Cellar & Loft Conversion

neverdespairgirl

Doozergirl wrote: »

Because there is no demand for skinny houses on four levels.

There is in London - all those horrendously expensive Georgian terraces are skinny houses on 4-5 levels.

the_flying_pig

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

There is in London - all those horrendously expensive Georgian terraces are skinny houses on 4-5 levels.

Whaddaya mean??

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-26170587.html

Doozergirl

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

There is in London - all those horrendously expensive Georgian terraces are skinny houses on 4-5 levels.

I'd already mentioned London in my first post. The OPs house is worth £125k, and is not in London. I don't see the need to put caveats in every post when I'm addressing the OP.

Newlyboughthouse

Doozergirl wrote: »

I'd already mentioned London in my first post. The OPs house is worth £125k, and is not in London. I don't see the need to put caveats in every post when I'm addressing the OP.

True. I don't give 2 hoots about London so quit going on about it :rotfl:

N1AK

Newlyboughthouse wrote: »

At the risk of sounding defensive, may I ask posters above e.g. can't polish a turd person, where your authority has come from?

We looked at converting the conservatory at our place, and garage, and didn't as it was unlikely to add more value than it cost. That decision was based on material available online and the a work colleague who has had a couple of do up and sell houses.

Newlyboughthouse wrote: »

I just think if I were a buyer I would definitely pay a lot more for more rooms/better laid out even if surrounding houses weren't worth as much, as I would know that this house has more to offer.

It's not so much that people won't pay more as that the target market is smaller and that the amount more that some in the market will be willing to pay will be lower due to the surrounding properties.

Newlyboughthouse wrote: »

Guess I'm just wondering why my house is a turd that can't be polished and proper practical reasons why.

I don't think that's what anyone is saying. Think of your house more as a Ford Focus, and a converted basement as a hand-crafted mahogany dashboard. A focus is a great car, and the dashboard looks beautiful, but most people wanting a focus aren't going to be willing to pay the full price for that dashboard

An additional room, or loft conversion, is likely a more viable option. The cost tends to be lower compared for what you get than the basement room. However, on lower value properties, the question remains whether the cost of doing it is is going to be fully recovered in sales value; remembering that projects like these almost always cost considerably more than expected.

Newlyboughthouse

N1AK wrote: »

We looked at converting the conservatory at our place, and garage, and didn't as it was unlikely to add more value than it cost. That decision was based on material available online and the a work colleague who has had a couple of do up and sell houses.



It's not so much that people won't pay more as that the target market is smaller and that the amount more that some in the market will be willing to pay will be lower due to the surrounding properties.



I don't think that's what anyone is saying. Think of your house more as a Ford Focus, and a converted basement as a hand-crafted mahogany dashboard. A focus is a great car, and the dashboard looks beautiful, but most people wanting a focus aren't going to be willing to pay the full price for that dashboard

An additional room, or loft conversion, is likely a more viable option. The cost tends to be lower compared for what you get than the basement room. However, on lower value properties, the question remains whether the cost of doing it is is going to be fully recovered in sales value; remembering that projects like these almost always cost considerably more than expected.

That's fab advice - thank you. My heart is breaking though as had big dreams for this house

Never know - 5 or 6 years I might come back and prove you all wrong :rotfl:

rach_k

Lots of the houses here have their attics converted as most are 3 bedroom Victorian terraces and if you want a bigger house you have to leave the area. It's a really nice area so people want to stay. If we look to buy a bigger house, I would probably be more likely to look at a house that is already converted but I wouldn't pay more for it than I would pay for a unconverted house plus the conversion cost. So maybe it would make your house more likely to sell if the area is nice, but I don't know that there'd be any profit in it. If somebody here wanted the cost of the standard house, plus conversion costs, plus a chunk of profit I would just walk away - I could buy a standard house, pay the conversion cost and get it done exactly how I want it for less money.

padington

rach_k wrote: »

Lots of the houses here have their attics converted as most are 3 bedroom Victorian terraces and if you want a bigger house you have to leave the area. It's a really nice area so people want to stay. If we look to buy a bigger house, I would probably be more likely to look at a house that is already converted but I wouldn't pay more for it than I would pay for a unconverted house plus the conversion cost. So maybe it would make your house more likely to sell if the area is nice, but I don't know that there'd be any profit in it. If somebody here wanted the cost of the standard house, plus conversion costs, plus a chunk of profit I would just walk away - I could buy a standard house, pay the conversion cost and get it done exactly how I want it for less money.

That may be the case but you don't represent an average punter. Lots of people are lazy f*ckers and love the idea of it all being done and the price generally goes up in relation to other rooms, not cost of build.

N1AK

padington wrote: »

That may be the case but you don't represent an average punter. Lots of people are lazy f*ckers and love the idea of it all being done and the price generally goes up in relation to other rooms, not cost of build.

In defence of average punters, personally I think valuing a conversion at cost is less sensible than adding a premium:

1. You're avoiding the mess, inconvenience etc of the building work.
2. You're avoiding the risk of under-estimating the cost of the building work

Being at the end of a bathroom renovation that's taken 4 weeks and cost 20% more than estimated, I know I would have happily paid £500+ more to buy a place with it done rather than needing to do the work.

The only slight downside is that, if you're inclined to do most of the work yourself, you don't know how good a job the previous owner or the tradesmen he hired have done.