First-time house renovation

andrew-b

Clickable piccies...

ginvzt

andrew-b wrote: »

Gin, sounds like you might be too late on the refurb house...unless vendor has the lack of morals to gazump or the other offer backs out after survey (in which case you might not want it either!).

Will see - what meant to happen, will happen. The house is still not 'under offer', as when OH talked to them, they said they are checking the offer (I guess if the buyers need to sell their house, is the sale agreed, have they got mortgage, etc.)

If we are too late, then that is it.

On the other hand the repo house, which EA told me yesterday is being sold by management company, not a repo (right, why there are stickers of drained systems everywhere?) has just dropped price by another £10k... Very tempting.

ginvzt

Well, we went back to the house last night with a friend. He was amazed when he saw it. It is really nice house, but needs a lot of work. One thing we haven't noticed before, there is a crack on the extension, and the front of it is a little bit bowing outwards. He said it could probably be sorted with wall ties (no idea of cost), so we hope it is not too bad. Other than that, he liked it.

We are not sure if we can open up kitchen and utility together to create a kitchen diner, as it was not sure if the walls are load bearing or not. It is very awkward shape creating a 'cupboard' for fridge-freezer and a waste of space (as although it is big, you can put anything else next to fridge).

We found out that the other offer is from a business (I didn't question enough, silly me), but it is not a developer, so we guess it is someone looking to use the building as offices or similar (maybe dentist or solicitor or something like that?... My guess purely). The girl showing us round (granddaughter of women who died) was sort of pleased that we want to live in the house and she said it has always been a home.

So, I left it up to my OH to make up his mind to put in an offer. Well, when I say to make up his mind, I mean he has to put it in... We have a figure in mind that we can't go over as the house needs a lot of work, and if the offer offer is higher, we would not be bidding over it. Of course, if survey picks up something we are too scared to deal with, we would not be going through it.

As we talked last night, we always dreamt of the stone house with big garden, preferably in the country side, and every time we pass by on the road, we say 'I want this one'. So, this one is a dream come true that we never expected to have within (almost) our reach. We would be skint after this as all the money we have would have to be spent on the house, but I think it is worth it. I think I need to at least put an offer to be able to say to myself that we at least gave a try to this dream!

Probably would have to live on toast and beans and recycling the toast for a while - on the other hand, we both need to loose weight!

andrew-b

So what's your OH waiting for!!! :wall: Repeat..

andrew-b wrote: »

ginvzt, get that offer in!!!

Everything else is irrelevant if you don't get the keys. Again push that your ideal buyer and want to move quick and that the property will remain a home - prey on the vendor weaknesses! Else the situation WILL change and other offers WILL appear on the table reducing your chances of fullfilling your dream further!

If the dream does in reality turn into a nightmare then you can always back out before exchange of contracts..or sell on again if you realise it's all too much (remember you could easily subdivide the land and likely sell at profit without so much as opening the tool box - so long as you don't pay over the odds in the first place).

suisidevw

Sounds exciting Gin, keep us updated with what goes on and the developments you guys make!

littlerose12345

Morning Everyone!

Our worktop was fitted yesterday... it looks amazing!!! :happyhear:happyhear:happyhear

Tasks for this weekend..

Second coat of paint for H/S/L
Glossing kitchen and utility doors
Undercoat / gloss main door
Tidy up the house ready for carpet fitting!!!

suisidevw

How did all your jobs go littlerose?

Been a while, probably since we had new bathroom in Feb since I put pics up on here so I set myself a bit of a target at the weekend. To get rid of the rubbish crazy paving and soften up the front of our house. Managed to get rid of most slabs on freecycle and in a few weeks when the turf is bound together and cut i think it'll look great. My legend of a neighbour helped out, it's getting a lot of watering at present!

Hope you like!

andrew-b

Looks ways better suisidevw! Not really the best time of year with the effort required to prevent it drying out . Noticed all the turf outside our B&Q this afternoon looked really sorry for itself!
Here shed electrics are in ..all mounted on a panel with the cables hidden behind. I still need to get some fluorescent strip lights and wire those in. Sourcing suitable fluorescent lights is a bit of a problem as the roof trusses in the shed limit me to 2' strip lights. B&Q have some for £17 but i'm probably going to get some non-corrosion weatherproof one's from QVS or TLC instead for about the same price by the time i add on the cost of the tubes.

Also fitted some window locks on the shed windows that lock when windows are closed. Today i've got some plastic shelving from B&Q for shed too so now i can begin the big move of all the DIY gear from spare room to shed.

littlerose12345

suisidevw wrote: »

How did all your jobs go littlerose?

Been a while, probably since we had new bathroom in Feb since I put pics up on here so I set myself a bit of a target at the weekend. To get rid of the rubbish crazy paving and soften up the front of our house. Managed to get rid of most slabs on freecycle and in a few weeks when the turf is bound together and cut i think it'll look great. My legend of a neighbour helped out, it's getting a lot of watering at present!

Hope you like!

Jobs went well thanks, the house is now ready and awaiting new carpets, cannot wait!

Your pics look great!!

John_Pierpoint

andrew-b wrote: »

Also fitted some window locks on the shed windows that lock when windows are closed. Today i've got some plastic shelving from B&Q for shed too so now i can begin the big move of all the DIY gear from spare room to shed.

Careful! It might depend on where you live, the security of your garden, the robustness of the shed and the nearness of nosey neighbours.
I have lived in Nottingham & S.Essex. In Nottingham (worst police force in the country?) someone bunked over the 6ft wall and "jimmied" the shed door and stole two bikes. In Essex they cut the Padlock with bolt croppers, stole lawn mower and DIY tools then found my sledge hammer and used in to smash down the back door.

All this in broad day light.

My tools now live in the loft and dragging down the ladder into the kitchen every time I need a hammer is a pain in the neck.