What improvements should I make to increase my selling price of my house.

edthevanman

We need to sell fairly quickly at a maximum price...I know so does everyone.. what should we improve to give the house the WOW factor. The estate agent suggested a new kitchen, we are at the 250K area which makes matters worst. We have thought of a new drive (tarmac) not brick. Any suggetsions and help would be much appreciated. When is the best time to put the house up for sale?
:j

Cannon_Fodder

How long is a piece of string...

Rightmove link, so we can see how bad it is?

How does it compare to the competition?
What figure do you NEED at the moment...once the money is spent what figure will you NEED then...if it takes you over £250k, I wouldn't bother spending that much, as you limit your market at the stamp duty threshold.
The female of the species is very taken with a swish kitchen. It certainly will help get viewings.
But don't ignore the rest of the house, as a top-notch kitchen will then make the rest of the place appear particularly "tired".

Lick of paint. Get rid of extreme colours. New carpets, of a lightish colour, can freshen up, especially in small rooms. De-clutter...

Tidy front and back gardens...

Come on, all this stuff has been done ad infinitum on a million TV shows...!

lincroft1710

Devil's advocate - if you're around £250K, why do anything? Good kit can cost up to £10K, drive £2K, yet you need to keep price max £250K. So you could only realise £238K net if you spent all that money and remember that at least 50% of potential buyers won't like your choice of kit and would prefer block paved drive.

Do the bare minimum, fresh neutral colour schemes and floor coverings. Plus of course both house and garden clean and tidy.

edthevanman

The problem is we need to get £266K so thought about offering to pay stamp duty and put house on at £275-£280K. The estate agent told us that it needed a new kitchen to give it the WOW factor. The problem is different estate agents give you different advise. We don't want to spend say £10k on bits and pieces only to find not needed. I know it the same story and problem for everyone. We need a new carpet in the hallway -some people say carpet some say laminate flooring....talk about chicken and egg.
Thanks all of you for taking the time to answer.

tucbiscuit

this is in no way a clever answer, but try and watch some programs such as 'house doctor' and 'selling houses'

the premise of the shows is increasing a houses appeal and value on a small budget, often 1-2% of the house value

the always say de-clutter, go neutral, tidy up, get a nice outside area, if you've got pets get rid on viewing days, they seem to place value on flooring, kitchens and bathrooms

Cannon_Fodder

You seem to need to address this the other way round. Not what you want to put in on for. Buyers are not going to pay what you need, just because you need it - if an equivalent neighbouring house is better/cheaper they will pick that one.

Compare sold prices nearby. What would a decent example of that house reasonably go for...?

£290 - great, spend £10k on the WOW factor, to ensure you get high £280ks
£280 - spend £5k and it will improve your chances of finding a buyer...
£270 - if you spend, you will barely make it back, so keep it to £2k and free/cheap options to smarten enough to attract viewers, otherwise leave it.
£260 - only free options, and even then its time to prepare for not getting enough.


Offering to pay stamp duty helps a bit. But it does depends on what price it should be on at...if £280k is right, then fine. If £270k is right, and you don't replace the kitchen, people will think its worth £265 max, which is only 5% off to avoid higher stamp duty anyway...

Recent figures from Rightmove suggested asking prices were being missed by 9%, by the time they became purchase prices...

PasturesNew

Historically, most home improvements don't increase the house by as much as was spent. It's only been mad telly that's told us otherwise and beguiled us into thinking that cutting corners to do something to our taste will magic up an over-enthusiastic buyer that's prepared to buy it at any cost.

Those days were so 2001-2007 and they're over.

kriss_boy

PasturesNew wrote: »

Historically, most home improvements don't increase the house by as much as was spent. It's only been mad telly that's told us otherwise and beguiled us into thinking that cutting corners to do something to our taste will magic up an over-enthusiastic buyer that's prepared to buy it at any cost.

Those days were so 2001-2007 and they're over.

I disagree.

For £1000 you could transform a house if you have the practical skills to do the work yourself. You could re-carpet a couple rooms, change a few doors, paint most of the rooms and buy new curtains etc for under a grand.

PasturesNew

kriss_boy wrote: »

I disagree.

For £1000 you could transform a house if you have the practical skills to do the work yourself. You could re-carpet a couple rooms, change a few doors, paint most of the rooms and buy new curtains etc for under a grand.

Yes, but the OP is talking about actual changes/improvements, to give it the WOW factor. Most Brits' DIY skills are utter sh1te. Even on the telly where people do it for a living the EAs often call the quality of finish poor.

Bufger

i agree kriss, its essential to do your house up in a way that will show its potential. Bold colours never help, putting a few well placed mirrors up can often make it look more roomy. I've seen a few where they have bought new sofa's (at least different ones from when the pics were taken), things like this can make a difference and can always be taken away with you so its not a wasted purchase.

One house i visited had a new corner sofa. I liked it immediately because i wouldnt mind finding a place that could have a corner sofa! I knew it was new and was just a selling technique but it caught my eye and i remembered the property because of it :-)

Fire_Fox

kriss_boy wrote: »

I disagree.

For £1000 you could transform a house if you have the practical skills to do the work yourself. You could re-carpet a couple rooms, change a few doors, paint most of the rooms and buy new curtains etc for under a grand.

That's decorating/ dressing not improvements.