Poor in a lovely house, or comfortable in a so-so house? WWYD?

[theyoungvisiter]

So we are house buying at the moment, and there are two houses we are looking at.

One is well within our budget and ticks our boxes, but somehow just doesn't have that "x" factor that makes your heart sing. On the other hand, we could do it up nicely, and get someone in to do the boring work for us.

The other is at the outside edge of our budget and a wreck, so would swallow all our disposable income (and time) for the foreseeable future. We would have to do almost all the work ourselves as there won't be much left in the budget for professional help. However it is (or could be) a lovely house, the kind of place I have always wanted, and more practically, it should be a great return on our investment after we put the time in.

So my question is, wwyd? Eat beans and sand floorboards in the lovely house, or quaff wine and laze in the so-so house?

The so-so house, it is much better to have a life. This can give you the step up to a possibly even better house and keep living in the meantime.

I'd probably keep looking...

We bought an ex multi-let wreck, though tbh we didnt realise how much work was needed, (partly due to poor structural survey) and, despite having spent loads of money on it, the place still looks like a multi-let complete with 1970s kitchen and bathroom...

I'd absolutely agree with Pannacotta.

We bought a house in fairly bad repair, planning to renovate it. We had a very large budget for this, so were confident things would be fine.

One problem with buying a house in bad repair is that even with a full survey (or indeed, with two full surveys, which is what we had for confusing reasons) things will be missed. We are currently spending a couple of thousand pounds on replacing rotten windows and other woodwork. One thousand of that was not expected until the carpenter really looked in detail at every bit of wood.

Another problem is the amount of time it takes. Sometimes it just feels so gruelling, to come home from a day at work and to start work on a room. It takes a long time to find good tradespeople, and it takes a long time to source supplies, and it takes a long time to do just about anything.

I don't regret buying our house, but I do feel that the the renovations pretty much replace other hobbies and ambitions in a way I hadn't bargained for when we bought it.

I bought a wreck and did it up when younger. made good money on it when i sold but all the renovation work was stressful and a strain on our marriage. wouldn't contemplate it at all now, with a young family. what will the kids do while you're decorating? think your home is about enjoying it in the here and now. budgets and timescales have a habit of overrunnning. depends how easy going you are as a person/couple/family.

Not the lovely house. The time, money and stress involved in getting it to the state you want will have too much of an impact on family life. Not worth it, imo.

Keep looking until you find something you love within your budget.

Yes, keep looking. You haven't pound your house yet. We looked for 18 months. The estate agents thought we were time wasters. Then we found the house of our dreams, just outside our budget and bought it. So now we are very poor but at least it isn't a money black hole. It's huge and pretty solid and gorgeous. I'd never buy a wreck. Your kids live in a wreck for years. (I grew up in one. Potential to be gorgoeus not actually achieved until we were 18 and left. then my parents sold it as they were so fed up of it and bought a tiny house. Now they spend their lives on perpetual holiday and are so happy. Wrecks are dispiriting and so much more expensive even to just knock into habitable shape, let alone make gorgeous.

pound your house??? Found your house

Ask yourself these questions:

Can I/we wash up in the bathroom sink for a year?

Can I/we shower outside under a tarp for 6 months over winter?

Can I/we put up with mess and disorder for a couple of years?

Can I/we have my kitchen stored in a reception room for 2 years?

Can I/we really?

Will we be able to afford the materials to do the place up?

I'm all for buying the house of your dreams if it's your forever house or buying to do up if it will add enough value but it's not easy on you or your relationship.

AndYesIDidAllOfTheAboveTiggaxx

but the 'dream' house isnt a wreck though. OP has said apart from the need for a new kitchen it is mainly cosmetic-it isnt going to be like taking on a huge renovation project.
If it all needs ,say,paper stripping and replastering-its a bit dusty and can be a bit of a hassle having other people in the house BUT it isnt the same as needing to rewire, rip out walls, new roof etc.

Still think go with heart OP-it is very achievable in a relatively short space of time imo.

I'd go for (and have done) the stretch yourself lovely house.

We did it as we saw it as potentially a forever home, that we'd never outgrow or need to move again, thereby potentially saving thousands on stamp-duty, solicitors, removal and estate agents fees.

The work was messy - but i loved planning all the work and designing the rooms, shopping etc so in a way that was a hobby for me. The kids were babies so got dragged aound shops in prams but they weren't fussed. It was a bit messy but not for years on eand. Did the big work first then a room at a time after that (keeping doors shut on rooms we didn't need yet). Still no totally finished but not far off.

We were skint and had to be careful for the first 2 years but after that were back on track.

If you can afford it (just about) then go for it!

Would love to see the properties you were thinking about!!

I've been in your situation, went for the lovely house only to have to sell it once it was finished because it had cost us so much. Like you we thought it was mostly cosmetic and could do it all ourselves, but the entire central heating system needed to be replace, the whole house had to be rewired etc etc.

Be careful

I'd go for the more modest house.

We bought a 4 bed victorian semi thinking it was mainly cosmetic - it isn't. Every time we start something, something else needs doing and it's always far more expensive and messy than we think. We have replumbed, reroofed, and are now needing to rewire (survey suggested minor upgrading only - which we've done, but the electrician says that really we need to totally redo).....we have 4 children under 6, a hefty mortgage, absolutely no money left, and if we ever move again, I will be buying a newbuild with zero character and nothing expensive that needs doing . Does that help you in your decision making process at all?!

Also, I really would not count on house prices continuing to rise - unless you live in Central London where the number of foreign buyers competing for period properties and the currency flucutations will ensure demand continues to outstrip supply.

I think PanicMode talks sense. It is true that in older properties you often only find what really needs doing, when you start doing it, IYSWIM. For example, you can think you need something fairly minor doing with the electrics, but actually when the electrician starts he can't sign off on it now under new Building Regs requirements and so a much larger amount of work needs doing. Which then means you need to plaster where you hadn't budgeted, and then decorate and so on and so forth.

I'm not saying definitely don't do it, but go into it with your eyes absolutely wide open.

The so-so house and the occasional bottle of wine or meal out.

Unless you've been poor, you cannot imagine how depressing it is.

Yep, same as Colditz.

Being poor is shite, and the odd bottle of wine, and even knowing there is money in the bank in case you need it is worth so much.

Use the spare money to decorate the so-so house in exactly the style you want, and have the pricier things you may not be able to afford with the bigger house.

Before we bought a house, I would have said eat beans and sand floorboards in the lovely house..
But I've realised that when you've been living in a house for a while a house just becomes a house. The specialness wears off a bit and you start wishing you had money for this and that, and a bit of extra income to reduce your stress etc etc.
So I think being poor in a lovely house isn't as romantic as it sounds after a while.

Depends though. For me a lovely garden would be a deal-breaker. I'd go for a large garden over spare cash anyday.

And I've been dirt poor at various points in my life! But I'm still a poet at heart...

well, i did 3 houses that stretched the budget & needed doing up. in the midst of it, there really is a black pit of despair - specially if the bathroom of kitchen are being done. but once it's done, then it's so lovely you fall in love with the house all over again.

sadly, i've only reached this stage just as we move out (in fact, dh had already moved out of one house, on to the next job, while i finished the house & saw out my job contract)

i have, quite literally, sold a house whilst the paint is still wet.

if you are 99% certain that you're staying in one place for a while, i'd buy the bigger home. moving house costs a LOT - you need to budget at least 15k for it, and that would go a long way towards repairs. so long as there is nothing structural that needs doing, you just have to live with how it is - or just v quickly paint everything white to cover it up.

you need to live in a place for a while before you really know what needs doing - e.g. you'll notice if any cracks are getting bigger or not, or realise that a certain room/door gets more use than you expected, so what if you move that wall to ...

you can move into the bigger house, and just save every penny towards getting the work done, and don't start a job til you know you can afford it.

if you've done this before, you'll know what you're letting yourself in for. if you haven't, don't underestimate the hard work - it looks so easy on tv, but it's exhausting & demoralising & expensive. you will have less time to spend with the kids, less time to see friends etc. that said, if it gets you into a long-term family home with one move, it IS worth it both financially & emotionally

if you are doing this for your family home, Don't try looking at possible market gain - it's irrelevant. you can't predict if it will rise & fall in value, just focus on what you want to be doing with your lives for the next 5-10 years.

kickass am with you!

but then, i am slightly obsessed - i have been known to dream about houses that i've driven past, which needed a bit of tlc. that's taking the whole thing too far, isn't it?

For me, I would take so-so house that I could afford comfortably - because I am a doom-merchant and always worry that something would happen to me that would affect my ability to repay a mortgage that I could barely manage when all was going well.

If I could then comfortably afford to make it nicer, I would do so - but I never ever plan to put myself under such extreme financial obligation that I am worrying constantly about money or losing the house.

Dh and I spent 7 years renovating dh's dream house. It nearly ruined our marriage, was fairly tough on the finances and I had two children in the middle of it all. I threatened to burn it down more than once and when we had to move the market was terrible and we made a pittance on the whole thing.

I am with the posters who say probably neither is a good idea and keep looking. You just can't imagine how depressing it is to keep finding more things that need to be done. And we sold just as it was all finally finished Of course, I heartily hated the house by then but dh has never recovered from it all really. My only stipulation when we moved was that the new house need NO renovation. There's some wallpaper that I would like to redo at some point etc. but nothing that has to be done. Which is good b/c dh's health has steadily gone downhill in the last few years and I blame a big part of that on his working himself half to death on that bloody house!

rant over

ooh jabberwocky - sounds like you were living 'The Money Pit'! Hope your DH's health picks up again.