Being nosy about costs?

My next door neighbour died and after probate was worked on for seeming ages
He was 90 something and had lived there for 60 odd years so I am pretty sure the heating and electrics were renewed by the new owners.

South east of England -house was bought for £480k
The illustration is not that house now, but a similar one on the market
Work done in makeover..

It had the integral garage turned into a room.(as has the illustration)

The utility room on the illustration doesn't exist in the house but the area has been now incorporated.

The "through lounge" was knocked through into a larger room.

The kitchen wall/rear diner wall was removed and "moved" sideways into the kitchen to align with the lounge wall. While it may support what's above, it's more a breakfast bar/huge serving hatch than a solid wall

The kitchen was extended sideways over where the plan shows a utility room and into the side passage by maybe a couple of metres more.

I believe that a downstairs loo was included in the garage conversion area

The lounge had a chimney breast removed. There's one in the bedroom above but I don't know if that went as well?

All ceilings downstairs were removed and replaced, plaster skimmed through out

Presumably entire rewire /bathroom/loo heating renewal?

Front garden. Block paved as parking - maybe 4x 8 metres?

I am just being nosy about how much that must have cost? The builders seemed to be there every day for three months.

Anecdotal:
Very similar down my road. House sold for £450, has had total inside and out refurb (including new patio, conservatory, all windows, trees gone and new boundary walls and hedges)

Inside new plastering, ceiling, kitchen, bathrooms etc.

Neighbour is a friend of new owner. Apparently 200k to refurb it.

This seems like a question Teaboy Jim would ask and then go about it for 10 pages.

Andy

There’s a house down our road (60’s semi) owned by a young couple that have had builders there every day since about February. They've had a side and rear extension, attached garage turned into a room, had new windows (smaller ones! - the windows in our houses literally go from wall to wall) and this week they’ve put some kind of boarding on the whole front and rendered and painted it. Looks like they’ve done a full refurb inside too with a new kitchen as they have been moving the appliances (still boxed) outside each day when working inside. Must’ve cost a small fortune. Mrs Mottie knows the boys mum, she lives down our street too so she’s going to have a nosey when it’s finally finished. I think kids are like that these days. The only new thing we had when we got married was the bed. Everything including cooker, carpets, curtains etc was secondhand and we lived upstairs for a whole year while we renovated the downstairs.

Mottie said:

I think kids are like that these days. The only new thing we had when we got married was the bed. Everything including cooker, carpets, curtains etc was secondhand and we lived upstairs for a whole year while we renovated the downstairs.

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Debt, debt and more debt.

Harry Bloomfield said:

Debt, debt and more debt.

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I used to think the same, but with interest rates lower than inflation it's free money - while I sit here watching my savings being devalued every year.

cdbe said:

I used to think the same, but with interest rates lower than inflation it's free money - while I sit here watching my savings being devalued every year.

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You are not on your own there, but happens to the debt, when interest rate go back up?

Harry Bloomfield said:

You are not on your own there, but happens to the debt, when interest rate go back up?

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If interest rates go up you mean!

No guarantee they will go up anytime soon, and if they do, it won't be by much. Japan has had around 0% for decades now

Costs too much to move so makes more sense to improve your own home and have it how you want.

Harry Bloomfield said:

You are not on your own there, but happens to the debt, when interest rate go back up?

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This has been my thinking for most of my life but it doesn't appear to have paid off. While I've been avoiding debt, others have bought massive houses with large, cheap repayment mortgages.
Suckers like myself who took out small, manageable loans, have only managed to migrate up the ladder due to the stamp duty holiday.

It's all a gamble at the end of the day but it's clearly paying off for some.

curium said:

It's all a gamble at the end of the day but it's clearly paying off for some.

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Yep. Some stretch themselves and end up lucky, others end up losing their home. I was never prepared to take that gamble, not with my home. Plus, Mrs Mottie would have brained me!