Ready to move in vs renovation project?

khanji17

We are looking to but a 4 bedroom house to upgrade from our current 3 bedroom house to a better area. We have seen a few properties, some are cheaper (3 beds) but need a new kitchen & bathrooms (selling for around £250k), whereas some are newly renovated with new kitchen & bathrooms (selling for around £360 to £400k). 
What would you recommend is it a good idea to just go for a newly renovated house with no work or buying a cheaper home that needs alot of work like new bathrooms, kitchen as well as an extension for an additional bedroom (not straight away but in a few years time)? Which is more cost effective? Our top budget is £400k with a 10% deposit. Bearing in mind, if we go into a house thats needs renovation, we will need to fund the work ourselves as the mortgage will be less.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.

csgohan4

depends on your preference and whether you would be happy to have renovations while your in the house and finding the money for this together with the disruption for this

we bought a cheaper house to renovate it in stages over the last few years, disruption was annoying but we knew what we were in for, we saved money and could renovate to our tastes

Unicorn_cottage

It's personal preference so nobody can guide you either way on this one? Are you good at diy or would you have to get trades in for everything?

joys1

We're in a process of buying a 3-bed which has been newly renovated by a developer. Taking into account the house prices in the area, we would have paid a hefty price even for a "project" so decided maybe it's just simply less stressful and would save some money for now. There are things we would like to change about the property, but at least it's in liveable condition so we can work on them in the long-term.

snowcat75

You have to be realistic on what the costs are with renovation, the time you can commit and the skills you have to renovate, Iv renovated one house, built another and then turned a barn to a house, and all the projects have been gruelling.... but I would say out the 3 the first was the worst a we were living in a cold dusty muddle for around 3 years.

If you have or can develop the skills to do much of the work yourself then there's a  potential to save a lot of money , but employing trades soon destroys any savings. 

khanji17

Thanks for the advise, this is what I am worried about, my husband is good with DIY but with a full time job wouldn't get much time for DIY and even if he says he would, it will be a very slow process. Hiring people to complete the job would be expensive.
I am in a mood to move into a fully renovated property. Just wanted to see people's experiences on here.

SootySweep1

Hi
The issue I have with done up properties is are they done up to your taste ?
If it's for a house I'm planning to live in for a long time I'd rather do the kitchen etc to my taste rather than live with/ put up with something that is somebody elses taste.
Jen

Davesnave

SootySweep1 said:

Hi
The issue I have with done up properties is are they done up to your taste ?
If it's for a house I'm planning to live in for a long time I'd rather do the kitchen etc to my taste rather than live with/ put up with something that is somebody elses taste.
Jen

Surely, if there's a serious taste clash, you just wouldn't offer, or you'd allow for replacement in your budgeting if it was confined to one area, like a kitchen.

My main concern with renovated property would be more focused on the quality of the work and fittings. If that looked good, I could even forgive a tartan kitchen!

DCFC79

khanji17 said:

Thanks for the advise, this is what I am worried about, my husband is good with DIY but with a full time job wouldn't get much time for DIY and even if he says he would, it will be a very slow process. Hiring people to complete the job would be expensive.
I am in a mood to move into a fully renovated property. Just wanted to see people's experiences on here.

All depends on would you be ok with a house thats been renovated where the style of say the kitchen isn't to your style compared to getting trades in to the kitchen and bathroom.
It could be a money pit if you decide to get trades in.

AdrianC

Kitchens can usually be facelifted fairly cheaply, just by changing the unit doors, even worktops and tiles.

joanars

We bought a house in need of renovation and 15 months into the project we are nowhere near completion, basically living on building site. I think the first few months were the worst, when we didn't have central heating, we didn't have shower and had to take baths everyday in the middle of the winter and awfully cold house. We are doing most of the works ourselves and working full time, every job takes weeks, if not months (we only just finished renovating the bathroom and that took us over 3 months, doing it in stages over the weekends). Also, the money that goes in the house never stops and you need to be prepared to fund such project if you decide to take it on - every job costs at least 20-30% more than what we estimate. If I can go back, I would buy the house again in a heartbeat, now we are finally starting to see some progress and the potential we saw in first place, but the work that goes into it is A LOT and its definitely not for everyone, it emotionally, financially and physically draining. I definitely can't imagine doing this if we had kids, unless you are hiring tradesmen to do the works for you.