What Needs To Be Done?

If it doesn't feel right, leave. Even if your developing purley for profit, I firmly believe you need to have a bit of emotion involved or you wont finish it. Doing up a house is exasperating, exhausting, overwhelming at times and the phrase 'labour of love' couldn't be more fitting, especially if your having to live in the mess while your doing it. Everything takes twice as long as you think it will, generally costs twice as much as you think it will and there will be times when your pushed to your limit. Its easier if you care about the place, even if you hate it at times!
Its a bit like raising children, they can run you ragged all day, you could swing for them, you really could but at the end of the day when you tip toe into their bedroom and they're all snuggled up and sleepy, you remeber why your putting yourself through it and thats the feeling you need to keep you going when you've been sanding paintwork ALL DAY. You flop down on the sofa, filthy, tearful, dust up your nose, your hands raw from the sandpaper, microwave meal for one on your lap and you look around and think, I did that, me and I'm going to do it all again tomorrow.

Back to the first viewing, then if you decide you do like it, of course you DO need your practical head on. Look around the house at what needs to be done and how much it will cost, which can be utterly daunting if you've never done anything like that before or if you've never done it alone. At first, when you view it helps to have a pre-written checklist so you can just tick off the points as you go around, especially if the agent is rabbiting in your ear trying to distract your attention away from the things he doesn't want you to see. When your in the kind of raw state that only the loss of a loved one can bring about, your mind is fuzzelled, nerves are raw and it helps to have a security blanket of a clipboard, a pen and a mission (and maybe a pair of dark glasses so the silly pin stiped wally doesn't see you cry) Worse is being shown round by the current owners, knowing our luck a blissfully happy family with smiley faced photo frames on every surface and couply bits jumping out at you at every turn. You'll need balls of steel so pre-pare yourself.