Put our First Ever House Offer In (Re-wiring query)

Hi all!

Jenn and I have our decision in principle and have our 2nd offer in on a house. Exciting!

Jenn viewed the property as I was conquering Mt. Snowdon and she loves it. The estate agent told her however that it probably needs a full rewire.

Has anybody ever had a rewire on their property? How much do they cost on a 3 bed semi in the North West? Big job?

Will it need this right away or is it a suggestion that it will need it in future. Not personally had this on my house but did look at a house that wouldve needed it immediately and it was looking like it would be a costly and inconvenient job.

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RUN!  Unless you are prepared for a job that will likely turn from a molehill into a mountain, don't do it.  As soon as you start opening walls, you *will* find more problems.  Just the beauty of being a homeowner.

It'll cost thousands to re-wire a home.  I'd say £3,000 minimum for the house and that's not going to include all the replastering and painting that will have to be done to make the house "good" again. 

And if the home needs re-wiring that means it's a massive fire risk at the moment.  You have a small child. 

Let this be someone else's problem. 

RUN!  Unless you are prepared for a job that will likely turn from a molehill into a mountain, don't do it.  As soon as you start opening walls, you *will* find more problems.  Just the beauty of being a homeowner.

It'll cost thousands to re-wire a home.  I'd say £3,000 minimum for the house and that's not going to include all the replastering and painting that will have to be done to make the house "good" again. 

And if the home needs re-wiring that means it's a massive fire risk at the moment.  You have a small child. 

Let this be someone else's problem.

Exactly...safety aspect aside (which is a big risk), it wont just be the rewiring itself that costs..itll be opening walls, replastering walls, new paint, etc., AND itll all need to be certified  (you usually, from my experience, pay additional to your electrician for that certificate).

Also, the house we looked at that was so old it needed new wiring also looked to need new boiler/heating so it was update and running efficiently. As KF said, opening up walls and rewiring a whole house is opening up a big can of worms. Is this something youd have the budget for? Is this something youd want your small child living in? Is this something youd have the patience to live in the middle of? (I know we didnt want to live in the middle of that work without a small child....the idea of it taking multiple days when it gets dark early now was not appealing to us)

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RUN!  Unless you are prepared for a job that will likely turn from a molehill into a mountain, don't do it.  As soon as you start opening walls, you *will* find more problems.  Just the beauty of being a homeowner.

It'll cost thousands to re-wire a home.  I'd say £3,000 minimum for the house and that's not going to include all the replastering and painting that will have to be done to make the house "good" again. 

And if the home needs re-wiring that means it's a massive fire risk at the moment.  You have a small child. 

Let this be someone else's problem. 

Excellent advice!

I had the electrician in recently and asked him just out of curiosity how much it would cost to rewire my house and he just rolled his eyes!
It's a huge job.

All those disadvantages might be true, but I see one giant advantage - that house should be CHEAP.  If the location is great, the yard is great, schools are great, but the inside of the house is dodgy, then you have a unique opportunity to get everything done all at once, your way.  New kitchen, new heating, new appliances, all done to your spec.   We did this and lived in rented accommodation while it was being done.  It's not as expensive as you think and the end result is a house that is made the exact way you want, without old lady wallpaper and a washing machine in the kitchen. 

Disclaimer: Just a thought, don't trust me, do your own research.  KfDancer  and XKOD are both smarter than me.

Consider putting in a ridiculously low offer and seeing what happens.  Maybe the seller just wants to get rid of it, nobody wants to buy because the estate agent is frightening everyone and Brexit, and you can get it with a big enough discount to do all the work.

Off topic, but the nicest house in our development was owned by a lady who passed away with no family.  The house was sold by some crazy method for peanuts, literally about %60 of what it was worth.  I have no idea how those people wrangled the deal, but they did.    Bargains can happen.

If you know tradesmen you trust, I would lean toward Jimbo's position.

Protip: Only do this if you can afford to remain in rented accommodation while the works are carried out, and you can get everything done before moving in.  It's easy to get used to living a certain way and keep putting off work indefinitely.     Besides, you have a liitle one... you don't want to expose your small child to the chaos and potential hazards of renovations.

Thanks everyone.

Well I went to have a proper look today, they were good at fitting me in. Now it has a fairly new legal circuit board which is a good start. So I think we're going to have a survey and get an electrician to test it. If it comes back unsafe then I will ask the current owners to go half with me. See what happens there. Who knows, the bank might not even lend us the money until it's done. The agent who said it needs doing is an old part-time guy who does Saturday viewings. He's quite incompetent. He said he 'imagines' it will need a full rewire. I spoke to a regular guy today and he seriously thinks its fine. Along with that, the maintenance man at my place said it looks fine when i showed him pictures. Only way to really know is get a sparky in.

An elderly lady used to live in it who's passed away. The location of the house is literally around the corner and my wife is in love with it. The street is amazing and is on one of three streets that are extremely sought after so the interest is extremely high. Houses in the area normally sell for about £240,000 but it's priced at £199,500.

I appreciate the work involved in rewires and the price. But seeing as the house needs some big modernization inside due to the elderly owner it might actually be a good idea to do it now. The boiler is fine and the radiators are good. Boiler probably needs replacing in 3 years.

After mortgage we will have £10,000 to spend on the house. My best guess at a re-wire is ~£3,500.

We will move in with my parents while this messy work takes place, or even continue renting for a month.

You are correct not to listen to the Saturday Viewing guy.  He most likely has no idea what he's talking about.  Most real estate agents don't even know about real estate, much less wiring.

You are correct not to listen to the Saturday Viewing guy.  He most likely has no idea what he's talking about.  Most real estate agents don't even know about real estate, much less wiring.

I have a friend who is very DIY-minded and said it looks okay to him. Only a test will show.

We've actually been accepted at full asking price by the way!

The boiler is fine and the radiators are good. Boiler probably needs replacing in 3 years.

Can a boiler be fine and still expected to live for only 3 years?  It's like a transmission in a car, it's either fine forever  or just waiting to  break catastrophically at any moment.   

Mine is the latter, and it's a massive PITA.  Every year we turn on the heat and the stupid thing breaks, we have to call the engineer guy who is crazy busy because everyone else has just turned on their heat, and sometimes go days without heat or hot water.  Then the guy comes and threatens us with replacing the whole thing for 5 thousand pounds or something, and we get him to do the 200 quid fix, and repeat next year.  And the system is CRAZY complicated, with several tanks, several thermostats, extra thermostats on the radiators , and timers with unlabelled buttons.  Oh, and a cold water tank in the loft that is probably full of  dead birds and bat poo so we aren't supposed to drink the water in our bathroom.   

Why put up with all that if you actually think you'll have to replace it in 3 years?  Get a proper boiler and a nest thermostat and underfloor heating like a boss.

I see what you’re saying Jimbo but my old man is an ex-gas technician and he’s happy with it for at least 3 years

I see what you’re saying Jimbo but my old man is an ex-gas technician and he’s happy with it for at least 3 years

Well that's significantly different if the servicing is free!

Well that's significantly different if the servicing is free!

Not quite. Beer will be the payment!

All I’ll have to pay for is parts and a registered gas technician to check over things

I do agree Jimbo’s point on buying the crap house on a great street.  That’s what we did.  Our neighbors love us - though they are all now doing improvements to “keep up”.  Shame the value is stagnant with Brexit but hey ho.