First time buyer - same occupants for 40 years

AdrianC

bromine wrote: »

My concern is that we are not a DIY-savvy family

These are skills that can be learnt. You will certainly want to pick at least the basics up - it's a very expensive pain in the backside to be trying to find a trade willing to come out at a convenient time for a working family to do something ridiculously minor that you could do in half an hour with a basic toolkit.

Basically, what I want to know is whether we are opening a can of worms by choosing a house that hasn't gone through the scrutiny of a sale process for at least 40 years?

"The scrutiny of a sales process" is irrelevant. Some people have very basic valuation surveys only, and - as you so rightly point out - much of a survey is basic backside-covering.

In many ways, I'd rather start with a property like this. You know there's no recent bodges, and you know where you're starting from. You can get a decent rule-of-thumb of the electrics from the consumer unit - is it rewireable fuses, or breakers? RCD or not?

Looking at the pics, I'd say that this is the real tell for me...

Sure, the decor's a bit of a demographic give-away, but that's all clean and well-maintained, and there's money been spent where required in recent years - the boiler doesn't look ancient, and shows the upgrade to GCH isn't going to be ridiculously major. I'd suggest you're looking at a decent, solid blank canvas.

Doozergirl

AdrianC wrote: »

These are skills that can be learnt. You will certainly want to pick at least the basics up - it's a very expensive pain in the backside to be trying to find a trade willing to come out at a convenient time for a working family to do something ridiculously minor that you could do in half an hour with a basic toolkit.


"The scrutiny of a sales process" is irrelevant. Some people have very basic valuation surveys only, and - as you so rightly point out - much of a survey is basic backside-covering.

In many ways, I'd rather start with a property like this. You know there's no recent bodges, and you know where you're starting from. You can get a decent rule-of-thumb of the electrics from the consumer unit - is it rewireable fuses, or breakers? RCD or not?

Looking at the pics, I'd say that this is the real tell for me...

Sure, the decor's a bit of a demographic give-away, but that's all clean and well-maintained, and there's money been spent where required in recent years - the boiler doesn't look ancient, and shows the upgrade to GCH isn't going to be ridiculously major. I'd suggest you're looking at a decent, solid blank canvas.

The real tell on a 120 year old house is the 1980s extension?

It's not, is it though. That's the very best bit.

bromine

Thank you all for such detailed and insightful replies. Based on the responses so far, I'm of the view that we can proceed with surveys and ask the surveyor to check for these issues and see what they come back with. We'd also get an electrical estimate just to be sure. However, there is no obvious reason to just pull out from the deal.



We are not looking to thoroughly modernise the house, we just want to do enough to be able to sell it in 4-5 years' time. This house looks good enough for our budget (so far).



Doozergirl: Your last sentence has raised some alarm bells:

"You know already that it needs some work, you must also know that £5k for central heating is just the beginning."

Am I right in thinking that your are making a general point about buying an older house and not suggesting we walk away. We really don't want to get into extensive remedial work, just maintain it for 4-5 years and sell.

bouicca21

As a totally unknowledgeable person, my main concerns would be whether the roof is sound, especially on the flat roof extension, and whether the damp course has been compromised. The rest is pretty much a blank canvas, but what you need or want to spend on it is not just about what you can afford it’s also about how long you want to stay there. It’s one thing spending on a forever house, another if you just want to be comfortable before upsizing.

My own tip would be to live in it for a bit before deciding where radiators and sockets should go.

dogshome

From the kitchen cupboard doors, I'd guess that it was fitted in the mid 1980's, ( Date of the extension build ? ), except the cooker housing which is much, much later and would have required re-wiring the cooker circuit.


So at least the extension wiring should be up to standard

MovingForwards

I would buy that and make it my own, you can have full electrics done, additional sockets where they are useful.

GCH can be positioned in a useful place with the radiators placed where they will heat the room.

I wouldn't even rush to do any of it.

Just move in, strip wallpaper off and paint a room at a time, save up for GSH, get that done.

Live in in more, plan, save up and do the electrics then redecorate.

But that's me

Yalpsmol

Whats the reason you want to move on 4 or 5 years? Doesnt seem very long to plan to be in somewhere.

seven-day-weekend

The beauty of a house like this is that it is livable at the moment and you can take time to make it your own.

It will need GCH and almost certainly rewiring. Budget for those, plus making good the plaster and decoration after the rewire, also a contingency for unexpected finds. When you have the rewire, have more sockets than you think you are going to need, because you will need them!

It's a nice house, I would go for it.

ACG

I think the electrics will probably need doing, if not straight away then probably not too far down the line - it might be best getting that done when you move in - nothing worse than decorating and finding out it all needs coming down. There is a lot of dust when doing that so it would be a priority - I would say £3-4k.

I have renovated a couple of properties but Doozergirl has done far more than me and I would trust her(?) judgement probably more than my own.

This is a house where I would expect you to be buying for maybe £20k below its true value if not more. There is nothing wrong as such, but if you have no friends/family in the trades to call on, then I think you are easily going to be spending £10-20k to get everything brought up to date. Parts of it (decorating for example) can be done over time and in all fairness the kitchen looks decent enough, just dated - that would probably be the last job I would do if the budget is not there to do everything on day one.

Diana2014

Just make sure that you get three quotations for any major job that you need done, preferably from traders who have been recommended - either personally (family, friends, neighbours, local community groups) or via reputable commercial concerns.

I agree with the general principle of living there until you decide what you really need to have done, except that rewiring and CH installation would be extremely hard to live with. One friend bought a 1920s house and spent a few months half-camping on one floor while her builders did a complete renovation on the other, but it sounded very unpleasant indeed. I lived in a flat a mile away while my house - last renovated in about 1950 - had the basic structural work done to it, which took nearly four months.

If you don't need structural work done as well as upgrading some utilities, you could probably find a way to work around that - perhaps by staying nearby for a few days.

Good luck!