Anyone recently bought a fixer upper, what’s your experience so far and any regrets?

[Orchid090]

I’ve seen a property in an area I really like. Houses hardly pop up in that area. It is mainly elderly folk that have lived there for a long time. This also means the house still looks like it is in the 1950s and many things being dated.

I am tempted but a lot of people are telling me to leave it because fixer upper tend to cost more than you budget for and the price of materials and labour costs have skyrocketed. I’m unsure what to do so I’d love to hear other people’s experiences.

Unless you already have a network of trusted tradesmen, don't do it.

It's an absolute nightmare to get trades at the moment. The only ones available are the conmen and bodgers unless you want to want months/years. It's a nightmare to even get small jobs done - even handymen are looking at several weeks/months before they can do jobs. There's a serious shortage of workers, added to continued shortages of materials and price inflation.

op you seem to have more of a clue than most re the possible works required, l have restored many properties and this is my advice,
You need a substantial sinking fund to start with, l would say 25K for basics.
Much more if in south east. 35-40K
Get reputable tradesmen, 3 ideally, to visit with you( pay them for their time if necessary) to give you unbiased opinions.
A plumbing engineer ask for quote to replace whole heating/hot water system( if you can retain some pipework all to the good) but you need to know the worst.
An electrician, ask for up to code TOTAL rewire inc fuseboard.
A good general builder to look for subsidance/damp/roofing/ insulation/guttering issues. Get written quote for immediate issues, and also for Should do soon issue.s
Get the written quotes as fast as possible. You can use this as evidence to support a lower offer, and you can work out if you can actually afford it.
Add 20K for modest kitchen/ 15K - 20K per modest small bathroom, then you can price carpets/flooring light etc.
Good luck

@PrestonMum I agree. We bought the space are rennovating into off market in 2019 and although others were asking about it we were the easiest to deal with and not being disrespectful or trying to rip them off. I knew of at least 2 other people who approached them to buy and is wasn't even on the market. It is extremely hard to pull off a good reno purchase

I would say, first time buyer, no I wouldn’t do a fixer upper. Our first place was newly renovated and even then there are always things, and it’s a lot to grapple with. Fixing up is A LOT and may only be a once in a lifetime chance to get things as you want.
you’ve got to do it with a house with good bones- great location, future proof ie catchment for good school if kids planned. I think At the moment cost of building is prohibitive and the market is less likely to carry you through it…

I bought one in 2005, it had axe minister carpet in bathroom, net curtains for kitchen cupboards doors, asbestos in garage , no gas , electric storage heaters, an absolute sh1t hole.

And only now have I been able to afford to do it up properly because of the sums involved.

Previously in 2006 some updating was done: gas bought in,electrics renewed, cheap homemade kitchen , bathroom done and all plastered.

So its been a long time going but finally my forever home

So many mixed opinions on here that I read one positive I think “yeah maybe this is possible” then next another to caution and think again and I am back to “no, maybe I will regret this and I should leave it”!

During the major work I am able to live with my parents so won’t bother anyone doing their work.

I was looking at a budget of 50k for:

• new boiler (maybe including new pipe and radiators)
• Replastering artex ceilings and walls
• Fixing up the loft as the plaster has loosened and coming off so I’d need to rip all that apart and do it all again with vents
• potentially rewiring if needed
• maybe also change the lighting fixtures
• kitchen isn’t nice but to save costs I’ll maybe just change the kitchen doors for the now
• painting
• flooring

I am Scotland based so not sure if it’ll be cheaper compared to England prices or if I’d be able to do all that for 50k!

Depending on things like choice of flooring I'd say that was doable for 50k. My daughter in Hertfordshire just had a quote for a complete new kitchen and utility room (moving kitchen from one room to another and creating a utility room) including new appliances for 16k.

I would say that's do-able for the budget. We're in London and are currently doing up our place. We have paid 10k for the re-wire, 4k for the boiler and power flush, are paying 10k to have all the anaglypter wallpaper stripped off, walls and ceilings filled and smoothed and plastered over (we will paint ourselves).

Next we are paying 3k to have the upstairs floorboards sanded and varnished, and stairs restored, sanded and painted.

We're quite exhausted with it all at the moment, 7 weeks since we moved in and are having to live here with 2 kids throughout. The re-wire was unexpected, I think we were naive coming into a property this age thinking we could get away with mostly cosmetics. But you live and learn! It's been nice to have some say in socket placement, wall lights, external lighting etc.

Next year we will be attempting to do two bathrooms and a kitchen, plus the downstairs floors....

I've had quite a few houses over the years (as I'm old), my first was a complete renovation (roof, rewire, new windows, unliveable) as was my last. Whatever I've moved into I've always wanted to change things (or found problems that were covered up that a quick viewing of a property misses) so personally i prefer a complete empty property that an old person has lived in for years than one that looks 'done'. There are always more costs than you expect but £50,000 sounds quite reasonable amount to start with if you say it is liveable and work on the cosmetic as and when you can afford it later if you run out of money.
I understand that costs have increased greatly since I last did it but so long as it is a house that you want to live in for a long time it is very satisfying to get it just to your taste rather than live with somebody elses!

If the house is in your desired area, you have the funds, your parents will house you for the worst of the mess and the cold and the noise, why not? Yes you could buy a generic flat and gaze out the window or you could get stuck into a project.
I agree with the pp saying get some quotes in, then you’ll have a better idea of what’s needed and be able to put in a decent offer reflecting the state of the building.
You can do lots of things even with minimal skills; organising skips to take away rubbish, there’s a lot of that, scraping off wall paper unless the plaster is coming off, researching for deals on windows and doors etc, picking up stuff that the builders have run out of, on and on.
The builders will know when each stage needs doing so have a weekly meet up ,tea and biscuits on a Friday and then you can be kept in the loop.

Sounds like a good plan. It is a good time to buy in my opinion and although costs are high I can't see them coming down any time soon. Also you are more likely to be able to get hold of contractors at the moment

Costs do depend on size of house and the potential for unknown complications (eg you can't just replace the boiler - you need to move it to meet modern standards).

We got 4 beds, bathroom, hall and living room (NOT kitchen, porch, utility room) rewired for £4.5k last month, plus some external lighting. That was cheapest quote - highest was nearly double that. Had two rooms replastered last month with total cost of £1,350. Boiler replaced last month - top of the range capable of supporting 12 radiators but not v powerful as our water flow isn't great - £4k.

We're in Scotland. Still haven't done the bathroom despite us starting with quotes for that months ago because folk keep disappearing. But I would have said the availability of tradespeople is gradually improving compared to the last few years.

We bought a do-er upper 8 years ago - it was a 2 bedroom bungalow, up a private track which overlooks nothing but cows. It had been lived in by an elderly man - we had to rewire, reglaze, put in a boiler, all new carpets and a bathroom on purchase - this cost us around £20k. We redecorated it entirely ourselves and begged and borrowed some favours from friends to keep the costs down on the work. We then lived in it, with a layout that was just about manageable and a 1950s kitchen.

In May we started to renovate in earnest - have knocked the whole of downstairs down and have added 2 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs - we have a great build/plumb/electrician team who have been absolutely wonderful - we are almost finished - last bathroom to go in and then just waiting on carpets.

We couldn’t afford to buy this house now as it is. The renovations have been costly, financing has been challenging with the mortgage market, it has been a long slog and I’ve spent more hours than I’d like sweeping up dust/nails/rubbish - BUT I’d do it all again in a heartbeat, we love our house and its location.

We probably need to spend the same again adding a garage/moving utility room and doing groundwork outside - but this is all in Phase 2, which will probably take another 8 years to save up for!

When we bought we thought we had paid massively over the odds, but were bidding against a developer. We are really lucky that the family still live in the village and wanted to see it lived in as a family home so accepted our budget-stretched offer, over the builders - I am so grateful for that fact every day and believe fate played a big hand.

In short - for the right location I would absolutely take the risk, provided you are the type of person who can live with things in a less than ideal state and don’t suffer from ‘house shame’ whatever that may be!