to buy or not to buy - help!!

[amandamum]

Dilemna - please advise! Our son is in a wheelchair. We've just seen a lovely Edwardian house - big garden (we could build a swimming pool for him) and large flat area downstairs, plenty of rooms and space. We'd have to live out for a year (finel, we are renting) while this empty old place (former old people's home) was renovated/updated/modernised. Here's the catch. Estate Agent warned 'There has been movement hence the price' and 'the sellers will sell on their existing insurance policy'. We can see cracks in the wall ourselves - and the lounge floor dips. the house is clearly £200,000 below what it would be. We would never normally be able to afford a four-bedroom large pile which would suit our whole family. But are we risking heartache and stress? We've £150,000 spare to play with once we mortgage up to the hilt - is this even enough to install central heating, damp proofing etc, new kitchen. What do we do??!!!! need someone who knows what they are doing to advise!!!

 

[Paul Hopper]

Can u send us some pictures of the settlement?

also a rough location (so we can get an idea of what it is built of)

Paul

 

[middi]

If you are serious enough about the potential of this property because it fulfills your requirement, I would suggest you invest a bit of money to engage the services of a good structural surveyor and make your decision based an his/her report and advise.

Whilst £ 150,000 is a substantial sum to upgrade and refurbish the property to a very high standard , it may prove that the same amount plus more could be swallowed up just by rectifications to major structural defects. This could lead to unwanted heatache.

 

[NT]

Usually such movement is a minor matter, and would hardly dent the 150k, but theres always the risk it might need the ultimate fix, underpinning. But even that is way way below 150k. Sounds like a serious bargain, as long as youre emotionally prepared to deal with the uncertainty and the hassle of whatever fix is needed.

A structural survey can give you some more info on it, but whether it will ansswer all your Qs is debateable.

Re dampproofing etc, you might want to get some more advice here on that.


NT

 

[Lime]

I think it depends on the soil the property is built on.
A house built on clay is very different to one built on a sandy soil.
Settlement will have different implications too.
A thorough survey is a must preferably by a local surveyor.

 

[Penners]

Just adding my voice to what everyone else has said: you need a proper structural survey. Employ a surveyor who knows the area well, and who is experienced in houses of this age. Don't just ask him/her for a survey - give him/her as full a brief as possible to look carefully at the suspected subsidence, to suggest what kind of remedial work might be required, and his/her best estimate of what that would cost.

This survey will cost you several hundred pounds, but it will be money well spent.

 

[DaveBrigg]

We have just bought a 5 bedroom Georgian pile in need of a lot of work. Current costs are central heating radiators & pipes, plumbing - 6K
Wood pellet boiler 5.5K
Kitchen 10K (bespoke, solid wood)
Complete rewire 10K
Slate roof stripping and replacing with new battens, breathable liner 13K
Lime plastering - lots, and going up all the time
There are lots of extra little costs too (nearly 500 quid on skip hire so far) but it sounds like you still have something to play with. Get lots of quotes - some were almost double the cheapest.

 

[Moo]

Of course, a 10K kitchen isn't compulsory, is it?

 

[Gervase]

Blimey, the roof sounds expensive! Whereabouts are you?
Skipwise, our ghast was flabbered at the cost, so we bought an old truck for £600 and have used that ever since to run stuff to our local tip (which, luckily, is only two miles away). It must have paid for itself several times over by now.
But you're right about the quotes - but also ask for references. Any tradesman or woman worth their salt will gladly give you their previous two or three clients. If they can't or won't, be a little wary.

 

[Penners]

Skipwise, our ghast was flabbered at the cost, so we bought an old truck for £600 and have used that ever since to run stuff to our local tip (which, luckily, is only two miles away). It must have paid for itself several times over by now.

If you deliver stuff to the tip in a truck, isn't your cargo considered to be industrial waste, that has to be charged for?

 

[Gervase]

Depends on the truck - our tip has a bar at 2 metres, and our truck is an elderly Land-Rover two-seater pick-up which just fits underneath (if the tyres aren't too hard!)

 

[biffvernon]

If buildings were built of the right stuff there wouldn't be any need for tip trips.

 

[middi]

The best I've heard so far, BIff, that could stuggle for an argumentative reply and shut everyone up. 8)

 

[Penners]

Hang on, Middi! This forum wouldn't amount to much if we all shut up!

 

[middi]

No fear of that Penners. Biff's remark brought home to me the reason why I should have had 15+ skiploads of old concrete, wire, plastic, metal,buried bikes and a mixture of asbestos and batteries especially carted away from a 15th C. timber framed house during the course of restoration.

In an Ideal world I should have been able to restore and recycle without the need for Skips, Ironically this forum is very safe, too many buildings have been Bu*****d in the past, at the same speed which the specialist crafts required to put them right is dying out.