Could you live in a doer upper dream house and renovate gradually?

[Otter1986]

Has anyone bought a house that is a true state and just lived with it? How hellish was it?

Our dream home has come on the market. It is wildly overpriced - as is everything locally - but the house will be insanely amazing when it is done. Currently it is two flats and it is a total state.

After payng for the house - including fees - we could waterproof the house (roof, windows, pointing, render). Then we'd have a slosh fund that would cover plastering the third floor bedrooms so we and our kids had a decent room to sleep in. Then, we could redo the bathroom cheaply and could put in a really cheap / second-hand kitchen.

But that is it really. The heating, electrics, other rooms would have to wait. It is would be - at best - a 'boho chic' style of living. Think sagging ceilings, horrible old wallpaper that is in poor condition etc.

Everything else would have to just be done slowly or not at all. We'd have to do lots of stuff ourselves - skirtings etc... We've done it before but it was a much smaller house.

Would we regret it? Or would we say - in five years when it is done - wow, look at our awesome and enormous house on an absolutely ideal road!

We're in 2 minds - we can tighten our belt and totally do it. We could even borrow more in a couple of years when it came to remortgage if we were struggling. But is it really worth it?

Our two kids aren't old but aren't so young that it would be dangerous. And when they are teens it will give us lots of space.

Thoughts?

Absolutely go for it. There will be times it’s hellish and you despair of ever being finished but it will be worth it. We bought a 100 year old croft house that needed everything doing to it 2.5 years ago. There’s hardly any trades around and we’ve been tiling, plumbing, decorating etc because there’s no option, but, we’re in the home straight and have just put up with it. It’s surprised us what level of squalor we’ve been able to cope with but the joy of a great shower in a beautiful new bathroom has been worth it!

Changing the decor and improving the home over time is fine. Ive lived in a doer upper where I wanted to be and it is hard work but worthwhile. But heating and electrics are not something that can wait really. It will make you misrable and could be considered a welfare or safeguarding issue for the children if it was cold and damp and making them ill or risking safety. Plus you dont want to do up a room or two and then need to rewire the house. Both rewiring and installing central heating are huge jobs that cause a lot of mess - particularly the rewiring job. So if you are going to do it make sure you have enough for those jobs. You can set up a temporary kitchen in a room with standalone units and camping cooker if needed for a bit. But the next priority would be to get the kitchen done. Then you have your basics in place. But yes I would do it (and have done it) but expect a long hard slog.

Yes, I would do that so long at where the house was positioned was perfect for teenagers and their education.
Then so long as you don't over capitalise in your renovation investment the house will retain it's value.
If the neighbourhood is not desirable, the investment and hardship will be a waste.

It is hard, always costs more than you expect, as you find things you didn’t expect, being two separate dwellings currently, you will have two council taxes and meters get this sorted as a priority. also get the re wire done asap, Do you require a mortgage, have you checked the property is mortgageable? You will be living in mess and dust for years and that is really hard going, as a young family. Wishing you all the best, it’s worth it in the end.

I can’t answer this but we will soon find out — bought our dream flat and it will need huge amounts of work it’ll take us many years to do, but in the end we will have a brilliant 4 bed in the heart of the city perfect for our family. It seems worth it to me if you can’t afford the dream house in walk in condition!