Owning your own home

Pics are definitely daunting. Not bought a house before or got anything to compare to, so really hard to benchmark or come to a view, or put a number on repairing it

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that was for half of the remediation I think - there were two bouts of work

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How much would you expect to pay to replace 36sq/m of skirting?

I've used them for a gravel covered parking area, so no permanent structure on top, but have had skips and big vans parked on them and it's held up.
Had to dig out a fair depth, then hardcore flattened with a hired wacker to a reasonable level, then weed suppressant, membrane, then grids and loads of gravel.

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Cheap, mineral wool is buttons compared to sheet insulation

I have a friend buying a shared ownership flat - she has had to use the housing association recommended (well, enforced) solicitors and they are utterly shit.

A friend of mine had the same. They managed to get his name and the address of the flat he was buying wrong on the documentation and when they sent him their comments on the lease it was obviously generic comments as it included comments on a whole variety of things that weren't actually in his lease.

Is there a particular reason you're going for places that need such work? Are you planning to do it yourself or get people in. How are you planning on funding it, you won't be able to get the mortgage to cover any of the additional costs needed.

Honestly this place looks worse than the last and I didnt think that was possible. Woodworm everywhere, id be avoiding if it was me.

@cozey thanks for the info

@aggi Would love a house in a specific set of locations but only doer uppers are in my budget. Be good if somewhere was just dated and didn't need anything straight away. Also seeing it as an investment really not a forever home, and will be letting one double room out to a mate when whatever I get is in a good state. I think if I get a 2 bed flat, can't add much value and have the risk of problems of flat ownership, plus where do 4 bikes go!

If I push myself and get a house, do it up over a couple of years, I can make some money on top of the general market appreciation when I next move and I think this gain would be tax free. Would try and do a lot myself and get people in for other bits.

In terms of funding now, mortgage and deposit gets me to 330 with selling some shares. Got 18k in my vanguard ISA from this tax year which I can liquidate whenever, but don't really want to. I can then access quite a lot selling one holding (got some early inheritance due to a family tragedy when I was two that still affects me daily) which I am desperately trying to get rid of as it is not good having all my eggs in one basket, but already used my CGT allowance for this year and allocated it in the 330 above for the next tax year. Be good to sell off that holding up to the CGT threshold each year, improve the house, and have any further gains from that capital/investment be tax free.

Vodafone say theres a fault and cannot activate our internet (despite the previous owners internet working fine until monday).

There also appears to be a small leak in one of the bedrooms from the roof as theres a wet drip run the paint done one line on the wall.

@konastab01 does it actually!

Hate being the centre of attention on anything and sharing all that, but getting this kind of advice saves £££££ and is so so useful to me. I have only shared the family tragedy thing with a few mates, on a work article and on another thread here, and get so uncomfortable sharing anything to do with finance. I am very lucky in lots of ways and am aware of that.

To be fair, this one has been surveyed whereas the other one didn't get to that, so it's a bit apples and oranges.

Still, fucked woodwork gives me the eebiejeebies although good to hear from Cozey that remedies can be manageable, (presuming the place is empty?).

You could assume all woodwork needs salvaging including roof timbers, then go in to it with that budgeted for.

Suppose, Yeah the fucked wood gives me the same but as you've said if you've got the money and have an idea how much it'll cost to fix maybe not terrible.

@Howard @konastab01 can see it going to an investor at near asking price (25% deposit on a 350k house is 87.5), cheaply with contacts doing up bathroom, roof, gutters floors, decorating, and paying like £800 on an interest only mortgage and bringing in £1500 in rent, and then getting the 8% capital appreciation ish of Bristol house prices annually

Sounds like you've put plenty of thought into it and have considered the finances. It's all too easy to get sucked into the "can only afford a doer upper" without properly considering how you're going to afford to turn that doer upper into somewhere to live. Generally the less cash you have the longer things take as well as you can't throw money at the problem.

It's worth bearing in mind that living in a place that's being heavily done up is tiring. Not just in terms of actually doing the work but also the lack of facilities, all your stuff being packed away, not being able to switch off from it, etc.

@konastab01 @Howard not gonna go for it. Most stuff isn't that bad in isolation, but it just needs so much doing. And the end result probably isn't worth it.

@aggi cheers and the advice about living in a building site is really good. Not gonna go for this one. Think something that has been lived in my someone and cared for, that I can just move in to and maybe go room by room is best. Or just get a flat

To add to aggi's point, if you are living on site, the builders/trades have to take time to tidy away (to a certain extent) at the end of the day and re-set up in the morning so you lose quite a lot of time cumulatively over a job.

:((

I don't know the answer I'm afraid but it sounds like you've learnt the hard way that if you don't spec everything trades will just use whatever and whatever will probably look shit. And if they suggest something make sure you understand what it will look like, get them to do a sample etc.

Beading sitting 5cm out sounds shit to me, is there no way you can negotiate something with the company you used?

Did you go for that end terrace in the end btw? I have been trying to nose at your place (I know where it is!) but not sure if it's TMH 1 or 2?

its the mid terrace one we secured in the end, (in the URL its -2 not -ii)
Overall very stoked on it, it will be amazing when we're settled!

Need a lot more furniture first.

Flat isn't necessarily such a bad option for a few years. They're more manageable to redecorate/improve first time round, and it's still possible to make money doing so (we added just under 10% in 3 years). I also found that the way capital accumulates paying mortgage rather than rent made a difference to our finances over that period - came out in a much more comfortable position.

How do things look in Eastville these days? It seems to be less desirable than Easton or Werburghs whilst being quite close to both.

To echo the above my first place was a flat in Whitehall near St George. It was a manageable size to tinker with for a few years without being overwhelming. Similar sub floor issues but not as bad as that house. One thing I will say though: soundproofing is important with flats.

To add to what aggi and silly_savage said. If your budget over around 350k you are defintely not limited to 'doer uppers'. My place is eastville (less than 10min cycle to St werbs, 15 to the centre and walk to centre in 30-40mins) was was 235k in 2019 and good to go, 3 bed (2bed made to 3 so one room is v small) with garden, just improving what we want. House in my road sold for 245 this year, seemed to be in decent condition, just need updating.

Maybe just need to widen the search a bit? St werbs and montpelier are nice but living in shithole/building site will be fucking shite!