What do FTBs want?

snowlady07

Are you looking for a house which needs no work or is price the deciding factor? If your maximum budget was say £100k, would you view houses priced higher than that in the view you could offer lower?

I'm about to put my house on the market so I'm asking these questions in order to work out if I should replace the bathroom (the only room in the house which hasn't been refurbished) or set the asking price lower to reflect this. I've had 4 valuations from local EAs which all came out the same whether I did the work or not.

Thanks in advance!

Bananabelly

When I was a ftb I wasn't that fussed about a place that needed no work, though a lot of people are. Looking at places that were renovated, it was often annoying to see the stupid things people had done, the corners they had cut, or simply the bad taste that they had (sorry, not directed at you personally!). They tended to put a premium on their places because it had been redone. I ended up buying a place for a lot less and renovating it, selling it on for a significant profit, however the work didn't really phase me. We sold it easily because it was a perfect ftb place and I suspect a lot of FTB don't want to renovate (or are frightened off by it).

I think it sounds like you won't get a higher price for it with the bathroom done, but you will sell it much more easily, so I guess it depends how desperate you are to sell.

Zelie

I would say match your bathroom to the rest of the house. If I see a lovely house but with a tatty bathroom then it seems odd and I'll calculate what I need to spend to bring the bathroom up to the same state as the rest of the house. If your house is generally ok but not been decorated recently including the bathroom then it's actually less jarring and I just factor it in as something I'd think about long after I moved in (because obviously, painting the bedroom ceiling cerise would be more important).

Yes, I'd view houses with asking prices higher than I can afford. Because there's always room for negotiation and in my area at least house asking prices are still dropping. So if my max budget was £100k I might also look up at £120k or so.

As for what's important - remember that you are not just trying to appeal to FTBs here. So try to market with that in mind. More 'established' purchasers may be concerned with things like being near good schools/colleges/parks or having a safe and secure garden etc so you might want to consider those things when marketing.

partickz

snowlady07 wrote: »

Are you looking for a house which needs no work or is price the deciding factor? If your maximum budget was say £100k, would you view houses priced higher than that in the view you could offer lower?

I'm about to put my house on the market so I'm asking these questions in order to work out if I should replace the bathroom (the only room in the house which hasn't been refurbished) or set the asking price lower to reflect this. I've had 4 valuations from local EAs which all came out the same whether I did the work or not.

Thanks in advance!

I decide what I am going to view based on comparitive sale prices from Ourproperty or similar websites. This is a good indicator of what places are selling for and of prices achieved in certain streets.

brit1234

Hi I look on right move about 20% over my limit and use the property bee add on to see the reductions on other changes.

I assume asking prices are about 10-20% over what the seller wants.

If I am maxing out I want little to do in the new property.

The main thing is waiting for prices to fall into my price range.

celyn90

snowlady07 wrote: »

Are you looking for a house which needs no work or is price the deciding factor? If your maximum budget was say £100k, would you view houses priced higher than that in the view you could offer lower?

I'm about to put my house on the market so I'm asking these questions in order to work out if I should replace the bathroom (the only room in the house which hasn't been refurbished) or set the asking price lower to reflect this. I've had 4 valuations from local EAs which all came out the same whether I did the work or not.

Thanks in advance!

I am looking for a house that needs work - as however it has been painted, it will likely need to be redecorated anyway. I've looked at a couple where the selling point has been the immaculate presentation, and although the work for the most part had been carried out to high standards, it simply wasn't to my taste. I wouldn't offer more than the value of the property in comparison to others in the area on the basis of the decor. For me, the considerations are cost, space, potential, location, local amenties and environment. I also check to see if the property price is in line with anything recently sold in the area too and how properties in that area are holding their value. I'll also do some research into the area too - for example, seeing what the area is like at night and how well kept the surrounding houses are.

We are looking at places above the amount we'd like to spend and keeping a note of things like how long properties have been on the market. We would walk away rather than stretch ourselves as we are in no rush and are happy to wait until something comes up. cel x

westlondonbuyer

One thing I think it's useful to bear in mind is that there's no such thing as a typical 'FTB' (eg young person buying their first property) any more.

When I bought a decade ago, my friends and I were all in our mid-twenties, and buying flats as singletons on 100% or 95% mortgages. When I sold last year, my viewers were all much older, richer and posher than I expected! Which is obvious when you think about it, as I was selling an asset much more expensive than it had been a decade ago, and in a more difficult market where borrowed money was hard to come by.

I saw lots of couples, even though I was selling a 1 bed flat. I saw several much older people, who were either retiring or divorcing, and downsizing. Also lots of 20something kids where the parent was actually buying and the kid would be their 'tenant'. And *lots* of investors. I was told my flat had to be presented immaculately as no-one wanted properties that needed work in a falling market. Apparently people don't mind being in negative equity if they're comfortable:D

rosyw

I'm one of the "downsizing" brigade! My main priorities with the properties I viewed were that if they were towards the top end of my budget then I didn't want to be paying out for improvements, but I also was more than happy to take on something I liked but that needed work if this was reflected into the asking price, swings and roundabouts really.
If your bathroom really does need doing to bring it up to the same standard as the rest of the house, I would perhaps be tempted to do it, it may not reflect on the asking price but may well be replected in any offers you may get.

Owain_Moneysaver

I can't afford anything that doesn't need work:(

In the sense that if the leccy and water are still connected that's a bonus :rotfl:

How manky is the bathroom? I wouldn't run away screaming from a coloured suite if the rest of the room was reasonable. It costs next to nothing to chuck up some emulsion, freshen up the grouting and put a new shower curtain up.

dizziblonde

We were torn between one house immaculately done (and to our taste) and a slightly larger house in the street we currently live in that needs some cosmetic work done to it - we've gone for the second option - coloured bathroom suite and all (it's liveable, the tiling matches so it's not glaringly awful and it's at least a single coloured suite rather than the mix of avocado and burgundy that I grew up in as a child!). The location was what sold it to us - it's where we know and like.

girleight@

We didn't want anything that needed work as we wanted as high a deposit as possible.