Buying a beautiful wreck

agrinnall

I'd guess it's this one.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40492653.html

It does look interesting, I'd want to know more about the state of the attached property.

Taylor132

Excellent detective work..... Next door neighbour lives there and has been in continue habitation for at least the last 5 years....

Angelicdevil

More pics on this entry:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-58354250.html

I'd say you need more than £40k.

Looks like you'll need a new kitchen and bathrooms.

Also, who is responsible for the upkeep of that road/path? Would you be impacted by maintenance costs?


Looking at the floor plans there would be plenty of opportunity to completely remodel the interior if it's not listed.

I'd be inclined to lose a bedroom, increase bedroom 1 size with a decent sized en-suite bathroom and dressing area and increase the size of the main bathroom.

The downstairs layout could be hugely improved too.

PaperDoll

We spent considerably more that £40K bringing up to scratch a 1930s 3 bed semi and that was 10 years ago. It too had damp issues, caused by a combination of boast render (allowing water ingress at various points) and lack of ventilation where airbricks had been covered by a shoddily laid tarmac driveway. The house had to be rerendered on the outside, replastered throughout inside and all timbers replaced throughout due to wet rot...which meant ceilings had to come down and the whole ground floor being lifted and relaid in concrete. All that was left of the house we bought was the roof and 4 brick walls.

The think with old houses is that surveys only tell you so much...it's only when you start to peel back the layers that you find the real story...like the dry rot we encountered in the kitchen which couldnt have been detected until we removed the kitchen fittings and started to strip the plaster. Or the cracks in the waste pipe that you only discover when you start to landscape the garden...and find out that you have to dig up the whole driveway.

As a previous poster mentions, stone buildings present a whole other set of problems too. I've recently moved to a rural property, part of which is an original stone built cottage. I love it but it's not for everyone.

So, if you have a bottomless bank account, are immune to stress and are prepared to give over your life to it for the next number of years, then snap it up! I'm a sucker for properties like the one you describe but, honestly, having survived a renovation on a more modern build, I would approach with extreme caution.

018125

What a fascinating property. I would love to get stuck into doing it up.

I think the garden looks a bit small for such a large property which is a shame.

Taylor132

Thanks Angelicdevil - appreciate your points and long term I love your ideas. I can live with the bathroom and kitchen as is, provided they work..... I personally class that as cosmetic and would be focusing on structural issues first.

With regard to the roads.....I don't know yet. I don't know if the council are responsible or not..... I will be finding out tho!

Thanks Paperdoll.....thanks for your story. Its really highlighting the potential issues.

018125 - the garden is tiny. From what I can glean there was land and it got sold off. On going dispute at present between repo company and unknown 3rd party about that which is halting the sale.
Ideally I would like a bigger garden but its in the middle of the countryside so I will just admire other peoples.

DaftyDuck

Sounds like you are approaching this with eyes wide open and head screwed on tight, viewing it as a long-term project. Costs will, over the years, exceed any guesstimate you may make, so it's whether it's personally worth it to you. So long as you can get it structurally safe and livable-in, it looks to have real potential. The kitchen and bathroom will do for a while, and money would be better spent getting the place dry, fixing the structure, and working on doing as much as you can yourself.

For the type of house, it doesn't look too bad condition, to be honest. I do think, for a house of that size, limited garden space is a problem, but not everyone wants one. Much of the damp issue is obvious failing guttering/downpipes and vegetation, but expect the worst and you won't be disappointed. I'd question the stability of the ground behind and proximity of some trees that might be the neighbours. You can live in it, and I've certainly lived in worse.

But, plan for a long project, if you don't have cash to throw at the place. It's certainly a lovely area to be based in, and a great place to raise a family.

Upsidedown_Bear

In case anyone else wants to be nosy :whistle: this is how it was in 2012:
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/property-history/6/smithy-green/huddersfield-road/newhey/rochdale/ol16-3tg/17266206

brodawel

It is nice, I can see why you like it. The trees worry me a bit, I'm obsessed with avoiding another dark dim property.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

When people describe properties as "wrecks" I imagine them to look more like Corfe Castle.

I can see the appeal and the potential. The crux will be the origin of the damp and the extent of any damage structurally. When I bought my house I paid for an independent damp survey. This was a detailed report explaining the type of construction and why "damp readings", as listed alarmingly in the valuation survey, are often something else entirely (eg chemical deposits in old chimney breasts).