Went to buy a house

[AtW]

I live near some extremely wealthy people who are stupid.

Sounds like they can afford it ...

[vetran]

AtW the idea is to buy a house that has the location, shape and general character you are after cheap because the last owners were in their eighties and the kids are too busy arguing over the inheritance. Then spend £20-30 K for some builder to strip & refurbish it to your liking. So you get a 'new' house with a big garden away from the neighbours. I look out on woodland when I get up in the morning we have native squirrels that drive the cats nuts.

We bought a nice detached house with a large garden, a drive that you can park 10 cars in and a Garage you can park a range rover in.

We stripped the bathrooms & kitchen out, stripped the walls, cabled top to bottom and redecorated. Its the way we want it now.

We of course got a discount because flowery wallpaper and yellow bathrooms weren't selling points.

You of course can stay in rented accommodation while this happens. We lived in it because the cost of renting was too much for our family size. I did the work because we borrowed to near our maximum (but not the banks) remember I'm a permie and I enjoy DIY.

Or you can buy a house with a titchy Garage and paper walls for top dollar.

[sasguru]

What on earth are you bumbling on about ? He is a search engine guru not a builder, why would he want to waste time and money modernising a pile of poo ?

WFAS +++

When I was shopping for my first house my parents were pressuring me to buy all sorts of old wrecks.

If I'd wanted to be a builder I would have done an apprenticeship to learn how to do it properly.

Major renovations aren't compatible with working long hours or away from home in your £££ job either.

That'll be why my property portfolio is worth north of 1 million and yours isn't. HTH, BIDI.

AtW the idea is to buy a house that has the location, shape and general character you are after cheap because the last owners were in their eighties and the kids are too busy arguing over the inheritance. Then spend £20-30 K for some builder to strip & refurbish it to your liking. So you get a 'new' house with a big garden away from the neighbours. I look out on woodland when I get up in the morning we have native squirrels that drive the cats nuts.

We bought a nice detached house with a large garden, a drive that you can park 10 cars in and a Garage you can park a range rover in.

We stripped the bathrooms & kitchen out, stripped the walls, cabled top to bottom and redecorated. Its the way we want it now.

We of course got a discount because flowery wallpaper and yellow bathrooms weren't selling points.

You of course can stay in rented accommodation while this happens. We lived in it because the cost of renting was too much for our family size. I did the work because we borrowed to near our maximum (but not the banks) remember I'm a permie and I enjoy DIY.

Or you can buy a house with a titchy Garage and paper walls for top dollar.

Not often I agree with veteran, but this is the way to go. Buy some oldies house that hasn't been redecorated so becomes a blank canvas.
Old detached houses usually have much larger plots of land than new builds so you can extend + your neighbours are at a distance.
Get a project manager who'll do a turn-key solution and you don't need to worry too much about it either - just move out while its being done.
And invariably if the location is right the cost of the doing up is much less than the value you immediately add when its done - houses in the right location will always sell easily, even in a recession (talking about London now)

I'm amazed at the stupidity of some people on here when it comes to house buying.

[sasguru]

I don't live in Span or Spain.

I live near some extremely wealthy people who are stupid.

However the really wealthy ones are the owners of the building companies, some of the trades and some of the estate agents who repeatedly end up doing or selling the same houses.

I doubt they are stupid. They probably make money on every renovation.

[sasguru]

Neighbours can definitely make or break the experience, and it's not like living in a "nice" area means you'll get pleasant neighbours.

It's not guaranteed but in my experience, far, far more likely.
Unless you're unlucky enough to buy next to a chav lottery winner, living in a posh area, amongst bankers, lawyers and doctors means that anti-social behaviour is not at all common.
In fact the only time in the last few years it happened is when some teenage kids down the road had a wild party, when their parents weren't there.
The parents made the kids go and knock on every door to apologise and to promise it wouldn't happen again