julicorn's journey 2 - Moving Up

julicorn

Nichelette said:

Hope you feel better soon! I went to Sussex uni. Studied politics 05-08. I was born in the SE, so if I'd known what would have happened to house prices back then I'd probably have just got a job after college and a 100% mortgage. Probably be MF by now

Small world- I went there from 2009, had a few friends who studied politics as well  

Nichelette

@julicorn Small world indeed 

Karmacat

Thinking of you, hope you're doing okay.

julicorn

Thank you @Karmacat! Still feeling pretty horrendous unfortunately, had a rough night with lots of coughing and stomach ouchies. But at least the headache has mostly gone. Hanging in there!

julicorn

Alright forum friends, I could use some advice!

There's a house listed for sale that we're kind of interested in. It needs a lot of work (my goodness, why did they like tiles so much!), but looks like it should be possible to live in in the meantime, and has lots of potential.
Mr julicorn is going to view it when his isolation is over. Question is, what should we/he be looking out for? Any particular red flags based on the listing? The information is pretty sparse, so I'm not sure if it's a case of just heavy redecoration needed (fun!) or much more foundational stuff? Best guesses and thoughts appreciated, we'd need a full survey of course, but any input just based on the listing would be amazing. 

 http://www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/120535412

LadyGnome

Hi Julicorn hope you recover soon
Initial comments on the house - a lot of potential

Things to think about
1) Extension to kitchen - is it damp? is it cold? Is the garden higher than the brickwork and if so where is the damp proof course?
2) Age of the boiler and is it sufficiently powerful to get hot water to the loft if you wanted to put a shower up there?
3) Check ceiling in the main bathroom i) are those polystyrene tiles which are a pain and ii) check the corner by the mirror as I wasn't sure if that was just a shadow or damp
4) Age of the wiring and consumer unit - does it look fairly recent or ancient?
5) Open tread stairs are not great even if they meet regulations so you may need to replace the stairs
6) The ceiling of the blue room looks like it might be artex - again this can be a pain to deal with
7) Have a look at the roof from the outside across the road does it look in reasonable condition - are there any signs of damp in the top room.  Are the gutters and downpipes sound.
8) Check the windows are they all double glazed, are the frames sound.  If they are double glazed do any of the sealed units have condensation inside them?
9) Is there any way to get material in and out of the garden other than through the house.  You may need to clear the garden paving before you do up the house if you have to lug everything through the ground floor. You don't want to mess up a nice interior with a ton of muddy paving slabs.

MrGnome refurbishes property and this is the sort of checklist we go through to decide how much work a propertly will take.  I didn't see anything that worried me from the photos but it's different in person.  One point I would me is that an unoccupied house will often feel colder and damper than an occupied one just because the heating isn't on most of the time.

Nichelette

That house. Wow they even tiled the garden . I know nothing about these things, and it is liveable, but I don't think I'd want to touch it unless it was much cheaper than it is. If you compare the others you've seen, that needs new flooring, new bathroom, getting rid of that fireplace so plastering etc, new kitchen, I'd want a new staircase, grass!!, and there is a lot of artex if you don't like it. Sounds like a lot of money to me. We did our tiny kitchen and that was about 4k with a friend fitting it on the cheap (as in £500 cheap), me tiling it and a discount on the units from a work thing we get, plus we didn't replace the floor. I think that one would be a lot more. That said it would be a blank canvas so you could do it up to suit your taste. 

D123456789

I think I am a bit behind with the thread I have been keeping an eye out on Rightmove in Lewes for you Julicorn. This one is lovely although EPC shows it would be an expensive house to heat….

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/120555659

julicorn

LadyGnome said:

Hi Julicorn hope you recover soon
Initial comments on the house - a lot of potential

Things to think about
1) Extension to kitchen - is it damp? is it cold? Is the garden higher than the brickwork and if so where is the damp proof course?
2) Age of the boiler and is it sufficiently powerful to get hot water to the loft if you wanted to put a shower up there?
3) Check ceiling in the main bathroom i) are those polystyrene tiles which are a pain and ii) check the corner by the mirror as I wasn't sure if that was just a shadow or damp
4) Age of the wiring and consumer unit - does it look fairly recent or ancient?
5) Open tread stairs are not great even if they meet regulations so you may need to replace the stairs
6) The ceiling of the blue room looks like it might be artex - again this can be a pain to deal with
7) Have a look at the roof from the outside across the road does it look in reasonable condition - are there any signs of damp in the top room.  Are the gutters and downpipes sound.
8) Check the windows are they all double glazed, are the frames sound.  If they are double glazed do any of the sealed units have condensation inside them?
9) Is there any way to get material in and out of the garden other than through the house.  You may need to clear the garden paving before you do up the house if you have to lug everything through the ground floor. You don't want to mess up a nice interior with a ton of muddy paving slabs.

MrGnome refurbishes property and this is the sort of checklist we go through to decide how much work a propertly will take.  I didn't see anything that worried me from the photos but it's different in person.  One point I would me is that an unoccupied house will often feel colder and damper than an occupied one just because the heating isn't on most of the time.

Thank you LadyGnome, this is super helpful! 

julicorn

Nichelette said:

That house. Wow they even tiled the garden . I know nothing about these things, and it is liveable, but I don't think I'd want to touch it unless it was much cheaper than it is. If you compare the others you've seen, that needs new flooring, new bathroom, getting rid of that fireplace so plastering etc, new kitchen, I'd want a new staircase, grass!!, and there is a lot of artex if you don't like it. Sounds like a lot of money to me. We did our tiny kitchen and that was about 4k with a friend fitting it on the cheap (as in £500 cheap), me tiling it and a discount on the units from a work thing we get, plus we didn't replace the floor. I think that one would be a lot more. That said it would be a blank canvas so you could do it up to suit your taste. 

So our budget is £650k, and a house that in that area with a garden that size in a better condition (with far fewer tiles ) would realistically be a fair bit more than that. The opportunity to do it up to suit us is quite exciting, but essentially if the work made it either impossible to live in during, or would would likely take us significantly beyond £650k, that would be a problem.