Increase house value

Moneygrabber89

Hi,


I am new to this and wanted some ideas or inspiration.


We have bought a property for 122,500. Other 3 bedroom houses in the street go for around this price.


I was wondering what would be the best way to add property to our home?


I have attached the floorplan, room sizes and a picture externally. As you will be able to tell the house is mock tudor style and the kitchen is a weird shape and the L part of the kitchen has no real use.


The loft is boarded out also. The neighbours with the same house have theirs converted so this is an option.


All doors on the street are brown. We are considering painting green so it stands out.


We have installed a new modern bathroom with floating sinks etc and waterfall taps and new tiles and spot lights as old bathroom was carpeted and minging. This cost us £3,500.


When we bought the house 10 month ago it had 3 foot fence around the garden. We have now built a 6 foot fence for more privacy.


We currently have a back boiler. I understand a combi would be better but I don’t see the point in replacing yet as it is 15 year old and the chances are it will go soon anyway.


Others have suggested converting the garage into living space as nobody uses a garage these days however I think this would be very expensive and no idea what could use this space for.


If we were to get the extension on the kitchen to make it square do you think it would be worth making this a double floor and extend upstairs? I think this may make rooms look an odd shape unless somehow it would be possible to get an ensuite and a bigger bedrooms.
I have attached the pictures. Let me know your thoughts.

AdrianC

Are you developing for sale? Or are you planning to live there?

If you're developing for sale, then you really need to know your target market, and you really need to have thought of all the options before buying. A quick look at Rightmove listings for the village shows that there's not much chance of a substantial uplift - you bought the wrong place for a worthwhile profit.

If you're planning on living there, then make the place somewhere you WANT to live. Make the changes that will improve YOUR lives there.

hazyjo

There will be a ceiling price in your road. Whatever you spend is not guaranteed to add value.


If you're planning to make it worth £150k or whatever, you need to see what else is available at that price and think about which you would buy if you were looking. I remember a house in my friend's road where they'd bought next door and knocked it all into one and added an indoor swimming pool even - but they wanted a fortune for it, but anyone spending that sort of money would be unlikely to want to buy that sized house in my friend's street!


Presuming you mean 'add value' and not 'add property', I would just keep it 'sellable' rather than try to add value. Doesn't sound like there's much to add to be honest - not if houses are going for similar prices.


Layout looks fine to me. The L-shape kitchen is fine if you use it as the floorplan suggests. Nothing weird about it. Presume you have a table in the dining section.


Good loft conversions can add value, but not if you make the house top heavy or lose a bedroom or landing space - that can make it less appealing. Would cost in the region of £35k - would that add value? Seems hard to me on a house that's only worth 3.5 x that amount.


Think it would be a big mistake to paint or change your door if everything else is uniform.


The bathroom and fence are likely to make it more sellable than add lots of money.


Combi boiler would probably be more efficient. Again, it won't add value, it will help it sell though. I'm selling with a new boiler but it's not on the details. It's not going to make the slightest bit of difference to anyone viewing the house - we will tell viewers, but that's it.


I'd rather a garage, but that's personal choice. You won't please everyone all of the time with that, so do what suits you.


I'd rather convert the loft than extend out two storeys.


It does sound like you really are trying to add value as an investment - you need to decide if it's a home or an investment. If the latter, you need to choose what you buy very carefully. Sounds like your house is similar to others and that's very hard to add value to. You might be better off buying a smaller house or bungalow in a street where there are large or desirable houses, then doing that up/extending. Obviously others will have the same idea so they're not as much of a bargain as they once were - and if you're paying people to do the work, it's probably a pointless exercise tbh.


Good luck.


Jx

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Moneygrabber89 wrote: »

All doors on the street are brown. We are considering painting green so it stands out.

Who do you think has ever paid more for a house because it had a different coloured door?

Property development involves specific skills and knowledge of the target market for doing up certain types of housing. Mucking about with your own house and installing expensive bathrooms doesn't guarantee any kind of profit.

Moneygrabber89

Thanks for your help guys. Much appreciated.

It was just some idea for now. We were thinking about doing kitchen anyway but was basically wondering if we would make back the money in value by extending.

At the moment we have no plans to move but the idea of having a house worth a lot is nice.

A 3 bedroom on the street has just sold for 145. Ours is in better condition and looks nicer however there's has a conservatory

Hoploz

I havent looked at the links but agree that if you have no plans to move anytime soon then do whatever suits you. General modernising helps things look attractive if fittings are dated.

Bear in mind that if you put in fashionable stuff like waterfall taps now, they could well be out of fashion if you sell in 10 years time, especially if they've got a bit grubby over the years! Developers modernise to sell a fashionable item straightaway, when the bling is all shiny and new!

Niv

Moneygrabber89 wrote: »

We currently have a back boiler. I understand a combi would be better but I don’t see the point in replacing yet as it is 15 year old and the chances are it will go soon anyway.

What makes you think the boiler will go soon? Back boiler in my previous house was 35 years old and working very well, only serviced twice in 11 years and not a day of problem with it.


If it was a combi that was 15 years old I would agree it would be about 'to go'.

moneyistooshorttomention

You can only increase a house value to a certain extent.

Personally - if I sold my house I've nearly finished gutting right now - I'd be down over £20,000 on what it cost me and what I've spent on it/am about to spend on it:( and that takes no account of "house price inflation" since I got it - or even ordinary inflation.

You just cant buy a house looking at it that way unless you're in a very "hot" property market - as you will lose money (courtesy of other people not being prepared to pay appropriately for your expense/effort).

Cakeguts

Every street has a top price beyond which people will not pay more. The reason for this is because they can get a better house in a better road for the top price for your road. You are not going to get your money back on an extension because someone will be able to buy a purpose built house for the extra cost of you your extension. Change the house to suit you not with the expectations of making any money from it.

glasgowdan

There are plenty of exceptions. We viewed a very smartly extended house on a street that the typical house sells for £180k. Max recently was £230k. This sold forn£365k!

Cakeguts

glasgowdan wrote: »

There are plenty of exceptions. We viewed a very smartly extended house on a street that the typical house sells for £180k. Max recently was £230k. This sold forn£365k!

The house that sold for £365k had it started out as exactly the same floor plan as the ones selling for £180k? The road I live in has detached and semis in it. The top price reflects the value of the detached houses but you wouldn't be able to sell a semi for that amount how ever much it had been extended.