You saw something there to begin with so I hope it comes back to you too.

Don't panic! This is a temporary situation. You will sort it all out in the end and love it.

This was absolutely me last year. All I've managed to do so far is the master bedroom. Still haven't unpacked. Everything literally needs ripping out and redoing. Not to mention covering the (probably asbestos) textured ceilings!
I cried on the first day. Thought I'd made a terrible mistake. Took a full week just to clean because it hasn't been lived in for over a year. There was also no hot water and the boiler was broken during the winter.
At least now it's cleaner and I am in a position to start looking at kitchens and what not.
You will get there. There isn't a quick solution unfortunately but just clean it as best as you can and do it bit by bit. There's no real rush unless something is super urgent, which it doesn't seem like it is :) it'll be a long journey but worth it! Good luck!

@goldfinchonthelawn what lovely advice. I'm so doing that in my house to brighten up areas that need love my wallet can't stretch to!

Hi, not sure what stage you're at, but might it be worth selling now that you've done some renovations? The value may have gone up a bit..

You are doing really well for 2 weeks in.

We bought a house that was as you are describing. It stank of cigarette smoke, which took an age to eradicate. The decor was very 80s with fleur-de-lys wallpaper and every time we removed the paper in a room, the plaster came off with it. When the heating came on in the morning, it sounded like an earthquake was happening as the pipes rattled so much. Just about everything was wrong with it and we didn't have two pennies to rub together at the time, so we painted over what we could and got on with it. Over the years, we managed to do most of the jobs we wanted and turned it into an amazing home. Ultimately, it was a solid house. It just needed some love.

We are now moving to a 50s house. It's not the disaster zone that the previous place was. But it's definitely lacked love. I know it will be a shock to walk in there on moving day and part of us didn't want to move to a house that needed work, given we'd spend years doing work previously. But there's a massive premium on places that have already been done up and I know it will be a fun project for us over the next few years.

I agree with others who say to do up one room completely first. You need a sanctuary. I'm thinking living room, then our bedroom and then the kitchen project (which is the main thing we want to do but will be expensive).

I hope you get your place ship shape soon. It certainly sounds like you've made a grand start.