Beware 'done up' houses?

olibrofiz

I've been advised by the EA today that the bow in the wall is 'historic' and the sellers have paperwork. I think the sellers have concentrated on the inside, which is lovely, but ignored the fact that the outside is what actually keeps the house standing. The bow + dg/roof/guttering leave a lot to be desired, add in the fact that they bought it 3 years ago and are asking 45K more than they bought it for. It's a no from me....


EDIT: my house is a hovel because I mostly concentrated on the things that keep the house standing!

dinofabio

plumfin wrote: »

We bought in February, a normal 2 bed semi. The house was done up really well and we have not had to (nor have we chosen to) do anything except boiler service, cleaning etc. No doubt we will have to in the future but knowing how awful we are at DIY, this was a real selling point for us.

We looked at a house for about the same amount of money that needed a huge amount of work doing to it, but the end result would have been fantastic. However, being realistic, not an option for us at this time. I love my little house and thank goodness for the previous owner's good taste!

Lot's of people vastly underestimate the cost of 'doing up' a house.

Lot's of people think they can buy a house to 'do up' and save themselves a packet. The same people would have been better of buying a house that was already 'done up' - would have saved themselves a lot of time and money!

Remember lots of people never recoup the money they have put into a property eg spend perhaps 50K on a new conservatory, kitchen and bathroom but never likely to get anywhere near their money back when they sell on.

Sometimes buying an already 'done up' property is the SMART thing to do!

dinofabio

As for certs etc indicating work throughout the property has been carried out to a reasonable standard - it wouldn't sway me one bit. You could still be buying a dog of a property. Certs can be cheap and may give you a false sense of security.

A partial rewire with a cert can cost a few hundred pound. A bit of garden fencing will cost you the same (without cert).

Fully plastering a few rooms (without cert) can cost more than a new central heating system (with cert).

Certs just form part of the overall picture.

Incidentally, one of the things that worries me when I'm looking at buying a property is newly painted super anaglypta!! When a house is covered in that stuff you've usually got some horrors in store when it inevitably comes off!