Is it worth improving house to sell?

Contessa

I live in the North West and want to sell up and retire to the Sw. I love my house but it could benefit from improvements-ranging from general "tarting up" such as redecorating, new carpets, tidying up the garden-to more expensive projects like new central heating, new bathrooms and kitchen, new garage roof. Is it worth the outlay, or would I be better asking for a lower price?

staffie1

If you can get the work done relatively cheaply, then I would say it's worth it as in my experience what you spend on improvements is often more than outweighed by the value it adds to the property.

spuds_2

I agree. It depends though, how your health and finances are. If you need every possible penny from the sale of your current home and feel fit and well enough to do it, I would certainly think about emulsioning and painting as it is cheap but effective. The garden should be cheap but easy to do as well. You could just have the carpets professionally cleaned.

If you have a bit of leeway on price, you can put it on the market and see how you get on, but be prepared to take a low offer as people will see it as needing more work than it really requires.

If the bathroom and kitchen are really bad, then price it as a refurbishment and you may get quite a bit of interest. I think the difficulty may come if you price it on a par with more up-to-date and appealing properties. People think, "New kitchen ...£10k", when they can be a lot cheaper.

charliee_3

you can do a bit of a house doctor on it, pack all your clutter into boxes leaving just the nice things, slap magnolia paint everywhere, put the dog into kennels, send the children to boarding school so they dont clutter the place up, cheap new carpets to brighten up any shabby rooms and dress them nicley with pretty coordinating cushions and suchlike.. it wont cost you much and
a) it will look nicer in the estate agents photos so attracting more people
b) people who want to move straight in will be able to

with regard to the bigger jobs what will probably happen is you will get your offer accepted and then they will have their surveyor round who will pick up that the boiler needs replacing and the garage roof needs doing and they will ask you for money off.. so as long as you are prepared for it....it may be worth you getting some quotes for the work so you will know how much they might expect off and if it is worth you getting the work done as they will probaly get expensive quotes to get the maximum amount off..

ShelleyC_2

Agree wih what Charliee says

derv

I think it is. Just make sure you know what you are doing. Don't drop money in it than you know you can't get back plus some.

chickmug

As an agent we used to get people thinking of selling but unsure whether to spend time and/or money on doing a place up. We were happy to chat through on the phone and sometimes even popped into see people. Do you have such an agent that you could take advice from.

Generally time is free so use it to tart up but watch the capital expenditure as others have already said.

mlz1413

My friends moved into together 2 yrs ago and so put one house up for sale, before doing that they replaced the kitchen (her wish not his) It didn't make a jot of difference they had 3 viewings in 6 months and no offers. I realise this was as prices were crashing but I think they would have been better marketing at a lower price and not having the hassle and outlay .

So I would think hard about what price you need to achieve, have that firmly in your mind and then invite a couple of agents round to value and discuss with them the work that they think needs doing.

Because GCH, bathrooms and kitchens are major works that need floors up and cause additional work like plastering it maybe better to market at a lower price and let someone buy it to do up the way they want it done.

penguine

mlz1413 wrote: »

Because GCH, bathrooms and kitchens are major works that need floors up and cause additional work like plastering it maybe better to market at a lower price and let someone buy it to do up the way they want it done.

I agree with this. We are planning to start looking at houses later this year and I would be put off anything that seemed to have recently had a lot of work done. I'd feel I was paying for kitchens, bathrooms etc that had been put in to someone else's tastes, not my own.

baby_fuzz

Contessa wrote: »

Is it worth the outlay

always. give it a quick lick of magnolia paint, and clean the carpets with one of those rentable ones at the diy store.

Jomo

penguine wrote: »

I agree with this. We are planning to start looking at houses later this year and I would be put off anything that seemed to have recently had a lot of work done. I'd feel I was paying for kitchens, bathrooms etc that had been put in to someone else's tastes, not my own.

Then there are those who like the idea of having somewhere they can just move into, without the hassle of any diy (or very little). As long as any decor is pretty neutral then I don't see the problem. Of course these things done come free but the hassle of it all has been taken away, some would pay for that. :T