Buying a fixer upper... realistic or not?

[housechoicechoices]

After a very long house hunt which has been documented on here before, we have found a house that isn't perfect but is probably as close as we will get in our budget. It's a Victorian terrace-style semi (one of the narrow ones with the two storey extension out back, the type usually built in towns, with a proper staircase and high ceilings, not the country ones which have the L-shaped second bedroom to accommodate the stairs). It's in really good condition overall, decent garden too, but the layout doesn't work for us.

Originally when it was built it would have been a 3 bedroom house, but at some point previous owners put the bathroom in the 3rd bedroom (which means the bathroom is currently bigger than bedroom 2). We would want to remove this and relocate it downstairs to get 3 bedrooms. Has anyone ever done this and what are the potential pitfalls? There's already a toilet and sink downstairs and we could extend that room into a proper bathroom, but it looks like it used to be a coal shed attached to the kitchen, and it only has outdoor access currently.

We also need to soundproof the party wall as when we arrived we were treated to a very loud concert by next door's barking dog chorus (at least 5 dogs, I'd wager) which means they'll hear us excessively, too. No idea what we can do about that.

It's on for 325 but I'm thinking of going in with 305. It's probate and been on for 8 months, so unlikely anyone's house move depends on this one selling well. Is this a reasonable offer?

Our only other option now is a shared ownership newbuild, and it's over-valued by the developer so the mortgage + rent on it will come to more than the mortgage on the more expensive property that we'd be buying 100% of.

WWYD?

Another one saying don’t have a downstairs bathroom. I have a downstairs bathroom. We aren’t at the age of getting up every night to go to the bathroom but we do occasionally need to go, it’s a pain. It’s horrible in winter as it’s so cold. Set your alarm for 2am and walk down your current stairs, right the way through the living room and to the back of the kitchen, hang around for a couple of minutes then go back upstairs to bed. That’s what you will be doing on the odd time you need a nighttime toilet trip.

With two young kids, can you run that distance when D&V hits carrying them? Can you run that distance without shitting yourself when the D&V bug hits you? When we’ve picked up D&V from DC we’ve had to sleep on the couch because getting downstairs we wouldn’t make it to the bathroom on time.

In terms of the actual building work, it looks like you’d be taking out a supporting wall between the kitchen and downstairs toilet. You’ll need to change the position of the toilet and the sink, so that’ll cost to move the infrastructure around. Depending on what is on the other side of the toilet in the kitchen, you might lose a cabinet in the kitchen to allow for a door. You’ll probably want it significantly more insulated if it’s currently a coal store, otherwise you will all freeze every time you have a bath or shower. I believe building regs, which as you are putting this in would need to be in place, state you need two doors between a toilet and a food preparation area, so you’re going to lose more of the bathroom than you will have originally planned. It’s going to cost a lot of money. If you seriously want to put an offer in on this one and putting a bathroom downstairs, get some quotes from a builder first. Ideally take them to a viewing and get them to look at it properly.

You could have bed 1 with the children sharing, bed 2 your stuff but no bed, and you sleep in the lounge on a bed settee. Not ideal, but I've known people do this. Then you could save up for the loft conversion.

Could you find one of these houses where the bathroom hasn’t already been moved? I doubt it would be more expensive because downstairs bathroom aren’t popular, but you could end up paying to do work that might make the house harder to sell.

A room that is 12 x 7 will comfortably take two toddlers beds until bunk bed stage.

if you want the children to have the main bedroom, then employ a carpenter to rehang the door into the landing, so you can get a small double near the window, and all your wardrobes the other side of the fireplace.

You say it’s a semi detached, which side is the empty wall, because if you split the room you would have two approximately 6’ x 7’ rooms, with just the cost of a window, stud work and decor.

I would give it a scrub, move in, with all your possessions and treasures and enjoy it, and when you are tempted to spend money, think of your new bedroom in the loft.

We only had a downstairs loo when we moved in, it was horrible.