Buying A House

[Stuart_Wales]

Im a first time buyer looking at a house. I've got my deposit ready and have viewed a house that I like.

1. When veiwing, I noticed alot of ceiling cracks. Nothing major (have pictures if anyone is that deeply interested). At a guess, i'd say the platering/artexing is at least 30 years old. Is this common? Also, how much would it be to 're-ceiling' most of the upstairs (3 x double bedrooms).

2. It was listed, and has been, for over a year and has had a 20k reduction in price. Would it be rude to offer a further 20k less. In a nutshell, it's in a VERY nice location, but is VERY old. An old man had it, so needs ALOT of work. Structure looks in good condition with decent garden space/garage.

3. I'm probably going to a second view this week. Any suggestions on what to look for. There's no signs of damp at all, electrical switches seem fairly new (light fittings old, not an issue), plumbing looks ok. It has a new kitchen (only new bit of the house mind). 90% new double glazed.

I'll be taking it on as a project, but dont want to be caught out. What would cost the most to rectify etc?

ANY advice welcome!

Thanks.

 

[Cherry13]

I've just bought my first and got the keys last thursday, needless to say no golf for me!

Been through similar sort of thing really, our previous owner was in for 46 years (at this rate me and HID will be lucky to make 46 days)

1, no expert, but our plasterer charged us £120 for ceiling he had to board it as well. We also got four walls a fireplace and another room done all in for 400, (the 2nd room was just the walls) but we also offered him the work for upstairs when its ready so I think that sweetened it. Obviously the more you offer the more discount theyll give.

2, go for it, we did pretty much the same and we even offered less than someone else had previously but we had no chain. Use that as a USP.

3. All that will come out in surveys anyway, but my advice would be to dbl check things. Walls etc, are they load bearing, if you plan on knocking them down. Oh and dbl check the boundaries of the property are all legit, we had to get solicitors check our drive as half should hsve been neighbours.

 

[Hobbit]

If its Artex ceilings it may just be the Artex seperating from the plaster. Could be joists settling but if it was you'd have a wavy ridge.

Old house;

Check where the mains water comes into the house for lead pipework.
Check the wiring... even if its plastic coated it may be more than 25yrs old.
Check for a damp course... if its that old, it may not have one.
After that its the obvious things like woodwork, windows, kitchen & bathroom.

And for the sake of saving you a huge amount of money, get a proper structural survey done. As its really old, the house buyers survey probably won't be invasive enough.

The offer; offer what you want. If the owner has died, and its the family selling it, you can usually get it cheaper. Price up all the work properly and base your offer on what is realistic. If they don't like the offer, at least you've got a starting point

 

[Stuart_Wales]

Thanks both. My parents have been up there and spotted a crack on the outer render. Re-rendering was something i'd pencilled in as part of the project, but I didnt see this crack. So will investigate that.

When I say old, I think the house is about 40 years old and I dont think the interior has been touched in that time. So not that old for the structure, but ancient for inside.

Electrics are not an issue. Im an electrical engineer so labour and materials are low cost.

 

[Stuart_Wales]

Picture of the cracked render.

 

[Golfmmad]

Although the crack may look bad it shouldn't be a problem for a decent builder to rectify. 40 years isn't that old for a house, in fact I bet all the rooms are a good size.

Best advice is to get a structural survey, but it sounds as if you have a blank canvas. Enjoy the fun of creating your own "home" to your taste.

 

[Deleted member 1740]

My advice would be to pay for the best survey and make sure you read the report thoroughly.

Maybe offer the asking price subject to survey then negotiate on the findings of the survey.

Either way good luck.

 

[richart]

First thing I would check out with all the rain we have had over the last few years is it in a flood area. Also get into the attic, and see how dry that is. Check for signs of rodents, bats, birds etc if it has been left empty a while. I understand rats can be difficult to get rid of !!

Anything structural will genarally cost a fortune, but anything cosmetic you can do yourself. My house is mid Victorian and had been empty for about four years. Awful state of repair, but the structure was sound. We have a flat roof extension that was done in the 50's and the quality of that is dreadful. The 50's and 60's were a time of some very poor quality building using cheap materials.

Watch out for asbestos. We have an asbestos roof to the garage, and a mate of mine found it is his walls. Cost him a fair bit to get rid of it when he had an extension built. If your property was built in the 70's you will probably be ok.

Structural survey is the way to go though, and any faults found can be used for price negotiation purposes.

I can recommend buying an older house that needs a bit of work, as a lot of buyers can't see the potential.

 

[Stuart_Wales]

Top reply Richart. Thanks for that! Totally forgot to think about the flood issue. I'm fairly certain it isnt in a flood risk area, but will investigate further.

I was thinking about entering the attic. I assume im ok to do this on a viewing?

Also, is there a way to find out about asbestos? How would I find it, should I be told if I fronted the question?

Thanks again..

 

[richart]

Stuart, don't see any reason why you shouldn't be allowed into the attic. If you are not I would be a bit suspicious. Try and check the repair of any chimneys and also if any light coming in through the roof. Birds, mice etc could well be getting in. You can also check out the loft insulation, as a lot of older houses have very little if any.

Just did a check and asbestos was used from the 50's up until 2000. If it is undisturbed shouldn't be a problem, so you don't want to go digging for it. I would make sure it is checked for on a survey, especially if you are planning to knock walls out etc. If you want to have it removed it is a specialist job, men in full protective clothing, and can be very expensive.

Any recent repairs, new paint work is worth having a closer look at, as when people sell a house they like to hide any obvious damp etc with a lick of paint. All these problems should come out in a structural survey, but they are expensive, and if you can spot a lot of obvious probems you may decide not to buy before going through the expense of the survey.

Hope this helps, and doesn't put you off buying.

 

[Crazyface]

Never mind all this advice on sorting the probelms out with the house, put a stupid offer in and negotiate from there. IT IS A BUYERS MARKET!!!!! DO NOT FEEL GUILTY !!!!!

 

[upsidedown]

Good luck with your purchase and ongoing projects to renevate.

We are in the process of buying a 144 year old cottage and had a full building survey down ( as they are now called ) hasn't shown up any faults that we hadn't sen which is encouraging.

We are looking at doing a fairly full renovation, re wire , new bathroom, new fireplace new downstairs loo, kitchen etc and are in the lucky position to e able to stay with MiL whilst we do this.

Go for really cheeky offer, we did as cash buyers and got a really sweet deal HOWEVER it's taken an absolute age to go to exchange of contracts and completition.

With the housing market as it is you'd thunk they'd be falling over themselves to get it moving but no. Only 3 of us in the chain, two empty houses and two cash buyers so should be straight forward, yeah right.

If there was a suitable property in the area we'd be lowering our offer big time to put some pressure on them, have intimated we are still looking at other properties.

For the work you're not doing yourself get 3 quotes and ask to see examples of their work before deciding.

 

[Stuart_Wales]

What did you pay for the full building survey mate? If you dont mind me asking..

 

[upsidedown]

Peace of mind