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If you think you will spend £10k then you will probably spend £15-20k.
It is just how it is.
Out of the ones we've done more than half have needed either a full rewire, or a partial rewire, or a new consumer unit.
Same with requiring a new boiler.
Or you will find some woodworm that needs to be sorted.
Or you will need to re-roof (partially or completely).
Or you'll find a tree growing into a sewer that will need chopping down and the drain lined.
Or you'll find some damp that will require a DPC and replastering/redecorating etc.
Or you'll find that window frames have rotted away and need fixing or replacing.
If you are lucky you will just find one of these things, but you could be unlucky and end up finding half a dozen.
There will almost always be *something* that you haven't accounted for and it is better to budget for this, rather than cross your fingers and hope it comes in on budget.
I reckon out of the dozens we have done maybe 3 have come in close to budget.
Also, doing works often uncovers a different thing.
You might end up damp proofing and find that you have a serious electrical bodge that is unsafe.
I'm not trying to scare you off- it is fun, in its own way (and kinda addictive), but you just have to be a bit elastic with your spending.
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Football is rubbish.
And @octatonic is possibly right but possibly underestimating . Work out a budget and timescale, then double both. But also check out the history of the area to see.what the market will stand to see if you will get a return on your improvements. The think hard about whether you want to stay in that area or move on. Then think about living with builders mess for that long. You need space to do a place up. There's nothing worse than having to live in the mess, if you can close a door on it so much the better.
If you have to put in a new boiler, replaster the whole house, do new flooring, DPC, new electrics, roof, windows + an extension then you could be looking at over £100k, depending on the size of the house and the condition, plus the goal.
We have a friend in Ealing who just bought a place that needs everything doing and she is budgeting £120k.
I agree that living through it can be a hassle- we said we would never do but again but I currently have a plumber, electrician, two teams of painters and a carpet fitter in our house getting it ready for rental.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Football is rubbish.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Wish I had bought it. Wouldn’t have the milestone of a mortgage I have now....
There seems to be very little on the market at present; Brexit is having an effect insomuch as people are uncertain and talk of a falling market only adds to this. The general mood seems to be ‘Let’s wait and see’ but if you find a property you like then buying now isn’t a problem.
I'll just bumble along business as usual I reckon. If I see a place I'll have a look. If I like it I'll go from there.
The first few times you are bound to make the odd mistake.
If I could have my time again I'd concentrate on the book keeping element a bit more.
I run a tight ship now, but in the past I'd overspend on certain things- taps and window/door furniture mostly.
Shiny shiny...
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Football is rubbish.
House prices....well we have had a few rentals for the last 12 years, all bought for around 70k-85k, they are now circa 100k -120k...so thats the reality in price rise, the good news is we made good income from he low interest rates...however that wont really apply if you are living there.
I suspect the question for you is...do you want a new build or older property to do yourself, we did buy one new build as BTL and to be fair its been ok, but clearly there are some horror stories out there.
Buy now they are bound to go up....err No...I dont think so, Landlords are dumping houses like mad at the moment, and that will continue in the short term, BTL is not what it was,
I believe now that the reason to own your own home is purely for security and peace of mind, if you do it on the premise it will make money your on dodgy ground for the next 10 years I reckon,
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There seems to be new homes going up on every spare plot here. On going new developments, some rather sizeable.
i just got a great 5 year deal on a remortgage because the house had increased in value more than expected.
its a 3 bed semi.
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Haven't finished doing it up yet though... Garden is getting ££££ spent on it this month to finally make it look good.
Witness the builders that use sand and cement with old porous bricks, silicone to install glass, period looking tiles laid with 3mm gaps, decorators who let their sandpaper scratch glass. Seen it all and trust very few of them.
I'm currently restoring the hall stairs and landing and it's very slow and time consuming. But it will be splendid when finished. Currently applying scumble glaze to the woodwork on the landing to make it look like original. That sticky mess you get when you strip very old wood back, that's the scumble glaze. It was a cheap way of making painted wood look like expensive polished woodwork.
Of course, dumps are now being marketed by the EA's as "chance to put your own stamp on it" and charging accordingly
The missus didn't like it at the time, but she changed her mind as we fixed the place up when we could afford to.
@hywelg I’m actually amazed you can still get scumble. What about the combs? Are they still available or are you using old gear?
We've decided to look for a smaller place that we can aggressively pay off mortgage for 5 years or so (while kid(s) is small and doesn't need so much space) and then look to move again.
Our house has gone up from around £200k to £320k in about 5 years, which is great but useless if you want to move up within the area. Ours is a classic 30’s bay fronted 3 bed semi, reasonable size but our growing family of 4 needs a bit more space and we’d need a massive jump in price to move to a 4 bed, but equity and LTV with the price rises mean extending is more attractive and doable.
To the OP, don’t wait too long, as long as you build in some leeway with your figures to cover interest rate rises you’ll fine that you always will over time with property, and the earlier you get them the more you win.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Looking at it, i'm just a few grand off getting a 20% deposit for some of the "acceptable" properties up here, once there there are some pretty good 5yr fixed rates (1.8%ish). Hopefully aggressively paying there will put us in good stead.
Should note that Mrs.L is currently writing up thesis at the moment which is set to be done by the end of the year so all this is on one income. In 5 years i'm confident she will have an income to overpay with.