extending ex council house will I lose out long term?

kokokuz

so I'm about to buy my first house. I have cash from a divorce and had an offer accepted on an ex council house. I have anew partner and we want to extend the house and improve considerably but I'm concerned that in the future we will struggle to sell it at the amount we have out into the improvments.
the are is lovely so no worries there.
the house offer was accepted at £132k
the extension will cost about £50k
I'm planning on it being a family home for at least 20 years but obviously I won't need that space once all kids have left home!!! I might want to travel etc.
I'm really torn about it.
thanks in advance

CommitedToChange

No-one can know what will happen in 20 years. If you plan on staying there that long it's an investment in your future.

You can't buy assuming it will make £x in the future.

Slithery

Why not just buy a house for £180k that doesn't need the work doing?

Cakeguts

As it is an ex council house you will also need to check that you will have ownership of the garden. Some ex council houses only have leasehold of the garden and freehold of the house. Sometimes the land isn't transferred so you need to check if you can build an extension. It depends on the council but you don't always get freehold ownership of the gardens.

Mossfarr

Its to be your long term home - not an investment so why are you worried about this?
Nobody can predict house prices over 20 years, generally house values do increase but we also see price 'crashes' every so often. If you were unfortunate and decided to sell during or after a crash the value could possibly be less (or the same) as you are paying now - but its unlikely after that period of time! You should also have paid the majority of your mortgage by then so will have more equity than you have now.
Any improvements will make your house more desirable when you come to sell even if the value doesn't increase substantially - and you will have enjoyed the benefits whist you live there.
If you rented for the same period of time you wouldn't have anything to show for the expenditure!

kokokuz

bcs I'm not paying for the extension my new partner is

goodwithsaving

Are you buying with your new partner?

Nothing wrong with ex-council. It depends where in the country you are buying. Sometimes there are covenants meaning you have to apply for planning if you want to build even a porch etc, but that's just something you have to do. I don't see mine as 'I won't get an ROI', it's a lovely area, very desirable and the house is big for the money (a privately built one would be far more expensive and I couldn't have afforded it). It will always be saleable, which is better than having more money in a house you can't sell.....

skint_chick

Things to consider -

- is the mortgage going to be joint and if not is your partner going to register their interest at Land Registry?
- what if you split and partner wants their money back from extension, how will you manage this, will you have to sell, have you got this documented with a solicitor
- how will it work if you do sell at a loss/smaller profit - will you have a % split or a fixed amount and is this documented
- if you do decide to travel or move in 20years time would the rental income from the house cover mortgage and landlord costs or would you need to sell?
- have you both discussed what would happen if one of you dies or no longer wants the house?
- even if you don't need the space once the kids have left will downsizing leave you with significant money left over after getting a smaller place or could you afford to stay once retired

There's pros and cons to home ownership whatever stage you are at in life but if you are buying with someone else it's always best to document everything with solicitors and have plans in case things don't work out, so then everyone can relax and get on with life knowing they've at least covered the worst case scenarios

ProDave

I bought an ex council 2 bed semi (a rather unusual one as it was an odd pair with the one it was joined to being 4 bed)

I extended it and nearly doubled it's size to 4 bed.

It was only when I later sold it, I found I had breached a "no building without permission" covenant. It had planning permission and building regs but neither satisfied that covenant.

But it had been finished for several years with nobody raising the covenant issue so a simple indemnity policy satisfied the buyers.

lincroft1710

ProDave wrote: »

I bought an ex council 2 bed semi (a rather unusual one as it was an odd pair with the one it was joined to being 4 bed)

Many years ago I saw the plans for a design of a pair of semi-detached council houses, where there was flexibility in accommodation. There could either be 2 x 3 beds or 1 x 2 beds and 1 x 4 beds, depending on the requirements of the families assigned the tenancies.