What adds value to house

mortgage_help_3

Hi Everyone

I am considering selling my house and have been looking on rightmove at houses down my road. The problem is the houses are all different & a 3 bed semi ranges from £139950 - £170000. I was wondering if any of these features would add value to my house

* Conservatory
* Solid wood flooring (Hall, Lounge & Dining Room)
* Kitchen is 2 years old - integrated dishwasher, fridge freezer & microwave.
* Blocked paved drive way which you could park about 5-6 cars on
* Downstairs toilet
* We have a cupboard in conservatory which has plumbing for washing machine
* Garage
* Condenser Boiler - this has just passed british gas service
Thanks for your help

Mortgage Help

rinkydinkpanther

The only things I would consider added value would be the garage and parking and possibly the downstairs loo. The other things might make it more attractive (although I personally can't stand conservatories) but won't add to the value.

Chris_Hinds

mortgage_help wrote: »

* Conservatory

Yes, to some people, to others it will turn them off

* Solid wood flooring (Hall, Lounge & Dining Room)

No

* Kitchen is 2 years old - integrated dishwasher, fridge freezer & microwave.

To some but not to others - depends if they like your kitchen and whether the appliances are Miele or Tesco specials

* Blocked paved drive way which you could park about 5-6 cars on

As long as you have some front garden area too then this could well be of value as it implies a reasonable plot, on the other hand if you've got no lawn it might not add anything as people may wish to dig some of it up to have a garden.

* Downstairs toilet

Yes

* We have a cupboard in conservatory which has plumbing for washing machine

No

* Garage

Definitely

* Condenser Boiler - this has just passed british gas service

No

Hope that helps

Kind regards

Chris

00ec25

downstairs loo will certainly add value in excess of the installation cost assuming it is the only one downstairs

garaage will add value but many people never park cars in them nowadays so it depends on the nature of the area, if all other properties have garages then yes you will get back the cost and improve your saleability, if the area tends not to have garages and occupants park off road or on street it will add value but it's less certain how much

off road parking adds value, but the fact it is block paving rather than concrete or tarmac is less important than the fact offroad hardstanding exists ie if installing off road parking in a property to be sold then block paving improves the saleability (it's attractive) but will not necessary recover the full cost compared to say plain concrete

Conservatories add some value but rarely more than the cost of installing them in the first place

the rest of your list are simply personal decor choices and may actually remove value if the next person hates them, eg, I want carpets not hard floors so I'd have to pay to carpet your place. Similarly new (neutral) kitchens appeal to buyers but don't cover their costs especially if they are current fashion and therefore will easily date

from the buyers perspective a boiler is a boiler - what EPC rating has the place got ? Nice to have but not a premium price item

utility space in the conservatory is not a separate utility room - so what, your facility is no different to an integrated machine hidden behind a matching cupboard door in the kitchen!

mortgage_help_3

Thanks everyone for your comments.

angel1976

After viewing many similar houses in the same area, the things that add value from your list is:

- additional square footage
- garage

Everything else is a nice to have. I would buy a house without it but if it comes to two houses, one with and one without, then I would go for the one with the 'nice' features.

The vendor we are buying off has been a real pain when it came to negotiating the sale price as the property was overpriced compared to other houses that were bigger in the same area. It was because they felt they had put in some really high standards stuff i.e. old school radiators, underfloor heating in the toilets, solid wooden floors but none of that matters when at the end of the day, for the same money, I can buy a much bigger house down the road without all these 'nice' features. I personally never liked conservatory much BUT we saw a house where they knocked down a kitchen wall to put a conservatory on so instead of a rather small dingy kitchen, they opened it up as a galley kitchen with plenty of light. That was one instance where I thought 'God, I want a conservatory just like that!' Good luck!

mortgage_help_3

When you say additional square footage do you mean overall plot or house size?

angel1976

I meant house size. The houses we have been looking at are Victorian/Edwardian, most have converted lofts adding quite a lot of square footage. Also, quite a few have extended into the garden (but this depends on how big your garden is!). We saw a big 4-bedroom terrace but they extended into their garden and their garden was tiny compared to the house and that was a no-go for me straightaway! The ones we were looking at range from 1400-1600 square feet. If they were all on the same asking price, I think the additional 200 square would swing it for me. Or that I would use that fact to negotiate down for the smaller house. None of the 'nice' features would have made me pay the extra...

brit1234

mortgage_help wrote: »

I was wondering if any of these features would add value to my house

None will in a falling market. The cost of the changes will be more than the value added. This will change when prices stagnate or start rising but we are a long way from this with plenty falls on the horizon.

B_Blank

What addes value to a house?

Easy - Twigs in vases dotted around the house. And maybe a few lit candles in random places. Dont you watch property !!!!!! on tv?