Owning your own home

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Lovely job the both of you!

thats a ‘mirror’ of our place. side access; same era/size house; double bay; extension, just inside north circular.

but double the price!

fuck schools you need side access for bikes

but double the price!

Yeah, but yours has probably doubled in value since you bought. Particularly with all the sensitive renovation work you have done.

👏 brilliant

Knockdown existing kitchen and conservatory and build a new single-storey extension off the back for kitchen diner, and open out the two rooms that face the back of the house to make that open-plan

Leaving the existing rear wall in place would help massively on budget and there is a question of really how big any one room needs to be. If you build across the whole back including where the WC is you’d have a (?) 25 sqm room which I think is more than big enough.

Doable with some change from £100k depending on how fancy you get with cabinets, appliances and glass roof / bifold / crittal.

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. I have heard people say it is a bit far from everything

It does have slight suburbia vibes as there's not much within easy walking distance but a couple of mins on the bike over the flats (I live on Odessa Road on that side) you've got shops, bakery, bottle shops a couple of restaurants and decent boozers. It's also a lot nicer cycling through forest gate because of the LTN.

You might have to swap the cargo bike for a couple of range rovers if you really want to integrate in the aldersbrook community though.

Email from solicitor on Friday, 4pm: I can't represent you in your purchase due to conflict of interest.

Best find a new one then :/

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Can recommend Debbie Valentine Knight at Paul Robinson. Smart and proactive.

If you don’t have an Evoque or Xc60 you won’t be allowed to move in

Cayennes are also allowed

that is the mad bit though!

How far would £100k...

I'm sorry, what?

Thanks for the suggestion, we're not London and would prefer someone a bit more local. I was just having a bit of a moan really. Another thing to sort out in a process full of things to sort out. Our estate agents actually "highly" recommend someone so we have a lead.

I don't live a million miles from that house and whilst it very nice, 100k probably won't touch the sides if you are doing a proper job on it. I'd say its more like 150 to 200k.

It's probably a tricky house to value as it needs a shit load of money spending on it but it's bare bones are still at present, pretty nice. But the refurb costs would need to be priced as if it were a wreck.

If you are able to you'd be probably better off buying one that's been pretty much done for 1.1.

The rest of the list (rewiring throughout, new fixtures and fittings throughout, repair / replace the facias, possible work to the roof, anything else obvious) has huge error bars depending on what’s needed. Could be £5k but could be £50k. There’s other stuff not on there (boiler?) that could add up as well if it’s the same age as the rest.

For example, when you say “rewiring throughout” is that a spark’s view or is it based on eyeballing the plug sockets and CU and thinking it all looks a bit old?

It's probably a tricky house to value as it needs a shit load of money spending on it but it's bare bones are still at present, pretty nice.

I suppose I would strongly disagree with this? The current owners have had it 60 years and spent little; you could probably live there at least 20-30 more spending similarly little. If you want to get themodernhouse vibes then sure throw 6 figures at it.

I'm with you on this. Don't see why it needs to be refurbed to the same extent as if it were a "wreck". Perhaps there's more to see in person but the photos look quite pleasant.

Actually wrecked houses have rot, fire and water damage, cracked walls, loads of asbestos, etc etc etc.

This is fine but you can't spend £1m on a gaff like that and live with plug sockets driven in to the skirting boards that you can't fit a modern appliance plug in to because they are so close to the floor. Well, I guess you could but you'd feel like an idiot.

So you go to sort the electrics and like pulling a thread on a jumper the whole just thing unravels.

Defo a project house, for the brave or very very flush. With £200k and a really great builder it could be amazing...

Agreed. This isn't a house you buy then paint with b and q value emulsion and tosh in a b and q kitchen and say that will do. This is going to have to be inevitably extended and refurbished and it ain't gonna be cheap.

Will all the chat I clicked on the link and ... it wasn't what I was expecting. It looks nice and clean and in good nick. I was expecting something more like my dad's neighbour's place (1 careful owner (3 generations of) since late 1920s, no gas, no central heating, outdoor loo etc).

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It’s the weird ‘untouched’ premium, isn’t it? You know you’re not buying anyone else’s thinly concealed bodges as they’re all out in the open instead of behind some fresh plaster, and that has a certain peace of mind attached. Plus less to undo to get it how you want it. IMO the bones of the first house are better - features, floor plan, room size. But you would have be to comfortable wielding the money gun to see it through; the ‘done’ house is obviously an easier life if you’re happy with the decisions the previous owners made.