£3 billion DIY opportunity

[Andy Hall]

It seems that attending to some of the regular topics that we discuss here can produce reward.

.andy

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[Andy Hall]

Obviously the avocado suite is a bigger issue......

.andy

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[geoff]

In message , Andy Hall writes

[MrCheerful]

I was offered a cottage in wales for only 10k a little while ago, it needs another 10k spending on it, so would have been a cheap holiday home, but the house smelt like a thousand cats had peed in it, we had to walk out quick or bring up lunch.

MrCheerful

[PoP]

I'm not so sure that wasn't such a bad deal - buy it, then give a fumigating company the job of getting rid of the smell.

Mind you, for a home worth £20K it must have been in a real state.

PoP

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[MrCheerful]

This was two or three years ago, from an auction on Loot. It was in a tiny little valley place next to the brecon beacons, called Pentre. It was a bit poorly, main structure was ok, but windows were falling apart, stairs needed repair. The rear of the place needed a ground floor extension really. The reason for sale was that the council would not allow it to be rented anymore, mainly because of the kitchen, bathroom, loo all together in one little run down lean to at the back, with only single doors between.

It would have been ok for personal use, but the stench was indescribeable, I expect the neighbours were complaining a lot.

Ready done houses were available at only 30k.

Must admit I sometimes wish I had bought it.

MrCheerful

[Soup]

All seems very strange to me, you(TINY) are willing to spend £100,000 on a house, but the 'fridge which the previous occupier will take away (and even if you had to buy a new one would 'only' cost £200) can put you off, and as for their(TINT) taste in decor ...

[Bob]

It all becomes clear when you realise that "people" are idiots.

A lot of people have no imagination, and cannot visualise a space. They want everything "done" even though they will decorate it anyway. That's why house doctoring works so well (and why the rest of us can save some cash by buying the undoctored places!)

Bob

[PoP]

Sounds to me like a project for a group of like-minded friends who are up to speed on DIY and can commit a bit of time and money to it.

Live on-site (under canvas if need be), spend the daylight hours bringing it up to scratch, evenings in the pub.

All contribute a few job to the exercise and then split the proceeds.

PoP

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[Andy Hall]

Mmm. There's loads of places called Pentre.

I once lived in a small village called Penisa'r Waun in Gogledd Cymru.

The locals abbreviated it appropriately, unless of course they were chapel members in Bethesda.

.andy

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[David Hemmings]

I find it laughable what puts some buyers off*, cannot remember the name of tte programme, but it showed potential buyers walking around houses with hidden cams and listening in. The pathetic crap that some were talking about e.g. i don't like the four-poster bed etc., i mean WTF has that got to do with the price of fish it won't be there when you buy it ... Or the people who asked what a room that was currently empty should be used for ..... anyway its good to relax and let off steam shouting at the TV about how stupid these fools were :)

Unless a bathroom/kitchen is fantastic, i immediately visualise what i can do with the space minus the currently installed facilities. What would i care if an oven is dirty what the carpets look like, my student days are gone, i don't do secondhand appliances or carpets.

Current house, the bathroom and kitchen were out and in a skip within the first weekend. Shortly followed by 11 30ft+ leylandii cypress trees, which burnt very nicely.

OK i would think what will i be knocking off my offer because of what needs doing, e.g the huge mistake that is stone cladding, use SDS /SDS max drill with chisel - 1 day of fun. How much to make it look nice with e.g. a good plasterer ..

*A nasty smelly place will probably put me right off, i have to wash any clothes the minute i get back from a restaurant that doesn't have good air-conditioning. That's if i stay there long enough, if i am paying good money to eat good food, i don't want it with second hand crap smells and taste. A building that has had to withstand that noisome habit, with those nasty chemicals and oils permeating the fabric of the building, yuck. Takes ages to get the smells out - had to stay in 1 student house where this was the case.