How much to offer on property which needs complete refurbishment

sonub4ualt

CruisingSaver said:

I agree with others who say don’t underestimate the cost of refurbishment. We’re just about to start our refurb and we won’t see much change from £75k and that’s in NW England! 

Agree @CruisingSaver, prices vary depending on the region including labour and material, also if you are buying from B&Q, Wickes, Homebase, or if the builder is buying with trade discount. Have to do some research and keep an eye on deals/offer prices including clearance sales. Makes a lot of difference when you shop around.

sst1234

TheJP said:

sonub4ualt said:

Polarkitto said:

40-50k for refurbs sounds high, are you replacing the roof, both bathrooms, filling in fireplaces throughout, conservatory need knocking down and redoing etc?

I'd recommend you send some pictures to tradesmen regarding whatever you think needs sorting, and use those quotes to get a realistic number for repairs/refurb to start with.

If a similar house went for 433k 4 years ago, them asking for 440k now, assuming the property isn't in total disrepair, seems like a fairly good deal. 

You're also admitting on zoopla the valuation is much higher than 440k so it's hard for you to argue 10k is make or break if it's otherwise a perfect size for your family.

What SHOULD be the best offer, is entirely subjective and even then based on a top of information we don't have. Right now the best offer is the one you're being told the owners won't go below.

Rewiring
Change of Radiators and pipeworks
New bathroom upstairs
New W/C shower downstairs including plumbing
Guttering and fascias
Skirting board replacement
Plastering as it is wallpaper throughout all the upstairs
Tiling and flooring
New carpets on 1st floor
Roofing was never changed except for when it leaked minor repairs were carried out to fix them.
Whole new kitchen

That is probably around £25-35K depending on the level of quality you are willing to stretch to. The big question is bearing in mind the kids is this something that is feasible? It could take you between 3-6 months to get a trade in to do the work. 

Are you kidding? In what world does this cost £35k? Materials alone will cost more than that, never mind labour. Plumbers, plasterers, electricians. This is an extensive refurbishment If OP was to have all this work done, they wouldn’t see any change out of £100k. If the house is on the larger side, say about 2000 sq.ft, you can add another £50k-£70k on top. 

sonub4ualt

sst1234 said:

TheJP said:

sonub4ualt said:

Polarkitto said:

40-50k for refurbs sounds high, are you replacing the roof, both bathrooms, filling in fireplaces throughout, conservatory need knocking down and redoing etc?

I'd recommend you send some pictures to tradesmen regarding whatever you think needs sorting, and use those quotes to get a realistic number for repairs/refurb to start with.

If a similar house went for 433k 4 years ago, them asking for 440k now, assuming the property isn't in total disrepair, seems like a fairly good deal. 

You're also admitting on zoopla the valuation is much higher than 440k so it's hard for you to argue 10k is make or break if it's otherwise a perfect size for your family.

What SHOULD be the best offer, is entirely subjective and even then based on a top of information we don't have. Right now the best offer is the one you're being told the owners won't go below.

Rewiring
Change of Radiators and pipeworks
New bathroom upstairs
New W/C shower downstairs including plumbing
Guttering and fascias
Skirting board replacement
Plastering as it is wallpaper throughout all the upstairs
Tiling and flooring
New carpets on 1st floor
Roofing was never changed except for when it leaked minor repairs were carried out to fix them.
Whole new kitchen

That is probably around £25-35K depending on the level of quality you are willing to stretch to. The big question is bearing in mind the kids is this something that is feasible? It could take you between 3-6 months to get a trade in to do the work. 

Are you kidding? In what world does this cost £35k? Materials alone will cost more than that, never mind labour. Plumbers, plasterers, electricians. This is an extensive refurbishment If OP was to have all this work done, they wouldn’t see any change out of £100k. If the house is on the larger side, say about 2000 sq.ft, you can add another £50k-£70k on top. 

I offered £430k on friday, but the EA might not have gone back to the vendor with this revised offer. If he does not come back till mid afternoon, I will offer the expected price of £440k and request a level 3 structural survey to get what needs repairs urgently, as previously vendor was living in the property hopefully structural foundation must be at least satisfactory. Will prioritise essential and urgent repairs and slowly get non-urgent maintenance and repairs done. The property is in a much sought after location with hight street reachable within 2 min walk and room for further expansion (planning to have an additional bedroom later in the future or loft conversion).

Noneforit999

sonub4ualt said:

Polarkitto said:

40-50k for refurbs sounds high, are you replacing the roof, both bathrooms, filling in fireplaces throughout, conservatory need knocking down and redoing etc?

I'd recommend you send some pictures to tradesmen regarding whatever you think needs sorting, and use those quotes to get a realistic number for repairs/refurb to start with.

If a similar house went for 433k 4 years ago, them asking for 440k now, assuming the property isn't in total disrepair, seems like a fairly good deal. 

You're also admitting on zoopla the valuation is much higher than 440k so it's hard for you to argue 10k is make or break if it's otherwise a perfect size for your family.

What SHOULD be the best offer, is entirely subjective and even then based on a top of information we don't have. Right now the best offer is the one you're being told the owners won't go below.

Rewiring
Change of Radiators and pipeworks
New bathroom upstairs
New W/C shower downstairs including plumbing
Guttering and fascias
Skirting board replacement
Plastering as it is wallpaper throughout all the upstairs
Tiling and flooring
New carpets on 1st floor
Roofing was never changed except for when it leaked minor repairs were carried out to fix them.
Whole new kitchen

Most of that is not cosmetic and the only way you are doing that for £35k is if you shopped around and did 99% of it yourself.

Labour is labour, the costs are not going to vary much whether you are having a £5k kitchen fitted or a higher quality £20k one so the only way to keep costs down are to go cheap on as much of the materials as you can and/or do most of the work yourself or with mates etc. 

There is absolutely no way I would be taking this one one with a family and three kids. 

I don't see how the costs stack up considering how much things cost these days.

Its basically an entire house renovation and I would be surprised if you got change out of £60k and that is assuming you were happy with 'budget' kitchen units and bathroom stuff etc.

We have just had a kitchen quote from Wren for a standard 3.5m x 3.5m kitchen. Supply and fit for the cheapest units and laminate worktops was £11k. 

sonub4ualt

Noneforit999 said:

sonub4ualt said:

Polarkitto said:

40-50k for refurbs sounds high, are you replacing the roof, both bathrooms, filling in fireplaces throughout, conservatory need knocking down and redoing etc?

I'd recommend you send some pictures to tradesmen regarding whatever you think needs sorting, and use those quotes to get a realistic number for repairs/refurb to start with.

If a similar house went for 433k 4 years ago, them asking for 440k now, assuming the property isn't in total disrepair, seems like a fairly good deal. 

You're also admitting on zoopla the valuation is much higher than 440k so it's hard for you to argue 10k is make or break if it's otherwise a perfect size for your family.

What SHOULD be the best offer, is entirely subjective and even then based on a top of information we don't have. Right now the best offer is the one you're being told the owners won't go below.

Rewiring
Change of Radiators and pipeworks
New bathroom upstairs
New W/C shower downstairs including plumbing
Guttering and fascias
Skirting board replacement
Plastering as it is wallpaper throughout all the upstairs
Tiling and flooring
New carpets on 1st floor
Roofing was never changed except for when it leaked minor repairs were carried out to fix them.
Whole new kitchen

Most of that is not cosmetic and the only way you are doing that for £35k is if you shopped around and did 99% of it yourself.

Labour is labour, the costs are not going to vary much whether you are having a £5k kitchen fitted or a higher quality £20k one so the only way to keep costs down are to go cheap on as much of the materials as you can and/or do most of the work yourself or with mates etc. 

There is absolutely no way I would be taking this one one with a family and three kids. 

I don't see how the costs stack up considering how much things cost these days.

Its basically an entire house renovation and I would be surprised if you got change out of £60k and that is assuming you were happy with 'budget' kitchen units and bathroom stuff etc.

We have just had a kitchen quote from Wren for a standard 3.5m x 3.5m kitchen. Supply and fit for the cheapest units and laminate worktops was £11k. 

Thanks for your suggestion @Noneforit999. I have some mates who are in this business and have estimated the work to be between 40-50k . I have around 30k + some cc which I can money transfer with 0% until 24 months approximately 15k to 17.5k to transfer at any point. Will get the priority list finished to move in and start gradually the non-essential.

As most of you suggested get the wiring, basic kitchen and bathrooms fitted with plastering and basic flooring. The idea is to get hands on the property first, as there are hardly properties fitting our budget, where we are planning to move.

We are very happy with our current property, but doing this for our older son who may be left behind due to catchment area for Grammar school, which he will be eligible to sit entrance next year. Also the siblings will get priority as they are in line.

warwick2001

Just something to consider....

If this is your forever home (as you have stated it will be), then maybe the price of the house isn't as important than if you were looking to own for 5/10 years, and then sell. Whilst £10k is a heck of a lot of money, spread that out over 40 years, would you be willing to lose this house for the equivalent of £250 a year? (I'm ignoring all future financial changes for the sake of simple maths)

We have recently bought (well, hoping to exchange/complete early March), and we paid £228k, our original 'this is all we are willing to pay' offer was £220k. Like you, this is our forever home (hopefully), and we decided that for £8k, it wasn't worth losing the house. Like yours, ours need a pile of renovation, but we are gonna live it the house for a while, and just see how it plays out. And whichever job we feel needs done first, that's what we'll do. I suspect we will still be finishing off the improvements in 5 years time. It defo needs a new kitchen, but the oven works, so we can eat. Is this ideal? Absolutely not. But we wanted the house, and so we compromise our initial comfort for a (hopefully) lifetime of living in the right house in the right location.


Good luck with whatever you decide.

sonub4ualt

warwick2001 said:

Just something to consider....

If this is your forever home (as you have stated it will be), then maybe the price of the house isn't as important than if you were looking to own for 5/10 years, and then sell. Whilst £10k is a heck of a lot of money, spread that out over 40 years, would you be willing to lose this house for the equivalent of £250 a year? (I'm ignoring all future financial changes for the sake of simple maths)

We have recently bought (well, hoping to exchange/complete early March), and we paid £228k, our original 'this is all we are willing to pay' offer was £220k. Like you, this is our forever home (hopefully), and we decided that for £8k, it wasn't worth losing the house. Like yours, ours need a pile of renovation, but we are gonna live it the house for a while, and just see how it plays out. And whichever job we feel needs done first, that's what we'll do. I suspect we will still be finishing off the improvements in 5 years time. It defo needs a new kitchen, but the oven works, so we can eat. Is this ideal? Absolutely not. But we wanted the house, and so we compromise our initial comfort for a (hopefully) lifetime of living in the right house in the right location.


Good luck with whatever you decide.

@warwick2001 completely agree with your thought process. For the foreseeable future, we will not be leaving this place for at least 10-15 years, not everything is gutted in the property. We also think anything which needs urgent attention will get fixed and so on so forth for less urgent issues. We will be going with basic changes rather than high specs (which can be dealt with later), securing a property is hard nowadays given the fierce competition as lot of cash buyers and chain free, it is hard you stand a chance to have a win-win situation.

sonub4ualt

Hi all, just an update I have matched my offer to vendor’s expectations at £440k and had the offer accepted. Massive thanks to all who contributed to this thread, appreciate your time and feedback.

Kumar

SuseOrm

Congratulations I hope it all goes really smoothly for you and you enjoy your new house

TheJP

sonub4ualt said:

Hi all, just an update I have matched my offer to vendor’s expectations at £440k and had the offer accepted. Massive thanks to all who contributed to this thread, appreciate your time and feedback.

Kumar

Congrats! Now the hard part, convincing the wife to live with her sister in law for a number of months. Wishing you the best with the refurb and your new home. You should be able to have a nice family holiday from the change of £35k