How much of a 'wreck' would you dare to buy?

Mazzawa

Just a little fun - wondering how much of a wreck of a house you would consider buying? So you have the house that needs a lick of paint, maybe new windows and has a bit of moss on the roof, to the shack that is barely standing with half a roof if that. How daring would you be if you were buying the house to live in yourself? No budget!

G_M

Give me a wreck any time.
Apparantly 'immaculate' houses never are once you move the furniture out and take the pictures off the walls, so you need to re-paint anyway.

A wreck you pay less for and can do up the way you want.

Cottage down the road was such a wreck the buyers brought in a bulldozer..... and ended up turning a pokey 3 bed into a huge 6 bed...

Catatonia

I would be happy to do a complete re-vamp if the price was right and if there were no structural problems.

mlz1413

I like mine to have walls and a roof, to be able to see the layout and what you would change to make it perfect for you.

I would buy something that needed pulling down if the plot of land was the reason for the purchase.

I'd hate to have a new build on an estate, might consider new if it was in the perfect location.

Agree with G_M that a wreck allows you to do it up the way you want it. Which is what I did with my current home, I got to design my kitchen & bathroom which, not only do I love but I'm also proud of.

Mazzawa

Catatonia wrote: »

I would be happy to do a complete re-vamp if the price was right and if there were no structural problems.

Oh yay replies! I think I would be inclined to agree with the above - providing there are no structural problems, and I could purchase it for a good price, a complete revamp might actually be quite fun, as well as having the satisfaction that plumbing and electrics are 100% safe. I'm always scared of stuff installed by someone else as I don't know who did it and if they were any good at their job. Maybe I'm a bit paranoid about stuff like that though!

What are your views on a property with damp? Either a leaky roof or rising damp? Would you dare to tackle it and do you think leaks can be resolved? (sitting here listening to the rain outside has got me thinking about it).

geoffky

I have never wall papered or painted in my life (that's for people who know what they are doing) so a wreck for me would be a nightmare..

hazyjo

Have bought one flat and two houses where I've had to put new kitchens in - and it certainly wouldn't bother me if I had to do it again one day. (One kitchen I put together myself, but someone else fitted it.) I actually quite having to get a new kitchen in - other people's tastes are rarely mine. I've had some shockers in the past - could barely use what was there to start with - one or two cupboards max, worktop that lifted straight off, washing machine that had to sit in the middle of the floor as the existing gap couldn't be used, same for the fridge freezer (had to squeeze myself through to reach the oven). Amazing how some people manage!

Have stripped paper, painted walls and put up wallpaper - would do all again.

Had a new roof and guttering put on my current house - no prob with that.

Damp - okay if it can be sorted.

Had double glazing put in one house.

Changed a bathroom once (original was a lovely shade of dark brown - ewww).

Wouldn't like to have to knock down walls - that's one thing I've not had to do. Never had to redo all the electrics or plumbing. Wouldn't really want to have to move rooms around (eg move a bathroom upstairs or move the kitchen in another room).

Wouldn't want to take on a complete wreck! Anything cosmetic (or easily changed) is fine.

Would get someone in to do a loft conversion if I absolutely had to - but wouldn't buy something with the intention of doing that (house we're buying is on four floors, so not something to consider anyway!). Wouldn't fancy the hassle of an extension.

Jx

mlz1413

damp can be cured.

Having learnt from experience I would replace all the floorboards and not try to salvage original boards out of sentiment! I loved my wood floor with all its wear and ageing. Sanded it, stained and varnished it, now 5 years on the boards have split and broken due to being weak from the damp, wood worm and weavil damage, oh and the joists underneath rotting away too - so I've got to move all the furniture out to have the joists & floors replaced so that I can stain & varnish again!

I would never have done this much without my fella being a builder - I trust what he tells me and can be involved with the repairs. I think having to trust a builder I didn't know would be hard - or I've just been watching too many cowboy builders!!

olias

Purely from a financial point of view, now is a great time to buy a wreck. You can negotiate a great price as developers and investors are fewer and further between as they don't want to end up with a property they can't sell for months on end. Once you add value by doing it up, you end up with a property worth more than what you have invested in it.

In a rising bouyant market, however, the developers and investors are crawling all over wrecks and they go for top money, so very few bargains to be had. Prior to the crash, properties that were true wrecks (virtually uninhabitable) were going for virtually the same amount as completely refurbished properties.

By the way, I will gladly take on a wreck preferably inhabitable, but I don't mind doing just about anything. Having said that, I am considering as my next purchase, looking for a virtual derelict property and living in rented whilst doing it up (provided the bargains are still to be had by the time I manage to sell my current property.

It's well worth doing, I have renovated or at least improved all my properties and as a result I am currently mortgage free with a 4 bed 3 bath home.

Olias

Catatonia

I would take on somewhere with rising damp, providing that it wasn't caused by the type of building (eg basement flat) so difficult to solve. Leaky roof wouldn't bother me either, as if you live somewhere for years it's likely to leak at some point! It would always depend on the price though, as leaky roof would suggest poor maintenance so I'd want that taken into consideration.

lorne57

It isn’t very often I reply to threads but had to with this one!!
Moved into our present house 1987 – no central heating – electrics very dodgy
Started with the central heating (installed by a perfectionist professional – and well worth the money/time/effort we paid for!) – came home one day from work to find a trench dug round the walls of the dining room(inside) I knew it had to be done but I just walked up the garden and cried
Kitchen was made from old kitchen/loo/pantry - involved knocking down walls new ceiling/plastering/bricking up one window and making two more.
Dining room – lot of re-plastering and removal of old fireplace and gas one installed.
Lounge – cupboard under stairs opened up and beams put in/ceiling had new beams put in –fire removed and replaced.
Our bedroom – ceiling replaced and all walls re-plastered (we would lie in bed at night listening to the old plaster fall down the back of the wallpaper held up with masking tape!!
Daughter’s bedroom and spare room pretty straightforward apart from some re-plastering.
Bathroom – bath removed/ceiling replaced, shower installed plus units and new floorboards.
All rooms have been papered, all windows either renovated or replaced including some of the glass (all wood no plastic).
Apart from the plastering and initial central heating all the other work has been done by hubby and me and no he’s not a builder! Stressful managerial job – the house is his “winding down” time – says he forgets all about work problems when his mind is on house jobs:j
We are just doing the kitchen again – cabinets are almost 20 years old but aren’t coming out as he made such a good job the first time! Only replacing the white goods (lovely black and stainless steel this time) and tiling/papering. After the kitchen it’s the lounge again which is showing its age.
Outside, the front garden has been done over the last couple of years but the back garden has not had much done to it at all – one side has a new garage (size of a small bungalow – for hubby’s other hobbies – cars and renovating furniture) and has been landscaped for veg growing – the other side is a complete tip – including about 10 tonnes of rubble which needs removing:eek:
You don’t buy a wreck (although I wouldn’t class the house as a wreck when we bought it – built in 1923 by the then owners family it just wanted renovating) unless you have plenty of time and money, it’s taken us over 20 years to get it to this and I wouldn’t describe it as finished – don’t think it ever will be – when you finish one job another is ready to be done. Because of hubby’s job he doesn’t have a lot of time so things take a while to get done – this kitchen refit started with the wallpaper coming down last February – that’s February 2010! Though things are going along at a decent pace at the moment!
We don’t live on an estate and we would hate a new build just wish we had more time and money to do what we wanted with the place!
Sorry for boring you all!!!!!!!!!!!!:rotfl: