Buying a re-posessed house

[binge]

Okay, so me and my OH are on the market for a bigger house.
We've just put our flat up for £150k, providing it sells for that, we will get roughly 12k cash out of it.
Plus what we have saved over the last year, we've got between £20k and £25k to put into a new house.
Solicitors fees etc will need to come out of that, pushing the deposit down slightly.

Looking at houses between £180k and £200k mark. Today we viewed one which is pretty perfect as far as a house goes. It's a 3 story town house, with garage and garden. 4 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, downstairs toilet, huge living room etc.

BUT. Some utter, fucking dirty skanks have lived there previously, and they've wrecked the place.
We're talking window boards ripped up, not a single carpet in the house, both bathrooms are trashed, like smashed shower cubicle, broken sinks, holes in walls etc.
Every door in the house needs replacing. That's 11 doors.
The kitchen almost doesn't exist... It really is a shell.
Once we got to the top floor, I was horrified. Crowbar marks in the walls, and actual human SHIT, smeared on doors, walls and windows...
Yup, dirty cunts!

All done and dusted, the house will be worth over £240k.

As some of you know, I'm fairly handy at most things, and will put my hand to anything.
I can fit a bathroom, and do most of the bits in a kitchen. But the skilled jobs, like plastering, and gas fitting is beyond me.

Has anyone on here renovated a house? And roughly what did it cost.
What sort of time scale should I be aiming for?

If our offer is accepted, we will need to move into it pretty much straight away because our place is for sale, and there is a chain etc.
Most of our shit would go in the garage for storage, and we'd have to quickly do out the living room, and treat it as a bedsit while we work our way around the house a room at a time.

Was just after some general advice, and constructive criticism.

Also if/when we do move in, anyone fancy coming round one weekend to give us a hand white-washing the whole place? Will be music, beers, a BBQ, paint and coveralls provided. haha!

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[Pete.]

If the structure, wiring, plumbing and roof are sound and there's no damp then I say buy it.
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[Wonko The Sane]

I'd get a commercial cleaner to give it a once over if shit has been smeared around the place.

People do tend to fuck property over if they're having to move out for eviction / repossession as they're angry at whoever is taking the house.

We're half way through the renovation of our house, it just hadn't had much done on it for quite some time, our friends down the road are also part way through theirs.

If you can avoid coming home and turning the TV on and instead get on with work on the house (beware of noise for the neighbours) for an hour or so, then chill out you'll get on quicker.

It looks like a modern house from the plans so likely to be plasterboard that can be ripped out and replaced or just patched, both myself and my mate down the road have to batter plaster off the walls as our houses are 1913 and 1935 respectively.

I'd get a kitchen fitter (go local independent with units bought from IKEA) to sort the kitchen while you sort the lounge, treat it as a bedsit / flat while you get a bedroom sorted and work through the house systematically (hallway / stairs last as you'll drag muck up and down them while working on rooms)

we stalled twice on ours, once due to lack of money as we didn't realise we needed a re-wire (some dangerous bodges) and complete replacement of central heating system.

second stall was having a baby.
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[dydey90]

How much is the house up for? £180k would be worth it, £200k maybe not. Although the state of it, you could get it bartered right down as nobody wants that in their portfolio.

Everything ripped off and started again might be a good thing, get everything to match and fit it yourself to save money. It doesn't take a lot to hang a door or fit a sink.

I'd buy a steam cleaner though...
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[Tracey Suntan-King]

From experience I'd say it's best to slightly overestimate the costs involved and then add some more.

Don't underestimate the time involved. It's tough if you're both working and then coming home to hours of work on the house every evening.

Only you can decide if it's worth it depending on what price you can negotiate and the time/cost involved.

We're constantly looking at development opportunities and so it seems are many other people. There are few bargains around (the Midlands anyway) so be careful. The thing that seems to put developers off however is the time required to refurbish, rather than just the cost.

The decision has to be a combination of head and heart. If, once it's done you're going to like living there (after all, it is your home) and it will give a good return on investment then go for it.

Remember also to check for "the revenge of the hidden turd", don't assume the only shit is the stuff you can see. Once you've laid flooring it'll be a nightmare trying to trace that annoying pong that will emirate from the turd's last resting place.
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Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're probably right

[BakesBeans]

Just remember if it is a repo, your offer will have to be advertised and anyone can jump in with a higher offer at any stage.

In 2009 I was trying to buy a repo 4 bed detached house in the SE. Sold 2005 for £210k, up for £180k (which needed gutting), and I offered £130k. They would accept £140k, and eventually the a cash buyer jumped in and got it for the high £138k. It recently sold for £250k


You can get some amazing bargains buying repo's, but you have to move very fast indeed!
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[Robby]

My flat was repo, the previous tenants were scum. Career criminal junkie scum, but not quite up to the levels of smearing shit on the walls.

I took the approach of stripping everything back to a bare shell and starting from scratch. Rooms were easy - paint and carpet. New kitchen I fitted myself, bathroom fitted by a plumber/building. In all it took about 3 people 3 weeks and cost around £5k.

My protip - don't let the wife choose anything. Carpet is there to be a cheap floor covering and as cheap as possible. Paint is white. The kitchen is a cheap B&Q one, installed and reinforced carefully so it will last. If she had been allowed to have any input it would have cost three times as much.

My second protip - don't get it perfect, just get it done. Once it's done, you can decide what really need to be re-done, and what you can live with.

Don't get too attached. A four bed house for £200k? It must be in an area that spends most of its time on fire. Someone will come along and steal it one night.

[weasley]

The house I am sat in typing this was renovated top-to-bottom 18 months ago. We bought it as a project and had a contractor do the work. That is all rooms plastered, every wall and ceiling, new wiring, new plumbing and heating, new windows, new doors throughout, plus two extensions. £80k (give or take) all in. Did not include the cost of new fitments (bathroom suites, kitchen stuff etc) but did include fitting. It is a 4-bed semi, two bathrooms, new integral garage (with awesome remote controlled roller shutter door).

I'm guessing that your project is smaller (no extensions) and you will chip in some work. If your projection of the end price is valid, I reckon you can easily get the work done for less than the difference.

The trouble is, you have to find that difference. We added it to the mortgage, which was a pain because at first they wouldn't lend us the full amount to buy and update the house, given it wasn't worth much when we bought it and it had issues. We convinced them that we needed all the money to get it up to scratch and it would be worth far more when done.

The other pain is that when they lent us the mortgage, they based the borrowing interest rate on the loan-to-value ratio. Given we were borrowing a lot on a house that wasn't worth much, we got a higher interest rate. That rate deal finishes soon so we can either remortgage with a better LTV ratio, or simply let it drop onto the much lower variable lending rate.

We sold our old house and rented for 6 months whilst the work was done, as the house was uninhabitable (no heating, no kitchen, no functioning bathroom/toilet etc and we have two small kids). If you store stuff in the garage let me advise you... mark ALL boxes on MORE than one side with essentially EVERYTHING that is in it. And stack them in a way you can at least see the markings. We still have a lot in boxes in the garage, in the (not finished) sitting room and in a storage lock-up, we marked them up but not well enough and I have have been through every box we have more than once looking for that thing that I know we have and need right now.

Worth it in the end though!
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[STONEY!]

Been there, done that! My house was a complete state very similar to what you described, was on the market originally for £420,000 then £360,000 then £320,000. We viewed and went in really low at £250000 and got it. Had to be a cash purchase no one would lend on it due to condition and one surveyor got in a fight with the vendor.

House was 7 bed, 2 kitchens, 3 bathrooms, 4 reception rooms, utility and single garage

The total cost of the refurb and conversion to 3 flats cost £40000 roughly. This was 3 kitchens, 3 bathrooms, plastering all round, new flooring, new boiler, rewire, block paved drive, 6x7m garage and fencing all round.

[garth]

I'm just buying a shithole of a house. Know any tradesmen? Things like doors are about £10 each with a trade account.
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[sensi5446]

When I moved in to our house (3 bed semi) about 3 years ago the whole house had fake wooden beams and plaster, all wood works were brown or black, the house looked like a pub with loads of brass ornaments and smelt like one, one room was yellow from the chain smoking and smelt like an ashtray. Door ways were blocked up and there was a massive brick fake fire place.

My wife stayed at her mums for the first 2 weeks while I took time off and gutted the ground floor, as plaster dust gets everywhere I couldn't have the kids in the house while it go done. I ripped everything out and paid a plaster to board and skim the place, kitchen and down stairs loo didn't need doing so it was only the dining and living room, hall way, stairs, landing. Also had new door, door frames, arcs, windowsills, skirtings put in. Then I sanded all walls, did 2 mist coats.

Then the wife and kids moved in so we lived out of one bedroom but again the bathroom didn't need doing so had that and kitchen for a month or so. Then finally finished the decorating and got everywhere finished off with carpets etc. Then had each bedroom skimmed one at a time as they needed doing.

The first lot of work took the best part of 3 months but I was decorating on my own and dealing with work and family life at the same time.

Cost including all work and fittings ie. £25 door handles and flush expensive plug sockets was around £9000. Cost around £2.5k for the board and skimming, and about £3k for the the joinery including new internal doors(with glass) etc. Then the rest was paint, carpets etc.

I had the advice of just do a quick job to get in quicker then do it again but I didn't see the point and live by "do it right or do it twice" so couldn't do a rushed job.

[daemonoid]

[Keir]

just refurbed a 3 bed house that needed everything - re-wire, plaster, ceilings, central heating, windows, doors. well, everything except the outer shell really. came in at 30k. still worth it.
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[J4mes]

We're doing our place at the minute - plastering has come in at £250 for a 12x12 room walls and ceilings skimmed, new carpet for 1200sq foot including underlay and fitting was £2500 for a good quality carpet, doors were £15 each at wickes and then £25 each to hang, bathroom we splashed out on (sorta) and was £7000 all in (bath, shower, basin, toilet, floor, tiles, towel radiator, tiled floor to ceiling, plastered ceiling, lighting and extractor fan.)

Then it's just lots of evenings and weekends rubbing down and glossing the woodwork, emulsion on the walls, curtain rails and other little jobs.

Make a list, try and do a couple of jobs a night, smash one day at the weekend and relax on the other.

Think about room use - if you're gonna want extra sockets, TV points etc then it's much easier to do them before the plastering starts. Especially if you're pulling plasterboard down as access to the voids behind will be easy.

Also agree about working logically - do the essentials first like your bedroom and kitchen, then worry about other rooms as and when they are required. We planned to do this but within 2 months of moving in my wife got pregnant and the nursery became priority!

[binge]

Well we put an offer of £170k on the place today. Got a call back from Ward a few hours later saying the owner of the property will only accept offers OVER the asking price of £186,500.

I laughed the bloke off the phone. How can somebody smear their own shit over the walls and ceilings of their house, and then demand more than the house has been valued at for the place.

Had a chat with the estate agents, by the sounds of it, the owners are dreaming, and have turned down pretty much all offers so far. So will leave it, play by ear, and if it doesn't sell, stick our offer in again.

[bikertomm]

Interesting thread.

I moved here 10 years ago (parents gaff). An old man had owned it from new in the 1930's. He died, and we bought the house.

It was a complete dated mess.. asbestos garage, horrendous wallpaper / kitchen / bathroom etc.

So far.. has taken my dad 10 years but the house is pretty much sorted now.

My top tip would be bleach. Lots of fucking bleach. Also, if you think something will take you a day, times it by 3 to be more accurate..

Look forward to seeing an onslaught of pitbikes in the living room though so from me!
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[Pete.]

A friend of mine moved in to a skanky house and washed all her walls down with bleach and she ended up in hospital. Make sure you wear rubber gloves etc.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[John933]

I have done this. And it's a never ending job. Put what we had in to storage. Used the best room we had as a bed room. Then the first thing was to get the kitchen fixed. Then I turned one of the room's into a work shop. In the way of all the fixing was done in that room and then moved to where it was needed. Wall paper. Go to a wall paper shop. Look round for the cheap stuff in the sale bin. Ask them how many roll's they have of that pattern. I brought 24 roll's. One wall paper right through the house, make's it look OK. Skip was quite costly, as you pay for the skip and a day rate. Just dump it some place, then order the skip, load skip, call them back, take away skip. Cost a lot less. I was not too bad as I could do the electric and the pluming. Look in the local paper for second hand bit's, or put a post card in your post office asking for item. I got a next to new double bed for free, just take it away.
John933

PS If you have the money a tow hook and a trailer will be gold dust.
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[stinkwheel]

[binge]

Had another talk to the estate agents this morning, and they explained the situation with this property a little better.
From what I understand, a Repo needs to spend 4 weeks on the market at the asking value before offers can be considered.
So basically, in 2 weeks time, it will go to offers providing it does not sell, and our £170k may be taken unless somebody else goes higher.

In the meantime, we have looked around, and viewed a few more houses.
But for the Sub-£200k marker, we're not going to get a 4-bed, 3-story semi-detached town house with driveway, garage and garden, unless of course, it has shit smeared on the walls and crowbar marks in the kitchen sides.

We've taken a liking to a house in Strood, which is a little further out than we wanted to be, but it's VERY cheap as it's dated and needs renovating really.

It does have a garage at the bottom of the garden, with enough room next to it to build a lean-to/car port for the SJ.
The problem is, the garage does not have a side/back door, it only has the main up and over jobby.
It's a standard housebrick style garage, how easy is it to cut a door into the brickwork?



Ben

[BakesBeans]

[binge]

Ah cool.
I also want a door that opens outwards. More so the pikeys cant kick it in as easily.

[Keir]

also repo houses are a pain the ass to buy. the bank that owns them wants to get as much as they can for them so usually they stay on the market until the sale is complete. They will often pull out of a sale for just a couple of hundred quid more from someone else too. Its entirely possible that by the time a sale completes its gone well above the original asking price.

Ive been there and done it, its crap but that's the system I guess.
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[stinkwheel]

[Sabs]

Where do you find out about repo houses? Just auction sites and local estate agents/rightmove?
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