buying our first home

kaptainmarc

kaptainmarc

kaptainmarc

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derby
so me and the now fiancé are looking at houses, we have found a few we like in a nice area even if they are Ex-council houses. they tick all the right boxes for us.

big rooms, 3 beds (one for a man cave already been approved by the boss) large garden, spacious kitchen driveway for 2+ cars.

we have narrowed it down to 2/3 houses all very similar and in the same area.

just one is slightly better where its situated, however this one needs all new flooring/painting/ cleaning from smoker/Artex on all wall of living room/ new bathroom/ new front door/gardens a bomb site/ few tiles missing on roof/asbestos prefab garage.

I like the idea of getting the house just how we like it, its around 15k cheaper than the ones we could just move in too.
however I'm hung up on if it will be too much work, anyone have much experience doing up their first house? with a small amount of know how?

sorting out the mortgage on Wednesday and all the houses have no chain so will hopefully all move quick quickly :)
 
From the sounds of it you will be paying a lot more than 15K to do it all right.
A New bathroom will be like 5K at least.
 
D.P. said:
A New bathroom will be like 5K at least.
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For a standard good bathroom you are looking at £1500 (lower end) to £2000 (higher end) to pay someone else to do the whole job. I know because I had a quote last week.
No idea where you pulled £5000 from.
Bathrooms are cheaper than you think. A toilet, sink, taps and bath start from around £200-250 for a cheap and nasty suite. Do all the work yourself and even with tiles it will come in under £1000.
Kitchens however are £££.

My parents bought their first house together in circa 1985. It was in a real mess with rotten windows, yellow ceilings (heavy smokers), black painted bedrooms and just all over general filth.
They did most of it up before moving for work reasons (coal board closure!) and always tell me with pride how they did their first house up as it was in a mess, but it meant that they could get one with real potential in a nice area as a good building block for a happy home. They had no idea what they were doing DIY wise when they moved in!

I would seriously consider the house that needs work, if you deem the finished product a good financial investment.

How much cheaper is this house than others on the street?
If it is £10,000 cheaper but needs £20,000 of work to make it equal the rest of the street then do not do it.
 
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OpenToSuggestions said:
For a standard good bathroom you are looking at £1500 (lower end) to £2000 (higher end) to pay someone else to do the whole job. I know because I had a quote last week.
No idea where you pulled £5000 from.
Bathrooms are cheaper than you think. A toilet, sink, taps and bath start from around £200-250 for a cheap and nasty suite. Do all the work yourself and even with tiles it will come in under £1000.
Kitchens however are £££.

My parents bought their first house together in circa 1985. It was in a real mess with rotten windows, yellow ceilings (heavy smokers), black painted bedrooms and just all over general filth.
They did most of it up before moving for work reasons (coal board closure!) and always tell me with pride how they did their first house up as it was in a mess, but it meant that they could get one with real potential in a nice area as a good building block for a happy home. They had no idea what they were doing DIY wise when they moved in!

I would seriously consider the house that needs work, if you deem the finished product a good financial investment.

How much cheaper is this house than others on the street?
If it is £10,000 cheaper but needs £20,000 of work to make it equal the rest of the street then do not do it.
Click to expand...


I base the figure on receiving half a dozen quotes to get a bathroom installed, and that was with me providing tiles, bath, shower head, sink, toilet etc.
 
I brought a tired victorian house 3 years ago took about 6 months to decorate and fit a bath room that cost £1200 decorating cost about £450 as a lot of things are common such white paint for wood and ceilings etc. was going to build an extension for a bigger kitchen but our house is on the market at the moment for 100k more than I paid for it so I would rather move than the hassle of a extension. I have pretty much every tool I needed as I'm an electrician by trade just had to buy things that went specific to my trade and I never had like a tile cutter for and a mitre saw etc. I was able to purchase a lot of stuff at trade prices from wholesalers which makes a big difference you can get very good deals on the internet as well. If you have the right tools for the job and take your time its not that hard.
I personally would only buy tired properties bid low and work your way up until they accept!
 
Millwall.FC said:
how big is your bathroom? and what is the builder actually supplying for 5k other than labour?
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Its about 7'x11'.

They will be supplying everything else apart from the obvious items that I will be providing, so everything to do with plumping, waterboards, venting, electrics and the labour.

I have quotes from 2.5k to 10K from different builders and asking for 3 different levels of service (basically a minimal labour quote for plumping and internal wall, electrics, venting, then a 2edcond quote with some installation and tiling on top, and a 3rd quote all in with hem providing everything).


5K was about the price if I buy some of the stuff, Some companies would do everything for about 6K, others 8K. I discounted a bit off these quotes to get the 5K figure because I have a few changes to make like changing where a stud wall is and moving some plumping.


Anyway, seems my figure matches up well with SDK^ 's.
 
kaptainmarc said:
just one is slightly better where its situated, however this one needs all new flooring/painting/ cleaning from smoker/Artex on all wall of living room/ new bathroom/ new front door/gardens a bomb site/ few tiles missing on roof/asbestos prefab garage.
Click to expand...

Tread very carefully. That Artex may be loaded with asbestos
 
OpenToSuggestions said:
snip

I would seriously consider the house that needs work, if you deem the finished product a good financial investment.

How much cheaper is this house than others on the street?
If it is £10,000 cheaper but needs £20,000 of work to make it equal the rest of the street then do not do it.
Click to expand...

we reckon we could get the house for just under 90K and it be worth around 110k when finished from asking the neighbours.

luckily the Mrs is a hairdresser so knows a lot of people in different trades so if I did need things fitting for me we would get a good deal, the father and I plan on doing most the work ourselves

its just had a brand new kitchen dinner installed which was a bonus

all the plumbing for the bathroom is working, Its more cosmetic so would hopefully be a straight swap over. its just a bit manky and horrible.

we are viewing the 3 properties again today so will see what the outcome is after seeing the house that needs work again

Edit: I have a strong suspicion that they are Prefab houses, which I have been told to steer clear of, how would I find this out?
 
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Is the house on zoopla/right move post link for peeps to look at, you can normally tell just by looking at the front.
you can send a sample off to a company to test for you to see if its asbestos if it is and is encapsulated (painted) its perfectly safe if you don't like the look of it and want it removed I would get it skimmed over.
 
Beerbaron said:
There is nothing wrong with ex council houses, they are better built than most of the houses today.
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that's the reason for looking at them, the other halves dad lives in one and its solid.

just some of the inhabitants in the area can be annoying, will give my boxing stance some work though.

just don't really want a prefab
 
kaptainmarc said:
Edit: I have a strong suspicion that they are Prefab houses, which I have been told to steer clear of, how would I find this out?
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Non standard construction can be restrictive on your mortgage options (many places wont touch the house)

I take you guys in England don't require a 'Home report' that we have up here cos that usually contains a full survey of the building pointing out faults etc and includes the structural make up of the building.

When i bought my house (ex council job) i made sure it was standard construction as i didn't want to have any bother with the mortgage company. Its brick cavity with timber trusses, but I know there are some houses similar to this in another area which are brick cavity with steel trusses and purlins which can cause issue when finding a mortgage.

If / when you get a survey done you'll find out but if you can view the property again take a look into the attic or ask some of the neighbours if they know.
 
I was going to check the attic anyway, what tell tale signs will tell me that its prefab?

I know if its steel it will be prefab, however from what I have read they also made timber prefab houses.

I cant seem to find a lot on google. maybe my searching skills are weak

Will the estate agents know if it is or not?
 
I've renovated several houses, it's a good way to do it IF you do most of your own work.

I've rarely seen a house which I was happy with the previous owners taste in decor and standard of workmanship. It depends on how picky you are maybe but if someone paints all the walls magnolia, fits a naff ikea kitchen and fits a cheap new boiler I'm not paying the extra £15k some buyers seem to think it adds when I'll just rip it all out and start again anyway.

Then again I don't ever employ plumbers/ electricians/ chippies/ plasterer/ deckies/ fitters. I just do it all on evenings and weekends.
At most I get a couple of glaziers or something in for windows.

Wouldn't worry too much about prefab, largely because they're better made than these horrendous newbuilds they're slinging up these days. You can get good deals if you're on a budget.
 
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I just worry il regret taking on the workload and grow to hate the house!

I rang the estate agent and they told me its a wimpy no fines construction

so solid in situ concrete and then rendered

my job is making concrete repair products so seems like a good shout to me, and before I was a concrete technician :)
 
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