Reality check on doing up a house please.

bylromarha

We love the area we've sold our house in and are quite sad to have to move away from it.

A house about 2 minutes walk away has come up for auction...but can be sold prior to auction. OH saw it and loved it...I haven't seen it yet.

We would need to build a 2 storey extension to turn it into what we want. It is currently very basic and liveable...in the summer. Not so sure about the winter. We don't know how much rewiring/work needs to be done in the house as yet as only one viewing. Heating system would definitely need to be put in throughout. The solicitor for the vendors has a legal pack...would this have surveys in?

My question is this...are we being mad even considering doing up a property as first timers, with a 19 month old (who's reasonably calm and well behaved) and a newborn due in June? We would need to live in it too, but could crash at a friends for a week max whilst essential stuff happens.

How long would this size of extension take to complete (5m*14m)? How much would it interfere with the main structure of the house? Are we mad, seeing as the family is so young?

We have seen other houses we like (which mean compromises on our needs from the house)...but nothing we love...and the thought of being able to create what we want at a price we can afford is very appealing...but we aren't sure of the practical implications of the building work.

Advice welcome please

silvercar

Could take months. The major upheaval is when they knock through to link the new bit with the old. Until that point all the mess will be outside. Once they knock through you have to live with the mess and the nuisance. Think of electrics and water being switched off all the time.

The problem is that thanks to the Britsh weather it is easier to do the outside in the Summer and the remainder in the winter; for your convieniance it would be easier the other way round.

Doozergirl

How old is the house? When would you say was the last time the house had any work done on it; is it in a particularly bad state or is it just very dated?

What's the guide price on the house and what do you think it would be worth finished?

mr218

there is only one way to find out.

how much is the potential purchase price (what is your maximum limit it it goes to auction?)
after that how much is left for work to be done? can you spare money from your monthly income to put towards the work.
will you be borrowing on a mortgage from the bank.

once you have your finances sorted out,

you need to get a ball park figure (atleast) on the cost of building an extension from a local architect. add a contingency fund to it.
need to investigate if you can get planning permission
work out the time it will take to build it.

obviously with one young kid and one on the way it will be your husband who has to manage the project and supervision. can he spare time from work. can you get help from friends and family with looking after the children
are you easily stressed and worried

finally, if you are doing work on the house, where will you stay. can you stay inside the house while work is ongoing? or will you have to budget for additional accomodation

one thing to remember is that it is easy to get carried away with dreaming. but your present is more important. you dont want to live through these great years with your children in a state of worry and tension.

right now may not be the best time to undertake this project for you. your children are young only once. enjoy their childhood. you can get a dream project later as well. but be aware that this can drag on for a couple of years.

is it worth all the financial and emotional turmoil. if your figures add up and you are well supported then by all means go for it. make sure your husband is not carried away a picture in his head and is thinking it through clearly. it is all too easy to get carried away and think you will cope.

gains in the property market are good but nothing is more precious than the childhood of your babies and your peace of mind

Heth_2

Can you afford to do the work straight away? And do you think it will be feasible with a new born baby? In my opinion it sounds quite ambitious, and only you can decide if all the stress would be worth while.
Also I'd get a full structural survey done before putting an offer in and investigate things like whether you would need planning permission for the extension. Even if you lost the survey money it would be better to be prepared for what you will have to do.

bylromarha

Doozergirl wrote:

How old is the house? When would you say was the last time the house had any work done on it; is it in a particularly bad state or is it just very dated?

What's the guide price on the house and what do you think it would be worth finished?

About 1900s.

Last work done was about 1970s when they built a side porch on.

State looks fine...decor v. dated (pieces of furniture I hadn't seen for YEARS!)

Guide price is £140,000...we will only be able to buy it before auction. EA said next door to it went for £165k 2 years ago, same layout, not in good decorative order.

We'd like to turn it into a 4 bed with study, garage, larger rooms. No others on the road have an extension, although some have built garages with room for a gym above. So no idea what it would go for once the works done, but I could see us being there for the next 20 years, so not looking to resell for profit.

Have emailed planning dept to ask their advice and am ringing a few builders for rough quotes for the work.

Lots of good advice from you all on here so far...thanks.

Doozergirl

The extension will be the least of your worries if the staircase is on the right side for the extension to fit. They can build it up and knock through at the last minute when everything else is done - we have two children and I will put up with this, redecorating and with having bathrooms and kitchens refitted, but replumbing and rewiring would be a nightmare even without children.

You'll get an idea of whether the house needs rewiring from the style of the switches and sockets in place, also (importantly) the wires running from the fuse box. You want them to be flat and grey.

You are going to have to spend some time out of the house, timescale dependant on exactly what needs doing. The fact that it is an auction property indicates to me that everything is going to need doing and I would budget for at least two months of mortgage and rent together. It gets much worse before it gets better.

The end product is fantastic- a brand new house that is completely to your taste, down to taps, door handles and switches , but there will be many, many days where you wonder if it's all worth it when it looks like hell and every square millimetre is piled with dirt and sawdust.. I get that feeling with every house and most of them I don't even have to live in. :wall:

Lemoncurd

We were in a similar position to you a year ago. Had an 18 month old and a baby due in Sept. Completed on this house in July and then got it rewired, 2 bathrooms and a cloakroom redone, roof worked on, flooring done throughout, kitchen alterations, full redecoration...
We had planned to do things like decorating ourselves but it simply wasn't realistic with a toddler so we had people in to do nearly everything. We could never have lived here while the work was going on, it wasn't safe or pleasant and we would have just got in the way of the workmen (they all claimed that they quoted lower because the house was empty).
At the end of August this work was all complete and we moved in but there were (are) still so many loose ends to tie up! We've just had all the doors replaced but painting them all is a much bigger job than we imagined so have that to finish. The central heating still needs work, still need to finish most of the curtains, the patio and both front and back gardens need completely redoing, quite a bit of repointing needs to be done and the garage up and over door needs replacing - the list of jobs just seems endless!! It is difficult getting them done or even sitting down to make phone calls to arrange other people to come and do them when you've got little ones around, we really thought we'd have it completely finished last year but now I wouldn't be surprised if we were still working on it next year. Having said that we wouldn't rule out doing it again for the right property.

bylromarha

Lemoncurd...good to hear someone else has done this with the littlies...and would do it again!

Can I just clarify...was the July and August in the same year? ie the majority of work took a max of 8 weeks? And also, who took a lead in this, person at home with kids or whoever was working?

Doozergirl- it's gone to auction as kids are selling deceased parents house and it seems they want the cash ASAP.

And does anyone know if the legal pack with the solicitors would have a survey already in it?

Doozergirl

No surveys will have been done - auction properties are sold as seen as any other sale is. It's your responsibility to have a survey done if you want one, I'm afraid.

bylromarha

Doozergirl wrote:

No surveys will have been done - auction properties are sold as seen as any other sale is. It's your responsibility to have a survey done if you want one, I'm afraid.

Bring on the HIP!