Should I put in an offer?

Doozergirl

sophistica wrote:

What?It has no central heating, flooring and kitchen and you are a FTB? And you have no spare money? Do you know how much it costs to do this work? A lot. You would be better off getting a more expensive property IMO which requires no work and pay for it on a mortgage - otherwise you will need to borrow about 5-10k for heating 2k for kitchen and 1k for flooring and pay a lot of credit card interest.

Sticking it on the mortgage doesn't mean it's free - in fact, over 25 years you'd pay double the cost!

Personally, I'd rather not pay the premium for letting someone else carry out the work. I'd do it in my own time, (paying far less than that for the heating, kitchen and flooring in the flat) and ultimately see the change in my own pocket. If the flat offers more than others for the same price, there is potentially some added value there for the OP.

Horses for courses, or whatever it is they say.

Ian_W

Doozergirl wrote: Plus half the money we made on it after a year

WHAT!! You made MONEY on property? Well bless my giddy aunt, never knew that was possible, I'm sure I read on housepricecrashwatch.com that prices only ever go down? :eek:

Bet your one a them invested interests, an EA or someat trying to talk up the market!! :mad:

Doozergirl

Ian_W wrote:

WHAT!! You made MONEY on property? Well bless my giddy aunt, never knew that was possible, I'm sure I read on housepricecrashwatch.com that prices only ever go down? :eek:

Bet your one a them invested interests, an EA or someat trying to talk up the market!! :mad:

Just call me Gordon

I love the idea that I'd be able to talk up the market simply by posting on MSE nearly as much as the idea that I might even try

"Buy refurbished houses in Worcestershire - I've heard that's where the money is this year!"

dander

10k to put in central heating in a 1bed flat????????

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Presumably that's for the special 'bling' system with solid gold radiators and a diamond encrusted thermostat!

roswell

10 K it better have diamond TRVS as well .... cost us 3.k for re central heating a 3 bed house last year ... that was new boiler and all the work, Kitchen 1 k MAX if you can fit it yourself for 2 K you could have granite work tops in a 1 bed flat,

Flooring how much ... is that imported afgan wool uyou can easy lay budget laminate to get you by for a few years for probably 300 or less of cord carpet for 3.99 m2 will do for a year or so till you can get the capital to buy what you want.... me things someone is new to Money saving still in that consumer trap

sophistica

You all make me laugh really! I hate DIY - I have 3 guys currently working on my London flat. I am not a complete novice. I have 3 properties worth £1.2 million which all seem to be doing fine without me ever having got my hands dirty. In fact all of them were bought in top condition...my view (and you can all contradict me - I am thick skinned) is you need to buy in a good road next to the best primary school. And I did make £120k on a property in 2 years and made £500 pcm profit on rent after I paid off the mortgage. But I am going to be humble and say that I have a lot to learn. Good luck to you.

Doozergirl

sophistica wrote:

You all make me laugh really! I hate DIY - I have 3 guys currently working on my London flat. I am not a complete novice. I have 3 properties worth £1.2 million which all seem to be doing fine without me ever having got my hands dirty. In fact all of them were bought in top condition...my view (and you can all contradict me - I am thick skinned) is you need to buy in a good road next to the best primary school. And I did make £120k on a property in 2 years and made £500 pcm profit on rent after I paid off the mortgage. But I am going to be humble and say that I have a lot to learn. Good luck to you.

Wow. If that's humble, I'd hate to see self-congratulatory.

Claire_DC

I haven't seen the flat and don't know anything about the area.. but would advise to go in lower as then you have something to work with if they decline it.. going straight in at your max leaves you nowhere to barter.

Does the price of the flat take into account all the work that needs doing on it?

How much will the work cost to be done?

No matter what everyone else says, the cost of this will probably differ greatly to what everybody advises you as it's down to personal taste, cost of buying/services in the area, and the quality of the things you pay for (ie cheap laminate will generally be just that, maybe look for better quality that is reduced/on offer/that you can get cashback for off a cashback site. This is bound to last longer as buying cheap just to make do, could mean you buy twice to replace when it looks a bit worse for wear/whenyou don't need to make do - shop around and see what you can find).

Just for quick reference though, my dad got his kitchen for £500 as it was reduced, it's proper woodm modern and good quality.. so it goes to show that you don't need to spend thousands and thousands on the things like that if you're savvy and shop around instead of taking the first deal that comes your way!!

Back to the offer though, the less you offer the less you'll have to pay back in the long run, both in capital and in interest.. just keep this thought in your head and get it for as little as you can, getting on the property ladder is hard enough as it is (as i'm finding out these days as i'm in the same position as you) so any help financially will always be welcome.

booey_2

sophistica wrote:

What?It has no central heating, flooring and kitchen and you are a FTB? And you have no spare money? Do you know how much it costs to do this work? A lot. You would be better off getting a more expensive property IMO which requires no work and pay for it on a mortgage - otherwise you will need to borrow about 5-10k for heating 2k for kitchen and 1k for flooring and pay a lot of credit card interest.

I haven't gone into buying my first home without doing some research.

Central heating will cost me £3,500 max.I already have some plug in radiators which will tide me over nicely for a while.

I'm in no major rush to have a kitchen installed. There are basic (but old) units there which will do for now.

My only immediate expense would be flooring. The bathroom and kitchen have some lino down so I only need to cover the bedroom ,living room and hallway.

I have no intention of getting myself a higher mortgage. I know my limits and am happy to stick to them. Reading this board for the last few weeks has taught me that.

booey_2

Thanks for all your advice guys!

I have been chatting with a friend and he's going to come with me for a second viewing. He knows buildings so getting his input will be great and I'll see where I go from there