Renovate or sell

[Moveornot2]

We have been in our house for two years only. We bought the house in an area we really love, but we bought a project. Now reality is hitting about how much renovation costs will be to achieve what we need to (over £100k) and that we’d need to rent with two young kids (primary school age)whilst we do that , and the logistics that go with that.

I think getting the square footage we need would be a house about £100k more than what we bought this for couple years ago, and probably we’d get like £50k over what we paid if we sold.

shohld we cut losses and move, or preserve with the project … what would you do ? Realise we haven’t been very wise

What would you get if you sold?

We renovated while living in the house with 1 DS aged 7. We managed it, had a few nights in an air bnb while asbestos was removed, that was it. Saved us loads of money.

Moving house costs loads as well. If it's likely you'll stay put in this house for the rest of your lives, it might be worth it long-term to stick it out and renovate over time? Is there any way you can do the work yourselves, at least some of it? Do you really need to move out while work is done?

@Nikee20 I think we would get about 1.25 - 1.3 if we were lucky , depends. It’s a popular area. We bought for 1.2

we would need to move out, as it’s a very old property and we would extend upstairs and downstairs fully renovate. Think it would be more cost effective to do in one go.

I see nice houses in a nice area very close to this for 1.35 1.4 ish. Or the same price if we moved out a little, where we wouldn’t need to renovate. Slight compromise on the road

Can you fund the work and more importantly 'Project manage' it

@JohnofWessex not yet no. I realise I’ll get slated as it’s such a first world problem, but we’d have to give up our plans for private schooling. We both work full time , pretty stressful jobs

1.2 million? Erm, definitely stay because 100k is nothing for a Reno on a house of that value. The stamp duty alone for moving will be over £35k

I think I’d stay and renovate for that price.
We had friends in a simple priced house who lived in a caravan they’d bought on the drive while they were getting work done.

We also did a major Reno, but just moved from room to room. We were out a lot!

Might help to post some pictures floorplan etc of what you need to do

Thanks all ! That’s good to know , then maybe right thing is to stay put then ! Maybe am overthinking and not looking at the potential enough

Also, it’s all about location for me!

I agree I think I would stay put because the cost of moving is going to equal a large chunk of that reno cost and the reno cost is a good ratio to the house value.

If your house is big enough can you renovate one half first and live in the other side, then do the other half? How much work could you do yourselves or with help of relatives and friends?

There are lots and I mean lots of renovation projects on youtube showing what people manage to do themselves. For Dh and I he or I worked on the house on a Saturday playing tag team looking after the children, Sunday was respite and every few weeks we would have a full weekend of not doing it. It taught us a lot of skills that we were not taught but learned from the internet/youtube.

£100k on £1.2m is less than ten percent. That's not renovation, that's minor works.

@Nikee20 yes that’s my husbands stance and the location / road is the reason we bought the house vs the actual house, if that makes sense. It’s perfect for the kids and us. We could have bought something with the square footage and even all done if we went out a bit, but my husband didn’t want to compromise on location. He feels it’s an investment as no ceiling price of road etc … ie they very hugely in price and style

@slideoverhere thats definitely something we need to explore more re doing ourselves

I’d go with your husband on this one. We live in a very desirable area and bought for the road/area rather than the house.
The house was a dump when we moved in. Due to the work we’ve done we’ve got no worries about getting our money back.

@qwertyasdfgzxcv i don’t want to post actual house floor plan. However essentially it is about 1600 sq foot, and we would extend about 3 m at the backdownstairs, and 2m at the back upstairs. House is staggered at the front, so we would align it to the hallway which is further out, and extend front room about 1m at front and upstairs to align and not lose garden at back too much.
Then convert garage and renovation inside , kitchen , bathrooms etc. Not moving position of kitchen , but all needs redoing. Ideally it would get it to 2000sq ft. Which is the size we were looking for on our budget originally

I'd say 100k to do all that work is a stretch plus rental cost for the duration. Older houses tend to unearth multiple problems when work starts - so could be pushed further.

If it's the right location and you have the works priced right plus contingency, then I'd renovate if the total didn't cross the ceiling price of the road.

We've renovated before - if your both working, I'd get a project manager separate to the building company, so he is working for you not the builders.

Have you had a quote for the extensions?
Ours was about 40k just for a 4m x 4m (max) size! Involved steels etc.

You won't get all that done for 100k, especially if you are in London. I'd recommend declutter first!

thanks for all the inputs ! And @Nikee20 thats good to know ! There is not really a ceiling price , it’s hard to explain and this is the reason we , and my husband especially loves this road. The houses are all different - they range from a few semi detached to more detached ones, and they are all very very different in style. So you get back a lot as it’s a lovely road in a a very nice part of the town .. the prices vary a huge amount when ppl sell.

I realise over £100 k is just an estimate and it would be a lot more. There is more to it, like there was some structural work already done , but owner didn’t finish due to personal reasons. He also owned a construction / building company, so a few houses on our road and area had their extensions and renovations done by owner and family business. Our house is very old, but it it’s in good condition … ie serviced the boiler regularly , the wiring is great, the windows are looked after. It’s been looked after basically, just not had any renovations done in many many years. So liveable with kids .. everything works and not had any issues with water, heating. Just very very old and dated

If everything is well built and working well, and renovation is just because it's all a bit dated and you'd like to add 25% to the house's area, does it all have to be done at once, and soon? It's all discretionary, so you could break it down into discrete mini-projects and just work through them slowly or episodically as convenient.

Renovate. You will be able to have the house you want. Yes it will be a ball ache but once it's done, it's amazing

We reconfigured/ renovated our home in 2020 - every single wall was moved in someway apart from the exterior ones we weren't extending - our aim was to stay with friends and family 😂😬.

COVID really buggered things up - renovating, working from home and home schooling 2 primary aged DC. It was a cluster fuck. The builders were here from Feb to Nov - also we were living here throughout. We both work FT as well
It was pretty bleak at times, however, now that it's done, I just love my home. We also live on a particular street that we love and it's epic. There's no way we could get the same value that we paid on our home from a 'completed' property, you will have to pay more than a £100k for it.

Our DC loved it BTW. It was all a big adventure to them - washing dishes in the bath, us sharing bedrooms (we were all in 1 bedroom for a week)

TBH this all sounds fairly cosmetic. I definitely wouldn't sell a great house with 'good bones', in a fantastic location for these reasons.

I'd stretch out the timeline for everything then, and prioritise any works that will immediately make your life more comfortable in the house, as well as stuff you can confidently accomplish yourselves. We're taking this approach, which means that the less visible/exciting projects aren't happening straight away, but getting the loft boarded next month for example will mean we have space to remove a musty-smelling cupboard and can redecorate our bedroom next. Etc.

But yes, I'd stick it out and find a way to make it work.

@Pipsquiggle it’s good to hear this, thank you. This was always our rationale, and not sure why lately I’ve been having second thoughts lately. Been feeling a bit exhausted , as is the case with everyone , work / kids is stressful, things seem so expensive and I’ve probably unfairly on my husband been thinking how we can achieve this lately and having second thoughts. But there was a reason we bought this, and it was the location , potential - everything for the kids , vs getting something very well and nicely done in a not so great location.