Best Approach to negative equity?

phoebe1989seb

Personally we always choose to buy houses in need of serious work, but have differing experiences of whether that work actually affects the eventual sale price......

Experience 1 - spent approx £70k on a Victorian house that had previously been converted to four flats. We stripped everything back and restored the original features adding three high-end bathrooms and kitchen. The house was re-wired, re-roofed, re-plastered etc and we did all the plastering, tiling and decorating ourselves. When we sold 10 years later we 'made' over £400k *

*but this was during the boom.

Experience 2 - spent around £40k dragging a period house kicking and screaming out of an eighties nightmare. Again we restored all original features, fitted two high-end bathrooms and a handbuilt, granite-topped kitchen. When we sold three years later we lost £50k

In both cases the work we carried out made the house more saleable and attractive to potential buyers, but in the first instance we were fortunate to be selling when prices were at their peak (and the value may well have risen similarly even without our input) whereas in the second instance we were selling after the recession had taken hold.

All I would add is that when selling the second house, the market in that area was very flat and we were selling a niche-type property, not typical in the area, but our 'improvements' (hate that word) caused our house to be sold within two weeks.......

I would certainly err on the side of caution in regard to either throwing too much money at the property or doing a poor quality job!

Good Luck though

[Deleted User]

I think the best idea would be to get a couple of estate agents round your house (after a good clear up).., and ask them for a valuation as it stands.., and an estimate of the value with a new kitchen, plastered walls etc etc. Then u will have an idea of not only what your local market will bear, but whether its worth doing the improvements. I know nothing about your circumstances.., but would it be worth investing in some kind of extension if square footage is an issue, u may not have to move properties at all.

irishcol

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

and a handbuilt, granite-topped kitchen.

Is there any other kind?! The person who invents a machine for building kitchens will become very very rich if it cuts down on the labour cost.