How risky do you think this is?

SugarDatesAndPistachios

0 = no risk 
10 = Russian (I know) Roulette with no empty bullet thingies, you know what I mean!

Also kindly state your level of risk taking in general, in percentage form! Or song form. 

59% LTV

Old and potential to be very cold house.
Mortgage repayments 36% of take home pay, 5 year fixed
One salary is part time with ability to work extra shifts. Very stable job.

Second salary is full time and in private sector, to increase 6 monthly 
Electricity cost pre energy crisis was said to be 2k to make sure no damp and always warm. 
Biomass boiler (before energy crisis) said to be 5k. As above. 
Nursery fees will finish in 3 years 
Nil public school fees etc 
Plan to be in house for 25 years.


I will supply anymore info, but that’s the bones of it. One party thinks is terribly too risky, even before energy craziness, not sure what biomass prices are etc. Other doesn’t know and can’t gauge it, as opinion is coloured by other party! 

Getting_greyer

Risk level 2.  Personal risk aversion 50%: it will either go wrong or it won't. 

SugarDatesAndPistachios

Only risk level 2! *rushes to put offer in*

steve866

You should post actual figures to get proper guidance. If take home pay 10k between you, the 64% of remaining pay will easily cover the energy. If take home pay is 1k, you might struggle with the energy costs..

theoretica

Is that £2k electricity a year or a month?  What is the prognosis for insulation and stopping the house being so cold?  What percentage of income is needed for other things - like food, cars, clothes...

ProDave

With the rising cost of energy I would not touch this with a barge pole UNLESS is was significantly cheaper than better insulated properties, so the money I saved on purchase would go a long way to upgrading it.

Mark_Michalowski

What potential is there for improving the insulation? Cavity walls? Roof already insulated? Double glazing installed - or are new windows recommended?

There's a lot you can do to drive down heating costs with good insulation, but if things have already been done and there's little scope for improvement, increased fuel costs in the coming years could be an issue...

Mxx

canaldumidi

Savings? Ability to spend money improving the property eg insulation, heat pump, double glazing blah blah......

SugarDatesAndPistachios

Thanks for the replies, I shall endeavour to answer all queries!

1) combined take home pay after tax/pensions would be £6500. That’s with me working 2 days a week only at moment.  There is also an extra £1k (after fees, tax) from a rental property but not including that. 

2) 2k for the year, just electricity, 5k for the woodpellet biomass thing. Back up oil if needed.  No scope for heat pump as I think house would be impossible to insulate sufficiently. Grade 2 listed stone building. Owner is seriously rich so don’t think bills were an issue, though did put biomass boiler in. And secondary glazing on windows. Grade listed so these huge !!!!!! windows cannot be double glazed I think.  And if replaced would need to be like for like so likely not keep anymore heat in!

3) Bargepoll - this is top, top, top of budget property that decor wise is dated! Would need updating! Would not be able to update for a while as just buying it would take all of our savings to get to that ltv. We will still have one property though in a big city though (renting at 1700/month and 2/3 mortgage paid off)

4) After mortgage and nursery leaves ca. £3000k per month for the bills and what not. Don’t have any other loans. 

If there was something else nice ( period property, semi rural area, close enough to school) on market for cheaper and better condition, would forget this place buuuuuut there is nothing and this place is amazing… but maybe a multimillionaire’s home and not for us!

We’ve been looking for several years and taking very sensible steps in the mean time.
Problem is we are running out of time to find somewhere, we have to move now as run out of space, we are currently mortgage free but only because we bought a small temporary house instead of renting. I don’t know whether should just go for it! Or if it’s madness. 

RAS

Secondary glazing is surprisingly effective. As are good lined curtains drawn at dusk and draught excluders. That'll keep the house 5 degrees warmer.

And invest in hot water bottles.

But I'd argue that the main issues are:

Household size?
Number of bedrooms?
Travel to work/schools?
Working from home/internet speed?

You really don't need more than one guest room and one bedroom per person, less if kids share.

FreeBear

SugarDatesAndPistachios said: Grade 2 listed stone building. Owner is seriously rich so don’t think bills were an issue, though did put biomass boiler in. And secondary glazing on windows. Grade listed so these huge !!!!!! windows cannot be double glazed I think.  And if replaced would need to be like for like so likely not keep anymore heat in!

Some conservation officers are amenable to double (even triple) glazing, but you have to present a solid case. If the windows currently have wibbly-wobbly glass, he/she may want it preserved and thus scupper the idea of replacement windows.

External wall insulation is highly unlikely to be granted permission, but you might get consent for internal depending on what features remain on the walls. It won't be cheap though.

This place will turn in to a serious money pit either through high energy costs or getting worthwhile thermal improvements. And that would be on top of any on-going maintenance (which there will be loads of).