Should I bother with this house?

Terri26

hey,
have been looking to buy in north dublin for years but could never afford it as I am single. anyway am hoping to buy now but most places are still out of my price range. one property I was looking at though is 260k, I cannot afford this but am hoping to get the price down.

The property is only rating ber F and does not have double glazed windows. how much roughly would it cost if i had to get double glazed windows myself (it's a 3 bed bugalow) and what can i do do improve the ber and what costs would that involve. i am always cold so a warm house is a must! Because of this would it be fair to offer a lot less for the house if i have to add these things to it? how much would you recommend.

thanks for the help in advance, I don't really have anyone to help me with these issues

Davy

Allow 20 or 25k for the insulation and windows. You would be able to get a grant from SEI which would help. Check out their website, you will find plenty info on it. Being a detached bungalow you could insulate on the outside of the house and not have to redecorate inside and not losing internal space either. The fact that you are fitting new windows this is another bonus, because insulating on the outside its recommended for best results you bring out the windows out to suit.

Massive Muscles

Terri26 wrote: »

hey,
have been looking to buy in north dublin for years but could never afford it as I am single. anyway am hoping to buy now but most places are still out of my price range. one property I was looking at though is 260k, I cannot afford this but am hoping to get the price down.

The property is only rating ber F and does not have double glazed windows. how much roughly would it cost if i had to get double glazed windows myself (it's a 3 bed bugalow) and what can i do do improve the ber and what costs would that involve. i am always cold so a warm house is a must! Because of this would it be fair to offer a lot less for the house if i have to add these things to it? how much would you recommend.

thanks for the help in advance, I don't really have anyone to help me with these issues

You would be mad to put any kind of money towards this place if it came up with an F rating. Says a lot about the structural quality of hte building and the type of development. Places like this will be sub 100K in 2 years.

Terri26

Thank you both for replying, I really appreciate it. MM does the fact it is only f mean the actual structure would be bad too? I thought it was just lazines of not insulating teh attic etc. Good job this site is here! it is just so frustrating being single and not being able to afford anywhere except an apartment which I dont want to do especially when you consider the added problems of management fees each year!

stepbar

Can you link the house? If it's priced at 260k I'm guessing it's somewhere in Swords maybe?

F is quite poor and is probably as a result of a lack of proper building regulations back in the day.

bangersandmash

Massive Muscles wrote: »

You would be mad to put any kind of money towards this place if it came up with an F rating. Says a lot about the structural quality of hte building and the type of development. Places like this will be sub 100K in 2 years.

I think you're misinterpreting the BER rating. It's a highly useful indicator that should have been introduced before the boom, but it doesn't reflect the structural soundness of the property - it just indicates the energy efficiency of the property.

And while I believe that prices will fall further, I think you're making a bit of a blanket statement about prices. After all there are plenty of properties in areas like D4 and Blackrock that were built pre-WW2 and will achieve an E/F/G rating simply because they have never been upgraded. It doesn't mean they're structurally unsound or that they're ever going to sell for sub-100k. However it does mean they need a considerable amount of renovation work to bring them to modern standards. Unfortunately many sellers fail to factor the cost and time required to perform such upgrades into their asking price.

sparkyjo

listen getting the windows done and insulating this house will not cost close to 20k-25k you should be looking closer to about 10k unless you are looking for something extremely fancy oh and there are grants and such.

and the ber cert is an energy rating if you are really interested in this house you should get an accessor in to give you a clear view of what you need to do and how much its actually going to cost or if you have any friends or family that have any construction experience you could ask them.

really you won't get great advise on boards when it comes to property there are to many people with differant opinions on the property market.

bangersandmash

sparkyjo wrote: »

and the ber cert is an energy rating if you are really interested in this house you should get an accessor in to give you a clear view of what you need to do and how much its actually going to cost or if you have any friends or family that have any construction experience you could ask them.

I think this is the best way to go. OP if you have any doubts, ask an expert such as an assessor, to view the property with you and give you their opinion on what needs to be done to bring the property to an acceptable standards. A small amount of money paid to a professional can save a significant amount of money in the long run.

Victor

Massive Muscles wrote: »

You would be mad to put any kind of money towards this place if it came up with an F rating. Says a lot about the structural quality of hte building and the type of development. Places like this will be sub 100K in 2 years.

I'd like you to back this up please.

teetotaller

u can get brand new 3 bed house in north west dublin for 250k. and these homes have B rating. why you look at so old places with F rating?

John Mason

i replaced my windows 5 years ago. 7 double glazed pillkington k glass windows, cost €2,000

i then replaced the back and front doors, pvc again, with pilkington k glass and they cost €2,500

i also insulated the attic for about €70.

what i would be worried about is, if the windows havent been updated perhaps nothing else has been.

you dont say how old the house is. my house was built in 1973, i had to rewire (the house wasnt earthed and there was a lot of dodgy wiring going on), whole house replastered, new plumbing in the bathroom, new bathroom suite, some new ceilings, new flooring, i had a flat roof extension which need to be replaced, new kitchen etc.

now my house was not looked after by the previous owners - clearly but i spent approx. 15 -20k getting this done.

it was at the height of the boom and trades people were impossible to get a hold off and charged a fortune, so you might be able to get everything done cheaper.

if you want to negotiate the asking price, it might be worth your while getting a structural survey done and use that to help bring the price down

johndaman66

My own opinion is that I would rather buy an older concerte built house that was build to last to some degree that needed a bit of work in the way of insulation to bring it up to scratch in that regard rather than a modern recently built timber frame house with a good energy rating but was slapped up in a day or 2 all the same.

I would be by no means an expert but I would be pretty sure in saying that the BER rating bears absolutely no relevance to how structurally good or bad the house is. Insulation is a secondary issue in relation to the structure and could be improved upon in a house with no/poor insulation.

OP there are grants available. In particular in your own case I'm sure as you are a single person. Do research this before you buy this particular property or indeed any. Citizens advice or even boards here might be a good place to start. Just if you would qualify for a grant don't let Estate Agent know this. Let on you would have to pay full whack and factor it in as a bargaining tool:D

Victor

johndaman66 wrote: »

I would be by no means an expert but I would be pretty sure in saying that the BER rating bears absolutely no relevance to how structurally good or bad the house is.

Then why mention it?

The next person to mention BER and structure in the same paragraph gets banned.

johndaman66

Victor wrote: »

Then why mention it?

The next person to mention BER and structure in the same paragraph gets banned.

Hey man just trying to help OP with the knowledge I have picked up in my house hunting experience and know how from talking to friends who are in the construction trade. I'm not a structural engineer or construction expert and I'm sure the OP would interpret as such from the fact that I proclaim not to be an expert.

Kipperhell

Many houses will have such a low rating including some of the most expensive houses in Ireland. The suggestion they would suddenly drop so dramtically in 2 years is tosh. I would consider the BER akin to car ratings rather than washing machine ratings. You can buy an affordable car with a good efficiency rating but it may feel cheap, be small and not be versitile. Same goes for houses really. Washing machines are generally efficient or not and do basically the same thing with few noticing any difference other than appearance.

With houses location is still prime. AFAIK you can ask your surveyor how to increase your rating and to what extent it can be upgraded to. One thing I would say is if you are getting internal insulation installed it is messy and is one of the last things you do. Very hard organising work to have the job completed with a good finish. You get new windows but the window sill does not consider the insulation being installed, new radiators and electrics being removed and then reinstalled. Try to get a company to do the lot so you don't have to try and play the blame game on issues and can get them to fix them.

Some things can be done gradually but the insulation stuff has such a knock on effect you have to do a lot together. You might be lucky and the building has a cavity that can be filled but that is still not the best system and prone to cold spots.

AARRRGH

sparkyjo wrote: »

really you won't get great advise on boards when it comes to property there are to many people with differant opinions on the property market.

I think that's the reason the OP will get good advice many different opinions to get her brain working!

ednwireland

f rating may not mean that much, it could mean no loft insulation, or an open fire or an old boiler 3 things that bring the rating down significantly and no double glazing.
i rent out a 2 bed bungalow and am upgrading it to an e at the moment (i could get it to a c3 but cant afford it)

the main thing that brings down the rating on my property is that the boiler is in a porch on the back of the house, this makes the porch part of the house and brings the rating down significantley. your ber is a starting point the full report should tell you where the problems are
try pricing double glazing, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and putting stoves in fireplaces that would probably improve the rating. just depends whether its worth doing at the price you get the house !

like i say my builder (he's a ber assesor as well) went through the options and listed out where i'd get the most gain and then i had to decide what i could afford, i was already getting structural work done so i'm trying to pick off the low hanging fruit and keep within budget.


just mu experience of looking at ber results recently

oops forgot another biggie - low energy light bulbs can knock a bit off the ber as well

Terri26

thank you so much to everyone who replied, I havent a clue about these things so really appreciate that people bothered to reply. went to link the house but it seems to be gone from the site so they must have taken it from the market.
thanks again for the advise am sure I will be needed it again soon!