What works does this house need?

[mumtobe245]

We are considering buying this house - it is of good size and in the right location. It does however need a lot of work to be habitable.

We’ve got about 1.5 years, and a budget of £100k to do it up before we move back to the UK and live in it.

What works do you think the house needs before we can move in, based on what you can see? For context, we are a family with 3 kids aged 2, 5 and 8.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/174359255

It’s the ugly scruffy houses across the road that it looks on to that would kill any magic for me.

I know this area. You could do everything or almost everything and make this house gorgeous (and it's a good size), but then you'd still be in that same plot, and that would be the problem for me.

Parking would be a huge issue. Everyone has tried to get a dropped kerb and turn their front garden into a drive, but you couldn't here because a) the tree, b) the speed bump, and c) being on the junction.

And like someone else said, you would be in a fishbowl. You could grow a big hedge that goes higher than the garden wall, but a) that would take ages, b) it might then feel dark and trapped, and c) I would still feel exposed as anyone walking down Lassa Road would be able to hear everything in my garden (and vice versa).

I'd also be put off by the amount of change I'd want to the lay-out. Yes there's damp and some really good modernisation and decorating to do, and maybe that would come out of £100k, but then you'd still have a tiny kitchen (smaller than the utility room). Ideally you'd want to put the utility where the current kitchen is, and then have a big kitchen across the back, leading to the garden. And just doing that these days might cost £100k (looks to be a supporting wall for the kitchen, so knocking down walls becomes more expensive).

I think I’d agree. DB and his wife looked around Eltham when buying a year ago but decided against it.

The market is awful too atm so I’d definitely offer under and see what they say.

Is this going to be your long term/forever home? If so thenyou can live with the cosmetic stuff and do it over time. I moved into a house in a far worse state and we lived there with small children whilst doing the renovation. Was it ideal? No of course not but it gave us a brilliant long term home for the money, better than we could have afforded otherwise.

Get a full structural survey, get a couple of builders to look at it with a view to building a jobs list and a sequencing list. The reality is you don’t need a fancy kitchen - I lived without one for nearly two years, just the kind of unit shown in the picture with the key appliances. Children can also share bedrooms until all are done or during redecorating.

Anything structural or damp proofing needs doing first, along with plumbing/wiring and other tasks which need floorboards up or drills into walls. They can be done in anticipation of future kitchen/bathroom refurbs. Windows and roofs are less intrusive, its easy to live in a house whilst they are being down.

Cost is partly down to you - you could spend 100k on a kitchen but few people do. If you prioritise what needs to be done to secure the fabric and quality of the building then fancy kitchens and bathrooms along with decor can be done when money is available. As for value post refurb - well that really only matters if you plan to flip or sell in a few years.

I agree with the pp on checking possible reliefs/grants for empty properties and also the need for a local project manager (or slightly more expensive builder who can coordinate for you). I’d want a recommendation.

This isn’t enough. We’ve been quoted £200k to redo bathrooms, floors, a tiny extension. No wiring or plumbing etc.

£100 K is nowhere near enough. I dont even think 200 K would do it ( depending on what you wnat exactly) We've just done up a tiny 3 bed terraced house; my husband is a builder so did the majority himself (excluding electrics and plumbing) we built a very small extension and renovated the whole house. Materials alone cost over £100 k - and we weren't extravagant. Basic bathroom suite, tiny kitchen.

That’s very insightful. Thank you @TheOtherBear

I didnt think about the parking point - that’s a big consideration. We saw that other houses in that junction are able to have a dropped kerb and had assumed that’s an option for this house.

Looking at other listings in the area this is way over priced. You could easily spend £300k given there are likely to be all sorts of gotchas - how bad is the damp and what is the cause? What is the roof like? Any asbestos? Does it need a full rewire? Etc etc.

And you can’t solve the parking and location issues.

But everyone else has already pointed this out!!!

You could certainly investigate having a drive that comes out to the side (i.e. opposite 22 Lassa Road), but you've still got electrical boxes that the Council won't want to move, so it would be tight.

Plus, you would want to be as certain as you could that the Council would allow this, before going ahead with the purchase. Otherwise you'll be at the mercy of the limited permit parking and vying for it amongst your neighbours (hopefully the permit system means commuters from further out can't park there and go into London for the day).

Yes that will be one option we definitely want to explore. Worst comes to worst, we will need to use the double garage at the rear of the property for parking (and find storage space elsewhere in the house).

it’s not ideal parking all the way at the end of the garden though, so I think we would still try for the dropped kerb application into the front if we do buy the property

We bought something similar, also with a 100k. We were warned by an architect we didn’t have anything like enough but we thought we knew better…

It all went on: new windows and front door and surround £60k, roof repairs £10k, boiler and some replacement radiators £7k, log burner £5k, plastering the worst couple of ceilings £1k, garden works £4k (this was for things like tree felling and hedge maintenance, and clearing neglected areas. It still looks untouched!!!) carpet and curtains £1k per room for carpets (underlay had completely disintegrated and presented as lumps) £2.5k on four new curtain tracks as the old ones literally came away in our hands. We had bespoke curtains which was a splurge but the windows are massive so not many options - this took the remainder.

We are left with a watertight house which looks completely untouched. No money left for new bathrooms or a kitchen, and most of the cosmetics is untouched. We still need new electrics, some new plumbing, proper lift fittings, etc. Outside we need to replace the cast iron guttering and rendering. Ours was built in 1935. Everything is expiring at the same time - now. I’ve just had a quote for two bedrooms to be plastered at £2k because the ceilings are high and curved, and the rooms are big. Everything is so expensive and needs proper vision. We reckon we need about £150k to finish doing it. It is a massive massive money pit. We love it, but I often wonder if we are being idiots and should go get a new build!

Edited to add: we didn’t have any damp problems other than the roof, which showed up two years in - this would be another massive expense. We had a full, expensive survey. They don’t pick up everything and couldn’t have been expected to pick up that our boiler needed refiring every morning…!!

Thank you @2024namechanger for sharing your story. This is super insightful and the kind of real-life warning we need.

Was the 60k just to replace front door and windows? I think we might have massively underestimated the cost for windows then. Although when we viewed the property, the windows didn’t look too bad. Apparently they were installed 8 years ago, so hopefully still have some life left

It's just cost us 15k to insulate and replaster two bedrooms and have a new front door, plus some rejigging of two walls. And this is the Midlands.

Plus I cannot stress enough how hard it is to find and pin down reliable builders/workmen when you are present at the property, let alone trying to manage a project of this scale from abroad.

It has incredible potential (altho PP's comments about location are noted). The bays are amazing. I love 1930's homes.

Never mind yhour budget (which is too small), trying to manage building project like that from abroad is insane. It's hard enough to do in situ.

Does it hace central heating?

Honestly, forget it. Buy one where the work is already done and was done when work was much cheaper to do. We have less to do on our house than this (many rooms fine, just slightly larger) and are budgeting for 300k. If we’d known how expensive it would be, I think we would have bought something else.

Yup £60k just for that - 4 bays, one front door and surround, 6 double windows, 7 side windows. The bays were a massive job; the windows are 2m high! However if you had yours replaced 8 years ago you’re good - ours will last another 100 years (wooden).

It needs gutting. Kitchen, bathroom, floors, ceiling, heating, electrics. Probably roof, render, damp proofing, drains, garden, drive. Possibly windows and definitely carpets and decor. But don't ask us, ask a pro.

I am a contractor. I don’t know the area, but having had a very quick look at the photos, I wouldn’t touch that unless you have a budget of at least £300 - £400k, probably more. There are very few pictures, I can’t see the roof, but when you start pulling apart old houses like that, all manner of thing will crop up. Plus, construction costs are going through the roof at the minute. I’d give it a swerve.

100k isn’t enough, my friend just had some plastering done and it was £600 for her hallway and stairwell. We are up North and I assume that stuff is more expensive down South. MIL had her double glazing done down South and it was 20k and that was with a contractor who was on the councils approved list of builders and contractors and just before covid, prices have gone up loads since then and it’s just a terrace.

I wouldn’t touch a house that has damp, plus managing such a big project from overseas. What is they need to check stuff with you, timezones could be an issue. I live in a house built at the end of the 1920’s, it has some decorative lead work on the bay. My neighbours needed some work, to find someone with those skills took ages.

The house must be worth something. To someone. So max value for the street minus renovation and hassle. Maybe 300 off the renovated price for a builder. But not for someone living abroad.

There is no way you will get a dropped kerb to the front with the junction and the tree.

I’m an interior designer in the north of England and totally agree w this.

It’s going to be at least 250k and that would be totally bare bones. With project management costs because you’re abroad, the London premium on labour and wanting to do it to the standard you’d expect in a house of that value you could easily spend 400. And given where it is you won’t come close to recouping your costs.