Fixer Upper Houses

[eyetea]

Anyone know the best place to find them? Estate agents only seem to have reasonably pristine properties... My partner and I might be in a position to move in the near future and we'd love a fixer upper - as long as there is nothing structurally wrong with it! Full rewire / pipe work / plastering / full bathroom / kitchen are all fine! Ideally we'd like somewhere that hasn't really been touched for a few decades! Just not sure where to look aside from keeping an eye on auctions!

[elsiegee40]

They're usually sold at auction not through estate agents

[network41]

Fixer upper houses for sale - houses & flats for sale

[Disaster]

In Birmingham, I regularly see them on Estate Agents via Rightmove, might be becuase we're rather densely populated round 'ere!

[korifugi]

If the telly is anything to judge by - auctions.

 

Wifey is practically addicted to homes under the hammer.

[Steve21]

The problem with most these shows is it doesn't show the 99% that builders snap up. I looked at a few near me when I was looking for places and builders by the dozen were looking at them.

 

If they don't think it's worth fixing even with their skills it probably isn't for individuals too And you got to remember these TV shows never show agents fees/solicitors/stamp duty/personal time "wage" etc etc

 

Steve

[witch]

On the other hand..The old lady next door to us died just before Christmas at 99 years old. The house was a basic three bed bungalow with metal windows and the original wiring, plumbing, kitchen, bathroom etc and we did think about maybe buying it to do up and sell on. But it went for quite a high price - £365000 and we weren't sure about the profit margin.

It was bought by a local middle-aged couple who started doing the fixer-upper thing for a living a few years ago when they were both made redundant. They are planning to turn it into a house and have extended the back as well. They will sell it on immediately.

However, there have been issues - the foundations were found to not be deep enough for the extra storey, and so they have had to sort out underpinning which must have cost quite a lot. This would explain why every other identical bungalow in the street has been extended into a chalet-style house rather than a full one.

Initially it took around a month longer to complete than they were expecting so that would be another month's mortgage to pay.

It was on with normal estate agents though and they buy through them rather than auctions. They say it is a bit more expensive but they prefer to have the info and they have a good relationship with the local guys.