Which house ?

Curtis_E

bluedrop wrote: »

House2. A 3 bed end of terrace. Room sizes slightly larger than the above. rear extension done to a good standard. Loft conversion done too. The carpets needs changing and the house needs re-painting.
Asking price £465k

This one is much better as it doesn't need much construction work. Although the price is high..

Cissi

aliama wrote: »

Whoops, sorry. But I don't actually think it makes any difference to my answer.

He also said SE London which makes the cost of the works a lot higher than elsewhere in the country. I'd be astonished if he'd be able to get the loft conversion and a decent rear extension done for less than £80k, so as long as house no 2 really has been done to a decent standard I'd say 2 - especially if the basic footprint of the house is also a tad bigger.

But I'm confused as the OP states that both houses are 3-bed - surely with the loft conversion no 2 would be a 4-bed, or what's the point?

aliama

Cissi wrote: »

He also said SE London which makes the cost of the works a lot higher than elsewhere in the country. I'd be astonished if he'd be able to get the loft conversion and a decent rear extension done for less than £80k, so as long as house no 2 really has been done to a decent standard I'd say 2 - especially if the basic footprint of the house is also a tad bigger.

But I'm confused as the OP states that both houses are 3-bed - surely with the loft conversion no 2 would be a 4-bed, or what's the point?

Ouch. Okay, maybe I underestimated the price of the works. I didn't realise they'd be that expensive, even in London. Still think it's worth sitting down and doing the sums though; for example OP might have family in the building trade which could cut costs.

mrsmchapman

Going by what you say I'd choose (a), I would rather do the works myself to my taste than buy something already done. But it would come down to how much bigger the higher priced one was.

Is there rightmove links to the two to give people a better comparison?

phoebe1989seb

Unless number 2 is dramatically larger (inc an additional bedroom in the lift conversion) I would also choose number 1 as I'd much rather have the work done to my own taste and design......

bluedrop

I just checked the floor plans.

The two houses are exactly the same size if I dont consider the work done on the larger one (loft conv and rear extn) . One appears larger because of the extension and elongated pictures.

My max budget is £450k so I am hoping I can afford the £465 one (I have money for other buying costs held separately). The £385 one is comfortably in by budget - hoping I'll have about £75k for the works.

I would anyway need a rear extension and a loft conversion.

So, the question is - will I get a decent loft conversion with a shower room and a rear extension with a kitchen(Large rear extenion - 10ftx20ft) for £75k

Ivana_Tinkle

Do you have a builder in mind to do the work if you went for house number 1? If you've done renovations before, and know someone reliable, good and not expensive, then obviously 1 is going to be cheaper, although possibly not enough cheaper to make it worthwhile. If you're going to be picking names out of the Yellow Pages and ringing round for quotes then it's definitely not worth the hassle.

Have you asked the agents how flexible the two vendors are on price?

I'd be inclined to go for no 2, but use the price of no 1 as a bagaining tool (ie "I really love the way they've renovated it, and I'd so much rather buy this house, but the other one is so much cheaper...")

Kynthia

No 2. The works always cost more than you think and will be months of disruption. You are looking at £30/£35k plus for each the extention and loft conversion (if it's a full conversion with dormer).