Has anyone bought a house that needed complete refurbishment?

hcb42

We bought a three storey victorian terrace 5.5 years ago, and I have lost count but would easily have spend £50-£60K doing it up totally, with others doing the work.

We didnt live in it for around a month, while wiring and main plumbing was upgraded. Then we did. We moved in and washed pots in bath until we could hook a sink up, had a pasting table which doubled as a worktop, and had a 1930s baathroom for over 1yr. We are still completing small jobs.

I think it can be done, but only if you can put up with mess and tired decor for years!

Owain_Moneysaver

redhead123 wrote: »

As for our situation - i sold my house over a year ago and live with my partner in his. With my deposit and savings i've just about saved up 40K. Based on my salary i could get a mortgage of 200K with my partner about 280K. Plus we have his house to sell. My other half won't put his house on the market until he sees something he wants to buy his house is shared ownership (80 per cent) so he'd probably come out with about 30K if the house was sold at current market value.

You'd need to find out what sort of mortgage the lender would offer on that property. If it needs that much refurbishment then the mortgagor might only offer 50%, or hold sizeable retentions pending work being done.

Once the work starts the property will actually be worth less (it'll be in an even worse state) so you can find yourself in negative equity quite quickly.

newgirly

Have you viewed the house yet? I would definatly take a look as sometimes the reality is not quite up to what you expected.

It depends on many factors, is it an investment or a home you want to stay in for many years, do you have the time, patience and money to invest. Do you have a family that will have to live in the chaos or is it just you and a partner ?

If it was me I would also be very tempted, its a very beautiful cottage, good luck.

neverdespairgirl

I think it's gorgeous, too. I wouldn't be scared of a listed building necessarily - it's not the end of the world. My parents bought an absolute wreck of a 13th century hall house a few years ago, and that's Grade II* listed, so even stricter rules.

We've just bought our first place - in central London. That has needed a lot of work - replastering, new bathrooms, new kitchen, new floors throughout, lots of work on the windows. We're having almost all of it done before we move in. Don't fancy living on a complete building site.

jellyjelly84

Hiya, we bought a house in March, everyone thought we were crazy but it was the first house we both fell in love with and so we went for it, we asked a builder to come and have a look before we bought it, and we paid extra to have a full survey (which was worth doing) the house was structurally sound, but it needed to be completely gutted. We ripped everything out, ceilings, bathrrom, kitchen, wallpaper - EVERYTHING! so we could see exactly what we had to work with. We then realised that the money we were using to pay our rent could be better spent on the house, so we pack everyhting up and moved into the house (well, into one room). That was Feburary, we are still doing the house up very slowly, mainly weekends as we both work 9-5 and fortunately I have the school holidays too get things done.

Cost wise, we have done as much as we can ourseleves, we have callled in lots of favours (my uncle is an electrician, friends and family have been great too). We have used local plasterers and plumbers, but the majority of the work we've done ourselves. I was hopeless at DIY but I'm getting better, I am a whizz with a paintbrush! We've got a long, long way to go, but we're getting there. If ypu do decide to go ahead with your project, remember to laugh and not sweat the small stuf, you will want to strangle each other on almost a daily basis, and you will be envious of friends who have basic ammenities such as running water and carpets, but remember it won't be a building site forever and not everyone has the oppertunity to undertake such a brilliant project!

Good luck, it will be worth it

GDB2222

If you really can do major building work yourselves, and/or you can call on friends and family to do it for you as a favour, that's great. Otherwise, factor in the full cost of the building works into your valuation equation, even if you intend to spread the work over several years. Otherwise, you'll fall into the trap of overpaying and living in a slum that you can't afford to do up to a decent standard. (Yes, okay, that's perhaps a bit OTT, but if you are going to live in a building site for several years there ought to be some compensation for that.)