How much money would you spend on home improvements?

pinkteapot

I would have no qualms about spending £2k on a three year house.

BUT, I can't believe you've fully costed your projects. Having done up almost every room in our house since moving in, you won't be able to buy the materials for the jobs you've listed for £2k, even if you're capable of doing all the work yourself.

Have a look at the DIY forum for tips/advice in that area.

In terms of your original question... Replacing dated kitchens and bathrooms will add a bit of value to the house (you can get at least some of your money back on them). Freshening up the decor won't bring much return but will make the house more sale-able (if the walls are a bit tatty, or in lairy colours).

As mentioned previously, removing a gas fire is a job for a GasSafe registered engineer. You can find one local to you at http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/

We have an 80s gas fire that my first instinct was to remove. However, we hit winter and found the lounge badly needed it - we had it on most evenings. I looked at the cost of replacing it and we were talking £500-800 for the fire, plus fitting costs. I can't justify it when the old one works just fine.

cbr600f

does it not all depend on how much you bought your house for?

If you snapped up a repossesion for 10-30% under the current market value then you have room to do things without worrying that your throwing your money away.

On the other hand if you paid full market value for a house that wasnt to your tastes then you have less room to play.

Im in a similar situation as i dont know wheather to spend £20k (loft conversion, taking walls out) on everything i want or £5k (updating decor, changing kitchen layout) on things i need.

phoebe1989seb

LandyAndy wrote: »

Well you asked a fairly open ended question



And then you sort of indicated that you don't have much idea about what things cost.



Three years is quite a short time although I stayed in my first two houses for only 5 and 4.5 years respectively.

If you know you are only going to be there three years I would do as little as possible. There's no telling that a buyer would want your choice of bathroom or kitchen or flooring or gas fire any more than they'd want the current ones.

We have also bought properties that we only stayed in for a short period of time - apart from our *Essex mistake*, lol - our first flat and first house were only of two years duration each. The flat (a one-bed) we sold when our DS was a few months old as we found the stairs in the Victoran mansion block a killer with a pram/buggy and the next house whilst it was plenty big enough (3 beds, 3 receptions) we found that once we'd renovated it we were bored and wanted a bigger challenge

We didn't spend a fortue on either of these, although we did install central heating and a new kitchen in the house. The flat we made a small amount on and the house I think we just got our money back. Removal costs, stamp duty and conveyancing fees add so much to the cost of moving that we soon realised that doing it too often, unless absolutely necessary is not such a good idea!

£2k is definitely not much to spend on a house in which you only intend to stay three years, but speaking from experience £2k doesn't go far in the realms of house renovations

martinsurrey

Jimbo1976 wrote: »

Martin.

In the situation that you describe clearly renting is cheaper, how the fact is that now you can't get an 80% interest only mortgage. if you don't have an repayment vehicle then you would need to take out a repayment mortgage.

However in some situations you have shown that ownership can be cheaper than renting. Thats why I put probably in my post

you cant get a 80% interest only mortgage, but the capital element of your repayments is in effect savings, as in you get it back if you sell the house for the same or more than you paid for it. So is NOT a sunk cost, unlike every penny of rent is.




I was just compairing like for like, the cashflow effect might be different (but I would exect a renter to be saving to help them buy at a later date, which goes in a savings account, so is the equivilant of the capital element of the mortgage)

*edit*

the LL in my example is only getting 6% gross yield, which is pretty low, most LL would only buy a property if it would generate around 8%, which just makes the above calculation more favourable to buying.

PrincessLou

martinsurrey wrote: »

I think people oversetimate the cost of a mortgage and underestimate the costs of renting.

a house near me sold for £200k and is rented out for £1k a month.

the mortgage INTEREST payments on a 4% mortgage at £160k (so 20% deposit) is £6,400 a year, so 3 years is £19,200 add in stamp duty £2k, mortgage fees £1k, legals £1k. sales fees EA £4k (2%) assuming you sell for what you bought for, legals £1K total £28,200.

rent over 3 years assuming a 5% increase a year (average for UK) is £37,830, agents fees ~£600 IF your land lord doesnt kick you out after trying to get a 10% increase each year. total cost £38,430 less £2400 interest on your £40k deposit (at 2%net) net cost £36,030.

add in the benifit of owning your own home, you dont have to deal with EA, your not worried about getting evicted after 6 months, your not stuck with an orange bedroom because you cant paint.

true there are downsides, such as not being able to move, being liable for repairs, but your £8k up on renting to start with, so that should cover like for like repairs.

I FULLY understand why you would buy for 3 years...

Thanks for your support, this is EXACTLY why we bought a house.

shirlgirl2004

Just wanted to agree with OP we have bought several houses which we have owned for 2 1/2 years on average and then moved. We have spent a good amount on improvements and increased the value substancially each time. Our present home we've been in almost 3 years and I am looking to move. We're just getting a few jobs finished before it goes on the market. I estimate it will have gone up in value by 50% but half of that is the amount we spent on doing it up. I also envisage it will sell quickly as the longest it has ever taken us to agree a sale on one of our homes was 10 days from going on the market and the shortest 1 day. It isn't just about the price but about the ease of finding a buyer.

For £2,000 if you can do it all do it if not make the fire a priority but not if it means sticking something equally tacky in (fake coal electric fire anyone?)

note_2

rent over 3 years assuming a 5% increase a year (average for UK) is £37,830

what if you stuck that £40k deposit in a bank and got 4% interest for 3 years, that would make you nearly £5k in interest payments.

plus there is of course no way of knowing that prices will increase by 5% or anywhere near that. they could even reduce by 5%, who knows.

plus if you rent you've got that money spare, you are mobile and can keep a look out for the perfect property for you instead of being in a chain.

so even factoring your fantasy annual 5% increase, for the sake of £3k?

martinsurrey

note wrote: »

what if you stuck that £40k deposit in a bank and got 4% interest for 3 years, that would make you nearly £5k in interest payments.

plus there is of course no way of knowing that prices will increase by 5% or anywhere near that. they could even reduce by 5%, who knows.

plus if you rent you've got that money spare, you are mobile and can keep a look out for the perfect property for you instead of being in a chain.

so even factoring your fantasy annual 5% increase, for the sake of £3k?

that was a rental increase of 5% a year, not house prices. and rentals are much more sticky downwards than house prices, i used the well known and correct annual average rent increase that the UK has seen for the last few years.

Show me a 4% net interest account (none ISA) and I'll bite your hand off (so 5% before basic rate tax, or almost 7% for a higher rate tax payer). The best rates available are about 3.5% before tax on 2 year bonds which is about 2.8% after basic rate tax, or 3% for an instant access account.

My 2% was based on myself; a higher rate taxpayer with a 3.XX% interest savings account, net is about 2%.

There are many variables that we can’t/didnt consider, but my basic analysis is correct, and reasonable, while your numbers seem to be off the cuff and unfounded.

JimmyTheWig

I agree with martinsurrey on the numbers. It just depends on the comparative prices. In some areas it is cheaper to rent. Where we were looking, recently, even over _one_ year buying was cheaper than renting.

As far as the OP is concerned...

PrincessLou wrote: »

Just to clarify, i don't want to make these improvements to add value to the house.
...
i want to make things look nice but i don't want to waste too much money either. That's why i was asking how much would you limit yourself on spending? The projects i am wanting to do would cost £2000 total maximum.

If you _really_ mean that you're not doing it to add value then there's no real answer to the question.
I think it is a case of spending what you are comfortable spending.

I would certainly say only spend money that you have. Definitely don't use mortgage money to make these improvements that aren't going to add value.
You may also not want to spend all your life savings on this place. If, for example, you've taken 10 years to build up your savings pot, it may not be wise to blow it all in three years.

It's really a case of spending what you think is good value. And what you'd do with the money if you don't use it for these improvements.
You may decide that the place you are going to buy in three years time is going to be your "forever" home and you'd be better off keeping the £2000 until then.
Or you may think that £2000 over three years is £55 a month. You may prefer to have take-away three times a month rather than do the improvements.
Just depends on your priorities.

With a three-year timescale it probably makes sense to get the stuff done that you want done sooner rather than later.
I totally agree with what others have said about prioritising what you want to get done. Do the most important stuff first. That way (a) you'll get the benefits from it for the longest time and (b) you won't run out of money before you get there.

lessonlearned

Hello Princess Lou

I am a retired new build sales negotiator with many years experience dressing showhomes and a degree in design.

Write out your list and I would be happy to advise.

Give reasons example replace bathroom suite - currently avocado - that sort of thing.

I understand the reason for the gas fire - an 80's fire will not only be hopelessly old fashioned, it will be inefficient, expensive to run and may even be unsafe. Replace. Cost - B&Q from £100, Gas Safe Fitter - assuming flue and pipework is ok - just a couple of hours work approx £100. I recently paid £170 for a fire and fitting,

Replacing cheap laminate floors for solid oak - don't bother, because you will also probably need to remove and replace skirting boards and repair damaged plaster work. It will cost an arm and a leg. Buy some nice large rugs - around £100 for an 8ft by 5ft rug which is usually about right for the average sitting room.

What's the garden like - it's worth sorting out the garden early in the proceedings that way you can save money by buying small trees, shrubs, plants etc. 3 years would allow them to grow and mature to give you a very pretty established garden.

The only way to be sure of adding real value in the current market is to add square footage to your property. Another way is to add off street parking if you don't already have that.

Kitchens cost money to replace - it's possible to revamp for a fraction of the cost. Post a picture of yours and we can come up with some ideas.

You can easily revamp a tired house for £2k, most of the money can be spent on things you can take with you when you move.

You may or not increase it's actual value in the current market, having said that 3 years is quite a long time and prices may well start to rise by then. A few simple improvements can make it easier to sell and of course you get to live somewhere pleasant and comfortable in the meantime.

Post up your ideas, I will be happy to give you some feedback and costings.