Would you take on a renovation now?

[kirinm]

Knowing that it would be a very long term house and that a lot of work would be done by your DP and trades he works with?

We looked at a house which is a really great size (for our area of London) but is an absolute wreck. We couldn't live in it as it is, it would need to be completely stripped and would need work in every single room. It looks as if it was used as an HMO so nearly all the interior doors are front doors, it has a commercial grade fire alarm system

It is literally full of rubbish. It was quite a traumatic viewing to see people living like that tbh.

It would be a mammoth project. And a long term one. We'd probably have enough money to gut it, put in a temp kitchen and bathroom and make rooms safe (ceilings look like the could collapse). But then we'd have no choice but to work on it as and when we could afford to.

We've done a renovation before. DP is an electrician and turned out to be pretty handy in most other areas. But there's no doubt it's a bigger job than anything we've done (in a personal capacity) before.

On the one hand, we'd never afford such a decent sized house if it didn't need work but on the other, what if it's the biggest financial mistake we ever make??

I'm really conflicted. It is not helping that our rental is awful and the housing market is so competitive so I'm conscious we might be straying into panic buying.

I think rubbish removal will cost a huge amount. We did it in stages in our flat but I'd imagine that will be thousands. And that's assuming the people take their stuff with them!

We need to go back and see it really. It was a very difficult viewing.

Might be worth negotiating a reduction due to the probable need to clear the property. Speak to your solicitor about holding over some of the purchase price on completion until it is certain the property is empty of tenants and has been cleared out entirely. I wouldn't suck up the cost of clearance on top of what is probably going to be a myriad of unknown issues.

It's possible the seller will give you a further reduction rather than have to organise it so you might need to take pics and get quotes.

I would go for it but you are going to have to prioritise your £75k very carefully to get in the door and lock off the rest of the house as it will be a risk to your DD.

Re your older son. He will in time [a long time hopefully] benefit along with his little sister. If he's saving on rent albeit living in something quite tricky, then it's also worth considering what you are asking him to contribute in terms of labour and manage any expectations about moving a GF in and starting a family in your home. 29 is old to move home and it could be 3-5 yrs to save for a deposit of his own assuming you will need some contribution to bills and food.

We are going back to see it on Friday. Hopefully this time we can take some pictures and try and work out what we'd need to do immediately and the likely cost. Can only go from there.

I'm currently in the throws of this. And have a thread about what we've managed to achieve on our budget too!

Our budget, as two none trades people, was 62k in north east UK. No family or friends in trades. Just a husband and wife duo with a little bit of prior DIY experience, full of hope and ambition and an arguably overly inflated sense of self confidence. Our budget was to renovate a 5 bed detached house, so a pretty substantial footprint.

We have actually managed to do about 80% of what the whole house needed (which was in fact, everything) with that 62k. We've been frugal, selective, got stuck in. Would I do it again if I could go back in time? Absolutely. The house, when fully renovated, would never be affordable to us. The house we are building will be created from sweat and tears and money we raised purely from the sale of our previous property, and we'll have a manageable mortgage at the end of it. If we were to try buying something in this area at this size in a "move in" ready condition, we'd be priced out. So yes, we'd definitely do it again in a heartbeat. It has been hard going though, especially working full time and I'm glad this is our lifetime house; I hope we won't ever need to move again or do any extensive renovation in future!

Ooops, didn't realise this was an inactive thread! Did you go for it in the end @kirinm ?

We did but actually pulled out of the purchase last week due to a lack of progress (and bad surveys). We may still go back!