Is it worth doing work to a house you plan to sell?

Murphybear

Make it clean and tidy and declutter as much as you can. Mess puts people off.

For a bit of fun: I watched the House Doctor today (nice being retired:A) and they showed a standard 3 bedroomed estate house in one of the cheaper parts of the country. They had 6 viewings in a year and the feedback was the house didn't stand out from other similar properties. So they spent a bit of time and money on redecorating, a modern look which had multi patterned walls with an African theme. The feedback was positive and previous viewers said it was much better and they might make an offer. Fast forward to Rightmove. The house is still on the market with 2 different EAs and the price has dropped by £5,000.

Moral, don't bother tarting it up:rotfl:

Crashy_Time

ACG wrote: »

What market is that? I think its a pretty decent at the minute, June was almost the best month I have had since setting up in 2013. July is going to blitz my best month ever, even if I stopped work tomorrow, it would be a good month.

But I disagree with your comments. You did not see the state of the house, the kitchen was older than me (32), the bathroom was avocado etc etc.

There is no standard right or wrong answer to the question, it all depends on the finer details. When I had an agent come round, I told them I was going to get the garden improved and he said for the value of the house it is not worth it. Basically, people expected a garden for the price. They did not expect it landscaped.

Had I not done the house up, it would have got around £20-30k less than it actually did. It would have also taken longer to sell no doubt and it would likely have been a developer who would have tried to knock me right down to improve their profit margins.

A market where the media are trumpeting that 40% could come off house prices.

Crashy_Time

Murphybear wrote: »

Make it clean and tidy and declutter as much as you can. Mess puts people off.

For a bit of fun: I watched the House Doctor today (nice being retired:A) and they showed a standard 3 bedroomed estate house in one of the cheaper parts of the country. They had 6 viewings in a year and the feedback was the house didn't stand out from other similar properties. So they spent a bit of time and money on redecorating, a modern look which had multi patterned walls with an African theme. The feedback was positive and previous viewers said it was much better and they might make an offer. Fast forward to Rightmove. The house is still on the market with 2 different EAs and the price has dropped by £5,000.




Moral, don't bother tarting it up:rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl:

Davesnave

ACG wrote: »

There is no standard right or wrong answer to the question, it all depends on the finer details.

Had I not done the house up, it would have got around £20-30k less than it actually did.

Me too, and that was on a small bungalow, where my profit from the work was around £25k, based on a developer's price.

I knew very well that my target market wouldn't want to do a kitchen and bathroom refurb. When she came along, she turned out to be 82!

So finer details are key, as is one's ability to get the work done economically, which I could. Not everyone has the time or inclination either, so there's no magic right answer.

DigForVictory

I managed to sell a house with "period 60s" bathroom & interior decor, largely by hiding (most of) the evidence that three under fives were living there. [Three rousing cheers for godparents!]

Which took a bit of doing, but once you've got the walls painted, the place clean (ahem - I had a deep clean done) and the place smells clean - how old the kitchen & bathroom are is moot. As long as they all work.

Best of luck!

leespot

As others have said, there isn't really a right or wrong answer to this. I'd suggest figuring out the cheapest way of making the house look 'fresher' and go from there. Carpets cleaned, fresh coat of paint, and then see how the bathroom / kitchen are looking.

Kitchens and bathrooms are always down to personal choice - I know of a mate who bought a new place, and ripped out a 6 month old bathroom because it wasn't to their taste. Horses for courses and all that.

Crashy_Time

ACG wrote: »

What market is that? I think its a pretty decent at the minute, June was almost the best month I have had since setting up in 2013. July is going to blitz my best month ever, even if I stopped work tomorrow, it would be a good month.

But I disagree with your comments. You did not see the state of the house, the kitchen was older than me (32), the bathroom was avocado etc etc.

There is no standard right or wrong answer to the question, it all depends on the finer details. When I had an agent come round, I told them I was going to get the garden improved and he said for the value of the house it is not worth it. Basically, people expected a garden for the price. They did not expect it landscaped.

Had I not done the house up, it would have got around £20-30k less than it actually did. It would have also taken longer to sell no doubt and it would likely have been a developer who would have tried to knock me right down to improve their profit margins.

Setting up as someone who buys and sells houses after doing them up?

Red-Squirrel_2

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Setting up as someone who buys and sells houses after doing them up?

Here's a clue, read the signature.

Red-Squirrel_2

ACG wrote: »

There is no standard right or wrong answer to the question, it all depends on the finer details.

Yep, absolutely agree with this.

When I sold my flat in 2015 it was a bit neglected because I'd been on a low wage most of the time I lived there so hadn't been able to do the work I'd wanted to when I moved in, if I'd sold 'as is' looking tired and as though it needed a bit of work, my buyers would have just been investors/BTL landlords who would have paid as little as possible.

Spending about 2k on toffeeing it up (I had a new job!) getting bits done and presenting it nicely meant that I had a queue of FTBs who had 'fallen in love' with it and I got probably about 10-15K more than I would have. :T It never looked better than the day the EA came to take the pictures, and I nearly collapsed with exhaustion when he left!

My current house was a bit of a wreck, most of it not touched for about 25 years, some stuff not touched for 50. I paid about £40k less for it than for houses on the same street that had been keot up to date, but the person selling it would probably have had to spend close to that to get the same sort of price, plus the time, disruption etc. so not worth it in that case. Better to leave it to the buyer!

Kimpop

I'm getting my house ready for sale. I'm just getting the exterior painted and touching up painting inside. Going to get a carpet cleaner in as well.
The kitchen units could really do with being changed too but if I choose the style I like the next person might not like them anyway and remove them so I don't see the point in doing that :-)