Beware 'done up' houses?

olibrofiz

I love terraced houses....& been thinking of moving to one that I can just unpack and live in, unlike the usual fixer-uppers that I tend to buy


Looked at a couple today, one was lovely inside with an amazing re-fitted bathroom & kitchen, just fab. But when I went outside to look at the roof/chimney/guttering as I do I noticed the wall on the single storey extension was like this / at the top, with a noticeable bow above the side window. And then I noticed that the double glazing wasn't too great.


Avoid? How much to fix?

G_M

Trouble with 'done up' is

a) you have no idea if its been done really cheaply just to look good, or is a proper professional job

b) it may not be done to your style, and need re-painting / re-'doing-up'!

Those are genuine concerns about the extension/wall. Either rely on your own experise if you are confident, or get a surveyor to look at those points specifically, to determine if they are just idiosyncracies of an (old?) terrace house, or actually potential structural problems.

Pixie5740

When I was house hunting I found that "done up" properties tended to be all fur coat and no knickers. The vendors might have put in a nice looking kitchen but on closer inspection it would be cheap fittings and I would want to rip it out anyway to update the electrics.

makeyourdaddyproud

Pixie5740 wrote: »

When I was house hunting I found that "done up" properties tended to be all fur coat and no knickers...

Please, where are these houses???? I would like to know! My cat o' nine-tails awaits.

Doozergirl

If you do a house up to a standard, there is almost always a need for some type of certificate. Our house has had probably less work done to it than we would usually (we bought it for the land) but it still needed a cert for the new boiler, a new fuse board (not a re-wire - it wasn't needed but we did make several changes to the electrics), gas fireplace, a wall we removed and the flat roof which we took up to be pitched like the rest of the house.

Four certificates. If the vendor says that there are no certificates, then pretty much nothing to the house of any value.

We've changed the front door, replastered the whole house, turned one bedroom into two and put in an ensuite, knocked down the wall between loo/bathroom and replaced, new doors and flooring throughout, a load of skirting etc, plus new kitchen. The electrics needed some upgrading as soon as we would have changed the cooker, so that would have sparked the need for a cert.

There's a lot that doesn't need certifying but you almost can't buy a doer-upper and not trigger something that needs to be signed off

New skirting boards would be a good sign that the aging plaster had been addressed in a Victorian house. Plaster always needs replacing and it's a huge messy job. Being conscientious, at least some skirting ends up needing to be replaced.

cloo

I find a lot of beautifully done up houses are just charging a premium for a nice finish when we'd rather pay less for somewhere we can do up.

xylophone

I find a lot of beautifully done up houses are just charging a premium for a nice finish when we'd rather pay less for somewhere we can do up.

And when you come to sell, will you expect

a premium for a nice finish.....?

katejo

It depends a bit on whether someone is expecting the premium for a house with a cheap kitchen put in to sell or a genuinely good quality one. Whenever I decide to sell my terrace, I will want a bit back for the money which I have invested in a good quality kitchen. I do have relevant certificates for changes to the wiring, new fuse box, gas piping etc.
Personally I paid out for roof repairs and a fuse box before spending money on more interesting things like a new kitchen.

leveller2911

Far too many wannabee property developers watching "Homes under the hammer". Buy a property at auction, spend £200 on paint and then resell for a £40k profit........

Buyers are fools for being taken in by a fresh coat of magnolia emulsion on the walls. As already stated previously "All fur coat and no knickers".

spidereyes

leveller2911 wrote: »

Far too many wannabee property developers watching "Homes under the hammer". Buy a property at auction, spend £200 on paint and then resell for a £40k profit........

Buyers are fools for being taken in by a fresh coat of magnolia emulsion on the walls. As already stated previously "All fur coat and no knickers".

Totally agree.

I saw a property about 5 weeks ago that hadnt yet come on the market but EA recommended us to view as it was "really nicely done-up".
A bit of research before viewing I found that the property was bought at the end of 2012 for £98,000, now on the market for £130,000.

Upon viewing it had been newly painted in hideous bright colours, a tiny new fitted kitchen had been put in (seen the exact same in B&Q for £800), the kitchen was totally impractical in terms of size and there wasnt even any plumbing or space for a washing machine, a cheap bathroom had been put in and other than that it had some cheap laminate put throughtout and celing spotlights in every single room. Certainly not my thing.

EA told us that the seller had already turned down an offer for £125,000 and was not going to be flexible on price, needless to say its still on the market to date as its stupidly overpriced for the area.

Would have much rather bought the property in the "unmodernised" state and spent the money doing up to my taste.

olibrofiz

All fur coat and no knickers, lol. We're going to stick with the house we have and spend money on that, plus it's layout means the useable space is actually bigger than the 'bigger' (& more expensive) terraced houses we looked at.


Never come across a bow in the wall tho, just wondered how much that would cost to fix (how long's a piece of string I guess