Owning your own home

I had about £1k on my finger-in-the air budget so that seems ok.

Would be good if anyone has any recommendations.

One place we're keen on would need a more extensive survey (for my piece of mind) than others.

We had one where the estate agent called us at the time we were supposed to be meeting and then said the owner would show it himself.

We had an awkward tour around their family of six while he explained that he wanted to get an offer in on the place so they could start looking for a house. In Birmingham.

When we were selling our EA sent round a couple who just happened to live down the same road in an identical house and they had no intention of buying - they were just interested to see what we had done with ours.
I think it was some sort of Sunday hobby of theirs.

Isn't this quite normal? Ive 'sold' before looking for my next property before, as long as your buyer is aware, it can put you in a great buying position.
Re awkward viewings, we arrived at a place which was being looked after by the son of the owner. He was there smoking weed laying on a bed in one of the rooms! He didn't/couldn't perhaps move. Great way to market a family home

Perhaps. We were looking to move though, and they wanted "a few months" to look for a place. It seemed odd.

Weirdest one we had was where the owner was home with her dog and whilst we stood talking to her in the kitchen, the dog pissed on the floor. Instead of cleaning it up like a normal person, she just rubbed it into the floor with her platform flip flops whilst everyone pretended it wasn’t really fucking obvious.

Amazingly awks

Sold!

When we viewed our place it was being used as an Airbnb while it was on the market. There had clearly been quite the party the night before with pretty clear evidence of white powder on multiple surfaces & absolutely no clean up

Yep a vague "few months" is a bit odd!

But you bought it... there's a lesson there. Cleaning is overrated. Do coke sell houses. Estate agents know this.

When myself and a mate were renting we moved into a new place only to be told about a week later that it was being sold (when I say told, we found out when the estate agent tried to do a viewing).

From then on we used to spread empty beer cans around and sit around drinking when they were doing viewings whilst telling the prospective buyers that we wouldn't trust the owner whatsoever.

Brilliant

We're now in the privileged position of having to chose between two places to make an offer on. Both are a similar size (+-100sqft) and within a mile of each other. One will need next to no work done and is very shiny. The other needs pretty much everything doing and when it's done, will be miles better than the shiny option (better proportioned rooms, period features*, next to a park etc.).

We're both a little paralysed by the fear of making the "wrong" choice. I think all the discussions we've been having are gearing us towards the wreck, hence the questions about full fat surveys. And are anxious about what other people will think about the decision.

*#shehatesitwhenicallherthat

Moving is a bitch, go for the one with more long term potential. As long as you don't mind managing builders.

The plan would be to do a lot of what is possible myself. There are enough room that to absolutely gut one or two, will not be a problem. The kitchen, while still being a bit shit, is one of the least fucked bits, luckily. The living room and the biggest bedroom also need some work but are totally useable.

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I like the door

Go for both. Have the fixer as a plan B. You don't know the level of competition for either place yet so neither is a sure bet.

Suspect now is not the time for fixing stuff up - the fact that a developer hasn't swooped in and picked it up is telling you something.

Also something nicer than the shiny place will come up, unless you are balls deep it's Ok to back out and switch if you think it's worth it.

Suspect now is not the time for fixing stuff up

Why not if we're looking to fix it up over time as a home rather than try to make money out of it?

We went for the fixer. Held some cash back to get it going, affordable borrowing with low interest rates. You get used to living in the conditions.

Ours is in a significantly worse state too.

Out of interest, where is your flat?

SE19

Look at the cost per square foot - suspect it will be quite high compared to other options.

Was assuming you'd need to add an extension or loft? It's those that might be tricky at the moment.

If you can live without structural stuff and can DIY it and can live with a bit of chaos then I guess it's different.

We had the same dilemma but ended up going back to another place then finding the extra money for it as it gave us the best of both worlds; mostly done up to a seemingly good standard but could be further extended out the back.

Already has a loft extension with two extra bedrooms and a shower room/toilet.

If we wanted it all done immediately, my total guess is it would be another £100k to just say "please to make fix". But we're talking about this being 5 years, at least.

I live opposite a park, in summer it’s a fucking nuisance as drunken twats traverse it at all hours, singing and being arseholes. Special shouts to the bunch of pricks who turned up the other night at 0230 with some fucking boom box. Might be worth checking that out.