Dealing with a ‘fixer-upper’

[NickD87]

We have a 11month old baby girl and are renting in a house we LOVE. Our contract is coming to an end and our landlord weirdly offered to sell us the property for a price WELL above what we can afford.

We’re now looking to buy and made an offer yesterday which the vendor is considering.

The house is bigger and has a great layout (3 storey townhouse with a basement kitchen…which I’ve always wanted. Think it’s Ab Fab haha).

The price is GOOD. But that’s because a lady has lived in it for the last 40 years and I’m not sure has decorated since the 90’s - and she wants a quick sale to move to a flat which is more manageable for her.

there would be no structural work, but will need updating. New bathroom, new kitchen….generally modernised throughout. It’s all liveable, but just a bit grim. The only thing that would 100% need doing before we moved in is carpets/flooring (current owner is a heavy smoker), painting and bannisters (which are quite wobbly and unsafe for baby).

I feel really conflicted just because our current home is really nice and being in a ‘nice’ home is important for me. And I realise we won’t be able to get this house fully done for a good 18months - 2 years.

Those who have done ‘fixer-uppers’ - how do you cope being in a home you’re not totally happy with while everything gets done? and deal with it while juggling work and baby (toddler by moving time!).

We just did one room at a time, shut the door on it when we weren't working on it. Moved into that room once finished and started the next one. I've had 3 fixer uppers now and the only big mistake we made was to fit a new kitchen first. 6 months of using it and it was clear that the layout really didn't work for me. This house we managed with what was here for the first year, by then I knew exactly what would work best. Leave hall stairs and landing until last because they will get battered and grubby otherwise. It took a fair while to get this one just how we wanted it but it's our forever home so no rush. We did all the decorating ourselves but paid for the skilled stuff as we could afford it. Get a really good plasterer so that you get a good base and be prepared that plasterers are the messiest creatures and leave a lot of cleaning behind them. We've been here 25 years now and it's hard to remember the mess. We have a lovely home that's exactly what we wanted

A fixer upper with a baby or toddler wouldbe a ball ache...but I'd still do it if I were you! The new house could be great too, and if you're currently renting, you're in a great position to cross a few essential jobs off the list before you move in. I would arrange an overlap where you stay in your rental to get those essential jobs done at least, and whatever else you can afford. Even just a week to get all the carpets ripped out & replaced, and repainting everywhere, would be incredibly helpful. If your budget would stretch far enough, I'd also get the bathroom done before you move in, but I know that's still a stretch. But if a good opportunity has come up to get on the ladder, I don't think you'll regret it, even if it's stressful in the short term.

We did it with a three year old, and in a house that needed a LOT more fixing. We had a short term rental when we first bought in order to get some of the urgent and important jobs done, then worked one room at a time. Toddler found it all very interesting and exciting, even when we had no heating, no bathroom to speak of, and when one of the ceilings fell in. I would just suggest buying some means of containment — large playpen, baby gate — for when trades are in or one of you is up a ladder etc.

If you are non smokers then don’t underestimate how hard it can be to get the smell of smoke out of a house and how nauseating it is to live with. (Bitter experience) You will need to strip wallpaper and may even need to replaster.

Get anything safety/security done before you move in - so those banisters, doors, windows, roof, does it need rewiring?

Also flooring as that's an absolute pain to do once you're in!

You can work around other things and do them as and when. Presumably there's at least a second loo? So the new bathroom is a few days' work. Just don't do it whilst potty training!

It can often be better not to do things immediately. We did our kitchen three years after moving in, once we'd saved up for it. We made totally different decisions about layout than we'd have made without living there first. Even knowing how the light moves around the room at different times of year makes a difference!

I had my babies while undertaking a long renovation. We did things one section at a time, and lived in the rest (part of the reason it took so long). We did the main living areas in the summer, so we could be outside most of the time.

I came on to agree with pp about getting smoke smells/stains out. Also, please make sure you get an assessment of the electrics and that the fuse box etc is up to code because IF you need work there do it first before redecorating. We’re 3 years in to a huge renovation with a baby and toddler in tow. It’s nowhere near done but we’ve survived! And we’ve done a lot just when we could. Do it but be prepared to massively increase your estimate of costs and time, especially if you’re doing work yourself on top of child rearing/job etc

You kind of get blind to it, ours took 2 years and I look round it now and can’t remember any of it.

it might need new plumbing, boiler, rewiring if not been touched since 90s. So get someone with a clue to look at it with you as you want money left to make it nice too,

I did one house with a baby and DH at work or away for work.
My son was using hammers and screw-drills as soon as he learned to walk.
I was completely renovating the house by myself and my son told everyone at nursery that his mum is a builder and builds houses 😂

I also remember my then toddler DS blue-lighted to hospital with serious pneumonia and I had to stay behind as I had just taken down ceilings in one of the rooms and was head to toe covered in debris and dust. It was the most awful feeling to stay behind at that moment... 😞

All and any workmen need to be supervised more so than any toddlers (this factor is not to be underestimated).

I wouldn't do it with toddler AND work. The stress would be unbearable. However, if funds are generous and at least someone in the house is assertive enough to herd the builders and sack them off at the first sign of problems... Then yeah. Maybe.

There is only one bathroom, which is an issue especially for the size of the house! Also, it’s on the basement level in the family room….it isn’t ideal but we would intend to put another one in, at least a loo, eventually.

Great advice on the kitchen, as this was one of the first things I was going to do!
it’s actually a good kitchen in terms of layout and is clean - hearing it was only done 7 years ago so not as old as everywhere else. It just looks a bit naff. Can live with it for now.

Will def check the wiring, we hadn’t thought of that. Will a survey not pick this up?
bannisters definitely need doing. The one on the top floor is literally unsafe right now.

I extended my tenancy for 6 months and ran both properties together at the same time. I had to do a full rewire and new heating system though so couldn't have lived around the mess. Don't forget you can ask the council for a pause on council tax on a vacant property.

Kitchen or bathroom is one of those jobs you just have to live around and find a way to make it work if you can't run both together.

The survey won't pick it up. But if there's only been one occupant for 40 years and she's not had it done then it will need doing.

It's a VERY messy, very expensive job, takes over a week and you will then need to contract plasterers to finish the walls and ceilings off.

If you buy a house that's "done" it won't be by the time they take out all their furniture. It might be better than what you are buying but I guarantee you'd still want to put your stamp on it and would be disappointed in something.

This way you get a cheaper buy and take your time to make it exactly the way you want.

So, live with that and honestly, two years is nothing! Plus if you are up to it, it's fun.

Like you, I wouldn't go for something needing structural work but cosmetic, absolutely.

Good luck! Exciting!

We are just coming to the end of our extension / renovation, after living in for two years first (bought off an 80 year old man who had been living there 45 years).

I’d just say - it’s all consuming, stressful, more expensive than you ever imagined, but when things start happening into what you imagined, it’s ace. Keep your eyes on the end prize.

We did this, moved to a doer-upper owned by a smoker with 17 cats and 3 dogs.
I would overlap your rental with completion by a couple of weeks, so you have an empty house. Book 2 weeks off work. If you need to, get a skip for the carpets if you need to etc, book a carpet fitter/flooring people early on for neutral carpet/flooring throughout for your finish clean/decorate date. Get an electrician in to check the wiring as early as you can, and get all the bits like bannisters fixed before you paint that bit. Clean the whole house, walls, doors ceilings thoroughly with sugar soap to get the nicotine off (and the cat grease). Buy a few tubs of plain white trade paint, plain white gloss, and paint everything white. Rope in every possible friend /relative that you can to help, pay with takeaways and bottles of drink and a promise to help them next time. Palm the kids off to grand parents etc.
Then, when everything is pretty much done it'll be fresh and white - you'll feel a lot better without the nicotine grunge - and then you can just move in from your rental - just add your own bits of colour as you go and you can spend the next few years redecorating 1 room at a time.

Have you considered underlying works? How old is the boiler? Does the property need re-wiring? Is it safe? This will add £10k at least onto the cost.
Done a doer upper before - did all the works together though and stayed in a rented house for 6 months.

Can you get a loan to do all the work and repay this back monthly?

This is SO TRUE and has almost shifted my perspective on it entirely. Hadn’t thought of that. I’d probably do the work anyway, so why not on something that NEEDS it. Thank you!

I would not take on the house of a heavy smoker.

You say nothing structural but in reality to truely fix it you would need a full 'back to brick' strip out, that means removal of all plaster and boards in walls and ceiling.

Nicotine is a nightmare to deal with, it comes through again and again as it leeches out of the plaster its also a carcinogen bring increased risk of cancer.

I agree with some of the previous posters about the smoking issue.
I have a friend who bought a house together with his wife. They had the choice between two similar houses in the same area, and chose the one that was cheaper. It was cheaper because the owner had been smoking indoors. A lot. They knew that, but they were up for the challenge.

It was a lot of work to get rid of the smell of smoke/nicotine! More work than they thought, hard work, and it cost them a lot more money than they thought it would, too.

I hope it will all work out for you, OP!

Dunno if OP bought the house or not but I am 70% way through a renovation (nothing structural just changing how the spaces are used/configured) and I cannot believe the costs. We're both now working more than ever, I have two jobs, to try to manage the spiralling costs and not to mention cost of living. We've had to upgrade the heating, windows, doors, new kitchen (old one stank of mouse pee), bathroom and just general decor. It has been more stressful than I could have imagined. Renovated two properties before but that was pre-kids and pre-COL crisis. If I could go back there is no way I would have bought a medium sized (3-bed) fixer upper. Yes it is satisfying to have what you want, but the daily stress and hassle alongside raising children is significant (unless you have cheap childcare, lots of money or one of you can afford not to work and manage it all).
We're now thinking of selling once it's finished and getting something cheaper so we can actually enjoy life a bit more holidays etc. Turns out all the space is just more to heat; the garden / land doesn't get utilised because we work so much and it's wet 80% of the year where we live; the maintenance is never ending and can feel overwhelming especially coming out of rental when it is not your problem. We stayed in our rental to get the big stuff done and spent almost £10k on mortgage+rent due to trades letting you down, things taking longer, supply chain issues. And who is going to be the person who manages all these people/issues if you're both working? It needs a lot of thought and I wish I had considered all this prior.

Unless everything is desperate, see it as a project over time as and when. If you feel you can do everything in a couple of years, that's not bad. Sometimes just doing a few simple things makes the difference, eg in our last house the kitchen was about 25 years old, tiles looked like they were original and were awful so we painted over them.

We bought off a couple who were heavy smokers, luckily it was a summer completion. We found that regularly airing the property helped massively. There were times, funnily enough when it had been raining, you caught the smell of smoke when returning for about three years, but that was it. After that we could no longer smell it even though we kept the carpets and flooring throughout. They took all the curtains though, so maybe that helped.

No, we did not buy the house.
It would have been far too much work and unsafe for our little one.
We had an offer accepted and survey done on another ‘fixer upper’ period listed property - but backed out after the survey after realising it would cost as much as the house to sort out, and although good in the short term lots of problems would have happened in the future.
We ended up buying a 1930s house a little further out of town that had been well looked after - no issues in the survey. It ultimately left us with our ‘renovation’ budget to do largely cosmetic (ie fun) stuff. It’s been the best decision. We have only been in a couple of weeks, but things are already moving and I don’t have a sense of dread!
I’m sorry to hear you’re having such a nightmare! Big renovations always looks so ‘easy’ and fun, but for us we decided it wasn’t for us budget or lifestyle wise. Our girl is a 21 month firecracker - no way I could deal with the additional stress so we made the right decision.