Are people still buying houses that need work?

[sugarbyebye]

Our house purchase has fallen through, so we're back looking at options. There are quite a few properties on the market about 10-15% out of our price range that need a full cosmetic overhaul, probably have leaking roofs by the looks of things, have kitchens and bathrooms that look 30+ years old. However, you probably wouldn't need to knock down any walls or build extensions as they're a reasonable size.

Are people still interested in these? I haven't been watching the market enough to know what kind of properties are selling, whether they're all in good condition with modern bathrooms etc.

Also, one property I like, only has bathrooms through bedrooms. Would that be a big no?

I'm running out of energy with this whole property buying malarky as there just doesn't seem to be much in our price range (£450k) but we don't mind living with something outdated for a few years while we save up for kitchens etc.

Would something outdated put you off with the price of everything and the lack of reliable trades people these days?

I'm in Cheshire, I guess it's regional to some extent. You can get good tradies around here still, but you wait a long time for them and they cost a pretty penny.

I am much more ‘interested‘ in older houses as I prefer the style of them and prefer small, separate rooms downstairs rather than open plan. However, the thought of relying on tradesmen and builders does put me off. Yes there are brilliant ones but you wait a long time for them and costs fluctuate.

It’s off putting to think you could put in 20k for renovations and then they turn around 2 months later, tell you the moneys gone and they can’t finish without more. What choice do you have? I don’t deal well with stress so this is probably not a deal breaker for others as it’s just part of the renovation game.

I think the sort of houses that you describe, those that haven't even been properly maintained and are in a poor state, are not selling at all well and have fallen in value compared to houses. In the past, these sort of houses were quite desirable as people could do them up and sell on for a profit. However, that is not the case anymore unless the price truly reflects the costs of the work. In my experience, the owners of these sort of properties, are pricing them far, far too high, so they are not selling.

Bathrooms through bedrooms will always be a hard sell.

Plus if the properties are out of your price range and still need extensive work done to update them, they are unaffordable.

Tbh you may need to look at smaller properties or those in less desirable locations.

@loropianalover yes same, love an old house and they tend to have the better gardens, which we are most interested in. I'm a garden designer so have imagination but not sure I have the patience or budget anymore (had more money in my previous career for these kind of exploits). I also really hate the finish of most done up houses, so it seems a waste of money buying something bland that a builder has chosen.

@rainingsnoring yes I guess you're correct, you were likely to get a good return on bringing an outdated house back to life previously. We wouldn't want to find ourselves in a massive deficit, but we're looking for somewhere live in until we die or move into care (and have no kids) so as long as we bought in the right location, this isn't such a big issue for us. It's just about getting the right price and future proofing for our situation.

@Twiglets1 yes we're not looking for anything big, we only want a two bed, but it's pretty hard to find the combo of small house with decent garden. If a property is out of our price range but no one else is buying it, then we might be able to beat them down in price. We could do it up over a decade or so if we really loved it.

Yeah I figured bathrooms through bedrooms might not be popular. It wouldn't bother us but can see how that would affect the value for others.

You should see what happens to them round here. Nice detached house that needs renovating, some period features, lovely big, mature old garden, all flattened to make way for three or four newbuilds squashed on the plot.

So yes, people are buying them, but not with the aim of renovating them.

Yes that's happening around here too, and some lovely old mills being wiped out for good measure.

Bathrooms through bedrooms are only really ok for buyers who only need 1 bedroom to sleep in & can use the other bedroom as a study. Once you have 2 bedrooms in use you need both to have good access to the bathroom hence it could be a problem for resale.

Yeah this particular house is a two bed and each bedroom has a (pretty big) bathroom attached. It seems to be the product of extensions tapped on with no architectural input. There is a downstairs loo but you have to go outside to get to it. Again, not the best design, but also not something that would bother us as we've never had a downstairs loo anyway, and it would be pretty handy for working in the garden and washing vegetables!

I think there’s a difference between needing a cosmetic overhaul and actually being in a poor state of repair.

You shouldn’t over pay for either, though.

It depends why you are buying that house.
Is that a proper long term investment - the house you intend to stay in for the next 50 years?
Or just a stop gap until you can move somewhere else/children have grown/whatever?

In the first case, whether you recoup your cost doesnt really matter. You wont know if you’ll recoup them or not anyway.
In the second case, then I’d think about the fact they are already too expensive for your budget. So that would mean living in a house that needs lots of work for a very long time. Not great.

Yes we are buying a long term house, so profit isn't really a factor as long as our circumstances remain the same (we're in our early forties with no kids, so pretty stable situation for now). I guess what I'm trying to establish is are these houses unattractive to other buyers now, so are we more likely to be in a good bargaining position. I guess a lot of this will come down to the sellers position. Many seem to be probate houses with sellers who are most interested in getting as much cash as they can, so holding out for a high offer.

I have always bought places that need work and have looked at new builds occasionally and always think i could have designed a house better
Having spent a couple of nights in a new build Airbnb I think a bathroom off a bedroom would be a huge positive compared to the design of this place.
If an architect actually went to university and passed exams to come up with this room plan then it reflects badly on architecture as a career

5 bedroom house with a living room that hadn’t enough wall space to put a 2 seater sofa without it not having to jut out infront of the french windows.

Even dd looked at it and said why would they put radiators along the 2 walls that a large sofa could have gone against.

Fitted cupboards fitted so they covered half a socket and partially covered the wall fitment for the tv aerial so making the tv area useless

I think unless I was having my own house built to my specifications I wouldn’t even look at new builds

Rooms do seem to be getting a lot smaller. We have two greyhounds that sleep in the bedroom with us (and sometimes the cats) so need to have enough room for their beds, which pretty much rules most houses built this century in our price range out. We currently live in a victorian terrace and the rooms are all at least 4 x 4m, there just aren't many of them.

The thing I always find with houses that need work is 99.9% are way over priced considering the work needed the expense and time it takes to get them to where you want them and the .01% which are priced to reflect the work and costs are sold within minutes

Once bought a flat that had come on the market at 9.00am. By 9.25 I had viewed it, put in my offer and agreed the price and I wasn’t the first person to view it. The viewer before me came back with their offer at 9.30am whilst I was in the estate agents filling out paperwork

Our (new) neighbours bought next door at the end of last year, knowing it needed work. They still haven’t moved in! I don’t think they appreciated just how much work a house that hasn’t been properly maintained for 25+ years actually needs, and vastly overpaid as a result.

I’d think with the cost of living/mortgage rates that houses that need work would be less popular (even if people would in theory prefer them, if they don’t have the cash they can’t buy them).

We've now bought houses that needed work (a lot of work!) twice. The first we lived in for more than ten years. Did a lot before we moved in, then spread the rest out over several years whilst we saved up. Even then, the money spent didn't immediately equal increased value and doesn't take into account living in a rental whilst initial work done. We spent £100k in total over ten years (so prices would be a lot higher now) but had approx £250k increase in value when we sold it. We were lucky to get a very reliable builder.

Did it again and spent £150k straight off before moving in. It's been worth it in terms of the house being exactly what we need for life and work. We still have bits to do and are saving up again. It'll probably be £200k in total spent once we've finished in the next five or so years. In terms of house value I doubt we'd get back what we spent if we sold now as we'd be far far above the ceiling price for the road. BUT this is a long term 20+ year house for us so that doesn't matter.

Again, we were lucky with builder/trades. Work needed hasn't just been cosmetic - bought from elderly widow(er)s who hasn't done any house maintenance for years so have needed to rewire, replace kitchens & bathrooms, repair roofs, double glazing, new heating system plus work outside.