Buying to "doing up"

Amara

Has anyone here bought a house, renovatied and sold with profit?

mlz1413

I bought, renovated and live in my home.

tyllwyd

We bought and renovated our home - but I don't think we could sell at a profit. IMHO, unless you are a builder or a professional property developer, it is incredibly difficult to make money on doing up a house, especially in the current housing market.

Doozergirl

Yes. We've been doing it for 12 years. It started as work on our first flat and we've been a Limited Company for nearly 9 years now.

I'm supposed to be doing year end accounts but I'm sat on the floor talking to you instead.

redlady_1

I too, bought, renovated and lived in it. Do not be fooled by the TV programmes. It is a painful process unless you are in the trade. Whatever you budget, double it! And know the tradesmen because they are your downfall if you get it wrong.

Amara

Thanks for your replies. My parents and myself have some money and we thought about buying a flat, small house and doing it, but we're not builders. It's just one of many options. We don't know what we'll do yet. If we'd gone ahead, we'd propably rent rather then sell.

redlady_1

Then unless you have a large budget and know some good tradesmen, my advice is to step away from it. Also, dont expect a turnaround of 5 weeks (bloody TV again). I have been here a year and have just got the big stuff done and I have hardly let up. Doozer does this for a living and has the tradesmen in place, but for mere mortals with a basic level of DIY, it is bloody frightening and to be honest, whilst I have learnt alot, I would NEVER do this again without some big tweaks!!! Also, you will need to have someone project manage it. I left a "carpenter" to fit a new front door whilst I went to work - you really dont want to know what I came back to!!!

Good luck if you do it.

Amara

Thanks, Redlady. Our budget is not big so we're not sure about it, but we've thought, it's possibly better then keeping it the bank?

redlady_1

A small budget is not much good. You need to realise if you are going to renovate instead of update (and even that is a mine field) that when you do one thing, the chances are another problem will appear. By the time I have finished I think I will have spent close to £20k and there are still things which will need doing. My original budget was £7k (yeah I know, lala land!!)

Also remember if you are doing up a "first time buyer property" that they are struggling to get mortgages so you may be lumbered with it for a while. Even the houses around here that need renovating dont seem to be shifting at the moment, which begs the question, if a developer isnt interested then why not!

I am painting a dim picture because you need to go in with eyes wide open and its not all fun and games.

geoffky

daytime tv has a lot to answer for..

Davesnave

Amara wrote: »

Has anyone here bought a house, renovatied and sold with profit?

I inherited a property and, because of its type, decided to renovate it rather than sell to a developer.

Despite having some knowledge/skills and much more within the family to draw upon, it wasn't as straightforward as expected and took 10 months. I did make a significant profit, but this was in 2006.

Had I tried the same thing in the market of 2008, I'd have been stuffed.

Personally, I don't see much difference between the market's prospects today and those it had in 2008.

....And if you were thinking of renting the place out, start by reading the sticky on this forum about your responsibilities as a landlord (A Tenant's Guide to Renting) That will help you to decide whether it's for you.