General FTB question - houses seem too cheap!

calnen

currynchips - yes, I imagine it's pretty nasty inside at the moment. I quite like the idea of DIY though, and we both get a good holiday allowance in the summer to do some ourselves.
Just to clarify, I'm not thinking of buying that actual house. It's more a proof-of-principle that I'm after for the moment.

Running horse - we like the space and we have the money! 530 still seems pretty reasonable, and I like having a garden. This way we get space for a pc each, her keyboard, my drumkit and a spare bed upstairs too - Its nice to have the room after sharing a student house for 3 years

hethmar

Calnen, hang on another 6 months or so, to see how the market pans out, there is no rush at the moment. I take it you are teachers? In which case you have a lot more security than many people and would be a good catch for an estate agent

Just had a look at the place on the link. Hmm, looks like vandalised ex LA, the window and possibly door smashed in? Its a "popular" area - avoid popular areas, they are usually overcrowded hell holes. If it is a non conventional building material - eg an airey type, concrete one, then the amount you could borrow on it would be limited. Plus any works needed to put it into a reasonable state would be taken into consideration for the value and the mortgage reduced accordingly

As you say, this isnt a house you are really interested in, so carry on looking, something better will be coming along.

olly300

OP you should spend the next 6 months investigating the local area in the places you want to buy. If you plan on having a family in any house you buy then check out the local primary schools to see how good they are.

whathavewedone

Having renovated a 3 bed semi myself that seemed in generally good nick but just hideous 1970s decor I would say that you need to be prepared to pay at least twice as much as you imagine it will cost.

Things that we hadn't anticipated included:

A ceiling collapsing when nasty fake beams were removed

A wall collapsing when tiles were taken off (they had tiled over tiles and the bathroom had been added on at some point after the property was built)

The kitchen was a complete and utter nightmare, it had tongue and groove everywhere (I know this is quite trendy now but trust me it looked like a massive sauna) including the ceiling and took much longer and therefore cost a lot more than we anticipated

Once the woodchip wallpaper (and the paper under that and the paper under that) was stripped off everywhere needed plastering

Luckily we sold it for the asking price in 2007 because if we had waited another year we'd never have got back the money we spent never mind made a profit.

Be very sure it's where you want to live because you could be stuck there for a long time. And living in a house that needs gutting is not much fun. Living without heating and hot water, no bathroom, no kitchen.

PasturesNew

The house you linked to is cheap as chips - and looks an exceedingly rough scabby hole.

hethmar

Yep, afraid you are right PN

Op, you are only young, why are you trying to pay a mortgage off over 11 years? Get a bigger mortgage over a more usual period of 25 years and get a decent house - I think youd be buying a lot of trouble in a rough area with that cheapie one. Otherwise stay as you are renting.

shirlgirl2004

Reading the general profile of the area I don't think you'd tempt me.

Info from Upmystreet

hethmar

Hmm - at least you wouldnt have to worry about your Guardian being stolen from your letter box.

Family income Low
Interest in current affairs Very low
Housing - with mortgage Low
Educated - to degree Very low
Couples with children High
Have satellite TV Medium

calnen

Wow, thanks for the efforts all - I wasn't expecting people to go and do research!

The point that's really grabbed my eye so far is 'why do you want to pay off a mortgage so soon' - and to be honest I'm not sure. I think it's more that I (well, we) don't like the idea of being saddled with something for as long as we've been alive so far, rather than being in a rush as such.

I agree with all the points about it being a dodgy house in a possibly dodgy area -I don't know the specific street at all so it could well be a real hole.

Thanks for the advice - certainly have a few things to think about :beer:

Darth_Marty

RomansProperties wrote: »

I have just quickly checked and it would take about 11 years to pay off at just over 5%.
Looking at the house its none standard construction so you would have to check out the mortgage situation first.
Hope this helps

How do you know its non standard construction then? Where does it say that?