Hi IMs
Just wondering if anyone has been in this position before. Sorry for the lomg post.
Hubby and i recently sold our little starter home to upgrade from a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom house. Trying to find our forever home for retirements sake.
Hubby and i have found this home for our max budget. The house needs a lot of work done to it new carpet, gutting the yard fixing a few unfinished wall jobs ect. Where we live we can no longer buy a 4 bedroom house for under 600k so we knew to get the size and features we wanted we need to buy a fixer upper.
But here lies my problem, my dad is a builder, to old to build himself now. We asked him to look at the house for us telling him the story before we went and saw it. Needs works ect. The owners friend was at the house telling my dad all about the house and didn't just stop talking to let us look at it. My dad disliked the guy and thinks hes shady and doesn't want us to buy it he feels that this man was a know it all and of course had a list of reasons why when we got home. The owners did diy work to the house extensions and all and dad thinks we are wasting our money.
Hubby and i love the idea of what it could look like when we are done fixing it ourselves.
So my question is has anyone taken a chance at a diy house they thought might be bad but it paid off in the long run or turned out real bad? What signs should i look out for?
4 Replies
Always pay for a property inspection before buying. Keep your dad out of it, as he is going to have emotional attachments to wether you should do it or not.
We love fixer uppers, but we always rule out structural problems. If an extension is DIY there are sometimes big problems that are a knock down or take back to nothing to fix.,
If the guy gave your dad a bad feeling, then I'd definitely follow my dads instinct on that one. There will be other fixer uppers.
If you're in Qld, get a council inspection done to find out if they got their finals done for any extensions, otherwise if they didn't, it may cost you a lot more money down the track. Also, you can pay to get a building and pest inspection, if you want a qualified, second opinion.
Get an independent building inspection if you want a second opinion. When my parents bought their house in the late 80's it was a hundred year old house boarding on derelict and several family members who worked in construction warned them not to buy it but they did. There was a lot of shonky DIY that had been done to it all of which they gutted, pulled down and rebuilt/rewired properly etc. It took a lot of work, most of which they did themselves (my dad is now retired but worked in construction) over many years but that house is spectacular now, it's one of the best in their suburb. So if the main part of the house is structurally sound (not sinking, no major cracking in walls, no white ant damage etc) and you're prepared to put in the time and money to fix it up and have the patience because it won't be a quick thing then I say go for it. I work in real estate and I'd love to buy an old fixer upper and bring it back to its former glory if I had the time and patience to do so.
Get a building inspection done. Problem solved. The personality of the person you're buying a house from has nothing to do with it, so long as he's not telling porky pies...