Buy a doer upper or one all done?

[Chiikichik]

In a bit of a predicament.

Seen a house we like, liveable condition, in the location we like. However we would want to do a lot of work, which we could afford to do, if we get it at the right price.

we have two very small children though. Would we be mad to do this? Large downstairs extension, new bathroom and redecoration of all the rooms?

or should we wait for one that’s all done? The EA has told us these rarely come on as people do all the work to live in as their forever home.

If it is liveable just do one room at a time to minimise disruption.

Do you really know the price of doing up the house? Really really? Costs have shot up for both supplies and labour -that’s if you can get anyone willing to do the work. A friend of mine was in this dilemma. He worked out it was cheaper - and of course easier - to get an already done house. But if there’s nothing “done” in the area, that makes it harder.

Construction work is so expensive at the moment. It will end up being a lot more than one ‘already done’. You just need to work out if it’s worth it to have exactly what you want.

It depends. Some of our friends have just done this, with kids aged 5 and 1. Where we are (SW London) the cost of getting a "done up" detached house on that road would likely cost about 400-500k more plus the extra stamp duty, and like you've said they rarely come up anyway. They budgeted for 100k, spent around 150k (from what I gather) and lived in the house throughout as they don't have local family and couldn't afford to rent too. There was a time when they were all living/sleeping in one room with just a microwave, so their build really was everything, but they now have a lovely home as a result.

We've also usually found that even with "done up" houses that it isn't as you'd want to do it yourself so you'd likely end up spending money in the long term to alter the layout etc, so I think as long as you know exactly what you're getting yourself into and have the budget (and head space!) to get what you want as the final product then why not?

@Smoothlines totally valid point! Yes we’ve been seeking out quotes, asking friends, started a thread on here. I imagine it all just costs so much more than you think.

yes even something done up won’t be to my taste!

I wouldn’t want either. ‘Done up’ is rarely to my taste, and I don’t want to pay the extra for something I don’t like much. I also never want another doer upper. I would keep looking for something that just needs decor redoing, and you can take your time with.

We bought the "practically done up" one, because it had the space we wanted without having to do building work.
We have redecorated a third of it, and will need to do most of the rest. New bathroom required. Even if it's completely decorated you are likely to want to redo it.
But putting on an extension or a loft conversion was a step too far for us.

It all depends if you have enough budget and a contingency budget too - I am a LL and purchased a rental property 13 years ago, had set aside £18k for a basic refurbishment - new kitchen, bathroom, carpets and redecorating. It was only when had started to gut the place that we uncovered a crack in the wall and a leak in the roof and the costs involved to get the work completed set us back another £17k.

If it is going to be your ‘forever’ home then I would consider a property that requires a refurbishment. I would be very wary though of buying one that hasn’t been refurbished for at least 30 years - it will be more costly.

I think I am going to have no choice but to buy a ''doer-upper'' or in my case ''wreck''...as I am house hunting in the a South-East in a rather chi-chi seaside town.

I actually don't mind a project as I would rather do the full refurbishment myself than have to keep correcting the botched DYI, bad extensions and awful style of previous owners.

For me it is just a question of getting something at the right price. There are a lot of houses here at the moment where I am looking that have not been modernised for 30 to 40 years and need so much work yet the, usually elderly, owners still want top price for. Then these houses stay on the market forever, go to another agent (because the owner refuses to lower the price to a sensible level) and then they end up at auction.

''@Kranke · Today 10:57
Construction work is so expensive at the moment. It will end up being a lot more than one ‘already done’.''

My issue with that is that many of the houses that owners consider to be ''done'', ''extended'' and ''fully decorated'' often look awful too.

I am seeing not end of poorly built extensions, awfully laid out kitchens, bizarre colour schemes and dodgy paved drives and gardens. So they are priced high but the look and quality of the work that was done is really poor.

We chose bigger doer-upper over smaller 'all done'. I'd never pay for mere decor as my taste is seldom in fashion but that's not being a doer-upper, and is a different issue to needing re roofing, new drains, rewiring, etc..
But...we have the skills and time to do much of the work ourselves, no kids, it didn't need an extension, just work on the existing house, it is our forever home, and we could have it rewired before moving in.
I would think very carefully if I had to build an extension to make a house what I wanted, especially at this current time.

If you are happy with the layout of any extensions - window and door placements, division of space, then flooring, wiring, lighting , units can all be changed and the work is worth paying for. Builders' quotes are crazy right now!

We are currently coming to the end of a renovation. Personally as much as I love how our house is going to look I wish id gone for the already done house and risked the hidden problems.
The cost of our extension, putting in a new kitchen and bathrooms etc has rocketed.

Including 2nd fixes we've spent >£250k . I don't even want to know the exact number as it would cause me to throttle my husband as he's the one who wanted the doer upper.

We're based in west london.

It may be justified in parts of West London I think and a very few other places.