Hi all, I’d be grateful for some advice please.
I’m a first time buyer, early 30s, and looking to buy a house this year in London (just by myself). Finance-wise, my deposit is all ready. I’m confident I can get the mortgage I’m aiming to get and I know which areas I want to focus on for house hunting, which are within my budget of £650k - south London (West or South Norwood, Tooting, Streatham, Crystal Palace). I'm focusing on London as I work in central London and don't drive, so would like an area of London with good transport links.
I’ve been thinking more and more about focusing my house search on houses that are liveable but need updating and have potential to extend. The idea is that I can add value to the house through doing it up bit by bit whilst living in it and, ultimately, turn it into somewhere I’d like to live in. It would be a project and would take time
and effort, and money(!) but the idea is it would be an achievable project that I could do over time.
In terms of potential renovation I had in mind and the order of it, I was thinking: outward extension first, then bathroom, then kitchen - and maybe a loft. I realise extensions are much more expensive than kitchen or bathroom renovations, and also that the latter are pricey to begin with.
In terms of financing the renovation, I plan to buy somewhere under my overall budget and use the leftover money to fund the renovation. My overall budget is £750k, and I’m planning to use £650k (or less)of this to buy somewhere, and then then to set aside a further £28kish of the £750k for moving costs (£22.5k for stamp duty, £5k ish for moving costs and basic furnishings). That comes up to £678k, so would leave me with £72k for renovation, which I would do bit by bit.
In terms of logistics and other considerations, whilst I am a first time buyer and have never been in that exact position before, my family took this approach in a house I lived in as a teenager, buying a livable place and extending it outwards and renovating a room to add in utility room and downstairs loo. It took about a year altogether.
I’ve also recently house sat for someone for a couple of weeks whilst they were having a loft extension done. I was also looking after their pets, which added an extra layer of stress to the situation! Thankfully though, as I don’t have any pets and no kids yet, if I were to buy somewhere now and renovate it over the next 18 months to 2 years, I wouldn’t have to worry about looking after pets or kids whilst the work is being done. I'd like kids one day so would like to buy a place to update it into a nice house big enough for a couple of kids.
Full disclosure: I can only do very basic DIY and I have no background or qualification in house renovations, so would have to hire people to do the actual work. In theory, I could learn how to do it, but it would obviously take a long time to and is unrealistic as I have a fairly demanding full time job. I can work from home for a couple of days a week and am lucky that my parents have offered to keep an eye on any renovations being done when I'm in the office. If I’m being 100% honest, whilst I’m genuinely interested in the idea of renovation, I know it will be difficult and I’m swayed by it after seeing some of my friends renovate their places (some did it themselves and others got people in to do it).
I think the main things to consider with renovations are: budget, time and quality. I feel fairly relaxed regarding timings, especially if the house is livable and I can do the work bit by bit, but I think it will be mentally challenging and stressful. I am concerned as well about how much to budget for the renovations overall - as the sky is really the limit when it comes to these things. I'm frightened of potentially running out of money midway through a renovation, so doing it bit by bit, and saving more money into the renovation fund as I go, is the way to go, think - as well as getting several quotes for each bit of
the renovation.
All thoughts welcome - I'd be grateful for feedback that's as open and honest as possible. Thanks!