DH and I have been searching for a house for over a year now and there is just nothing available where we live. A few years ago there were so many houses in our price range we could have bought but we are self-employed and had to wait a couple of years to have the right amount of years' worth of accounts to get a mortgage. While we were waiting we went into lockdown, prices rocketed and houses were just selling as soon as they came onto the market. That's stopped now and nothing is coming onto the market at all. On top of that, mortgage rates have risen too. It's so disheartening. The only house in the location we love that has enough space - we both work from home - needs a lot of work. The current owners don't seem to have done much to it since they bought it in 2005 and have done mad things like knock walls out so what was once a four bed house is now a two bed. But it is a beautiful house underneath. It will need a new bathroom and kitchen, decorating and flooring throughout and goodness knows what else. We're going to see it this week.
DH and I are not good at DIY so we'd have to get the work done by other people. The house is on at a good price so we'd have some money to do it but I keep reading how expensive it is to get work done these days. Realistically, how difficult is it going to be? We live in the Borders so it's not as expensive as the south but there isn't as much choice for tradesmen.