Owning your own home

Monevator. Com recently showed a calculation for buy to let in London. Their experience was non-interest cost as a fraction of rent is just over 30%.

Is 30% over valuation the highest you've seen?

Highest I've seen is 26.5% over valuation. My gut feel is 30% over is the maximum any sane buyer would stretch to.

(Assuming a spicy market and properties without any significant defects)

just double checked the numbers - we got 24.7% over HR. I'm sure there are some 30%s out there but must be rare. anything above 12-15% is just loopy to me - people who bought our last place will never make that back, I don't think. I'm sure I checked prices on that street again recently and there were some sales around the same time that were around par but the market had subsequently corrected downwards again

Ive seen more than that in the west end of glasgow, folk paying daft money over as they are downsizing and have massive equity.

bidding on this place tomorrow - it needs work to bring it up to date but the fundamentals are fine

trying to make sense of how to plan it - key things are to move the bathroom as I don't like that location next to the kitchen at all and how to fit two office/desk spaces in there

obviously this is all dependent on structural concerns but, in an ideal world, what makes most sense? I'm thinking moving the WC to the nook at the top of the 'family room' and making the door facing into the hallway

undecided about whether i want the family room/kitchen open plan either - do i want smoke/cook smell wafting into where we are likely to be eating?

If you want a downstairs toilet try to get it under the stairs. Aint going to be comfortable but that's OK, nobody is allowed to shit in it anyway.

Has the 'family room' (aka what was once the kitchen) seriously got no windows?

Put the door on the left of the family room and put the downstairs toilet/shower under the stairs? Assuming the door under the stairs is for a storage cupboard?

Kitchen diner will be long, so as long as you have a decent extractor, I don’t think smoke/smells should be a big issue.

You’ll be swapping the family room and dining room in purpose anyway I expect?

A small extension, extending the dining room to the bottom wall of the family room and then opening it out, while keeping the kitchen separate might be worth considering.

Lounge could then be shared office space, or for 1 person and a bedroom used as a study.

nah it does

weird that they missed it in the floor plan!

could close off the door into the family room where it is now, build the toilet all the way from under the stairs to the (now closed) door way and open a new door into the family room on the left hand side?

I always liked the idea of this solution for hiding office space
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCMBWSeJa4d/?utm_medium=copy_link

snap (re family room door)

good point re length of room. I'm definitely getting a properly ventilated cooker hood - hate these extractors that don't run anywhere!

Looking at other buildings on the street, nobody seems to have run an extension out from the dining room area, which makes me wonder if there's some planning problem there

got two kids (currently sharing which is fine) but in the long term they'll have a bedroom each so all bedrooms are spoken for. I suspect there's room for an attic extension but no way to confirm it as currently the only way up there is by ladder from the outside...

that is neat.

thanks for the clue. I like the olive storm doors ; )

presume you already know but in case not - you can check here to see what planning has been granted on the street. looks like a couple of extensions have been granted at least
https://publicaccess.glasgow.gov.uk/online-applications/

presume this was the original floorplan (+ how it has since been extended out from the original dining/family room)

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No idea if it works at the scale, but simple bit of bashing to get two offices in.

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woah, that's useful. Didn't know that. The second plan looks like a really nice idea, bifold out to the back garden would be really lovely.

what do you think of that area? To be honest it is a touch more removed from where I am now than I'd like but i just can't afford something like that near here. It's only 5 mins by bike away from anywhere worth going or 20 mins walk etc.

nice, that's a good effort, thank you. Might not want guests/children passing through office to get to the toilet, though.

hidden office as per ^^^#47134, then out-of-hours it's just a nice garden room with an armchair or something? Rear office can be the messy one ;)

nice round there imo - a bit quieter than where you are now maybe, but you've got kids so presume that's what you're after? no idea about schools. the park itself is lovely and very underrated. only 25 mins to town by train and, as you say, 5 mins by bike to MF/QP.

those houses (the original footprint) are actually identical to my house - think they were probably railway men's houses and all built to the same plan ? not sure. find the proportions fine though don't think you'd want anymore than 2 kids (though you could maybe put in another bedroom by converting the loft.) the third box bedrooms are typically very small - would not be great for a teenager

you say you can't afford anything similar near to where you are now - but I don't think the red sandstone houses in the 'bungo go for more than what you're looking at there. the problem is availability tho

Your possible property has been extended longer than the example shown, so if you extended it to the end of the kitchen, it would be huge!

Thanks @cozey and @konastab01 very useful info.

I've been looking in Lothian(s) and the average from the ones I've (unsuccessfully, thus far) bid on is valuation at ~£190-200/sqft and selling at 20-26.5% of valuation. That's only an average of three houses though. I paid around 12% over valuation for my flat but that was then, and this is now...

Edit: also come to think of it the one sold at 20% over valuation was in Berwickshire and they very quickly accepted an offer without setting a closing date, so presumably were in an undisclosed hurry

I think thats still reasonable, but 25% over is fuckin stupid and Ive not played that game yet as your just gonna leave yourself high and dry if the shit hits the fan.

Id join dining room and family room and make them a kitchen, with an angled extention. Kitchen becomes a snig/office/spare room and front room a living room.

So I'm having a new front door fitted and have been looking around at locks/furniture etc. I reckon banham is overkill so I've found a kit on sds that looks exactly what I need. Anyone give me any reasons to look else where? I really like the idea of having the same key for everything.

https://www.sdslondon.co.uk/product/sds-standard-nightlatch-dlock-keyed-alike-for-44-mm-door.html

I have that set. Works great with one key. Brass lacquer on the outside has scratched a bit since installation (early 2019)

Nice to know cheers, not sure it'll make a difference but gonna go for the satin chrome and I expect it'll take a hammering whatever as my keyhole aim is pretty shonky even if I've not been on the beers.

Roof update. Full step flashing, soakers and new reclaimed clay tiles going in. 200 per side apparently. Walls will be re-rendered. Worth doing it right I think.