Should I jump? FTB in need of advice

tara747

I've fallen for a house (well, the location mainly - houses rarely come up for sale there and I mean rarely).

I have £90k in savings + about £4k for SD, legal fees etc
House value £145k
Needs about £50k of work which I can pay for from my savings
Leaving £40k deposit

I'd be borrowing £105k, which is 2.7x my salary. I'd like to overpay as much as possible and get it paid off within 15 years.

It's doable, right?? I'm buying on my own and I think I need reassurance.

Red-Squirrel_2

Sounds perfectly reasonable.

50K of work is an awful lot on a house worth 145,000 though. What do you estimate it would be worth when finished? Do you have any experience of doing that level of work or have any tradesmen friends of family?

tara747

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Sounds perfectly reasonable.

50K of work is an awful lot on a house worth 145,000 though. What do you estimate it would be worth when finished? Do you have any experience of doing that level of work or have any tradesmen friends of family?

Thanks.

It does need the work, and it'll create an extra bedroom, which will increase the value. It's currently a 2-bed. IMHO, the current asking price reflects the value in the state that it's in. The work should increase the value by £50k or do.

I don't know any builders, but I have a couple of relatives who are experienced at tiling, laying floors etc, which might come in useful... but is unlikely to save a fortune (or is it?).

kellaree

If you have that much in savings and the cost of the work only matches the price increase if carried out....why not just buy a £195k house and save yourself the stress of all that work? Especially as a FTB and lone buyer?

TBagpuss

the level of mortgage you are considering sounds perfectly manageable and you'll have a reasonable LTV.

Think about the work needed, and in particular how comfortable are you with living with the disruption. Where have you got your £50K figure from? How confident of it are you? Bear in mind that if you are doing substantial work you may find additional issues, or find that things do run over budget.
Is it practical to get the work done in stages so that you can manage the costs and cope with any unexpected issues?

Obviously the upside of getting the work done yourself is that you then get the house you want, with everything done to your taste. The downside is that it is a lot of stress and disruption.

tara747

kellaree wrote: »

If you have that much in savings and the cost of the work only matches the price increase if carried out....why not just buy a £195k house and save yourself the stress of all that work? Especially as a FTB and lone buyer?

Because there are no other houses for sale in my preferred location. It's a nice area and has a very low turnover of houses for sale.

TBagpuss wrote: »

the level of mortgage you are considering sounds perfectly manageable and you'll have a reasonable LTV.

Think about the work needed, and in particualr how comfortable are you with living with the disruption. Where have you got your £50K figure from? How confident of it are you? Bear in mind that iof you are doing substantial work you may find additiona lissues, ro find that things do run over budget.
Is it practical to get the work done in stages so that you can manage the costs and cope with any unexpected issues?

Obviously the upside of getting the work done yourself is that you then get the hosue you want, with eveything done to your taste. The downside is that it is a lot of stress and disruption.

I got a few quotes for the work. £50k is the dearest quote.

I'd be happy to get the work done in stages if it ended up cost a bit more, e.g. I could save up for the 'finishing touches' such as tiling, doors etc.

A friend has offered to let me move in with her for the duration of the work (about 3 months), she insists on no payment but I am going to give her a few hundred quid when I move out and not take for an answer

Yes, the idea of additional issues scares me :eek:, but I'm assuming that a full structural survey would show these up?? Am I right?

And I agree - it would be nice to have the place done to my own taste. That's pretty appealing.

TBeckett100

it is better to buy cheaper and spend 50k getting it perfect than spending 195k and then looking to replace kitchen/bathrooms down the line.

If the property requires 50k of work, there is probably a good change that come the building survey, there may be other issues. However, you won't know.

If its a home that you are likely to stay in for a long time, then go for it. Whats the worse that can happen?

tara747

TBeckett100 wrote: »

it is better to buy cheaper and spend 50k getting it perfect than spending 195k and then looking to replace kitchen/bathrooms down the line.

If the property requires 50k of work, there is probably a good change that come the building survey, there may be other issues. However, you won't know.

If its a home that you are likely to stay in for a long time, then go for it. Whats the worse that can happen?

Well, I suppose the worst that can happen is that the surveyor misses something that ends up costing me an extra £20k! :eek: But can I sue them if that happens?

tara747

Also... I'd like to take a good long fixed rate mortgage (7-10 years) so I'm cushioned against rate shocks. But the redemption fees are huge in the first 5-6 years.

If I needed to move during the fix period, would I be able to convert the mortgage to BTL and rent the house out? Assuming the LTV wouldn't have dropped below 75%.

Red-Squirrel_2

tara747 wrote: »

Well, I suppose the worst that can happen is that the surveyor misses something that ends up costing me an extra £20k! :eek: But can I sue them if that happens?

Well, not really. The surveyor will tell you what they can, but they will also advise you to consult experts in some areas, which passes the buck to you in terms of responsibility. House buying in this country is basically buyer beware. If you complete on a house and it turns out there's more work than you thought, there's not really a lot you can do about it unless somebody has out and out lied to you deliberately. Sometimes not even then.

50K should be enough to get any 2 bed house into a safe and habitable condition though, unless its falling down and the whole thing needs practically rebuilding!

tara747

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Well, not really. The surveyor will tell you what they can, but they will also advise you to consult experts in some areas, which passes the buck to you in terms of responsibility. House buying in this country is basically buyer beware. If you complete on a house and it turns out there's more work than you thought, there's not really a lot you can do about it unless somebody has out and out lied to you deliberately. Sometimes not even then.

50K should be enough to get any 2 bed house into a safe and habitable condition though, unless its falling down and the whole thing needs practically rebuilding!

So I might need several different types of survey? This could end up costly :eek:

Your second paragraph is a bit more reassuring. The £50k is the total quote for the remedial work, plus a new kitchen and bathroom (both needed) and new floors.