How big an effect does interior condition/decor have on house values?

Marvel1

Crashy_Time wrote: »

What about if house B is better?

You can make house A even better and to your taste with a cheaper mortgage.

Lauralou79

I think it matters to be some people. Our house is nicely decorated (we think) so that we've been able to move straight in and not do anything. Flooring is ok and carpets aren't that old. It's not perfect but we can do bits as needed.
Next door went on sale not long after we had our offer accepted, it sold like ours in days. The asking was £40,000 over what we paid. It's very modern inside and looks fab but size wise it's the same footprint.
So apparently it does matter ( or ours was underpriced!)

Crashy_Time

cjdavies wrote: »

You can make house A even better and to your taste with a cheaper mortgage.

Say house B is bigger though?

hazyjo

Lauralou79 wrote: »

I think it matters to be some people. Our house is nicely decorated (we think) so that we've been able to move straight in and not do anything. Flooring is ok and carpets aren't that old. It's not perfect but we can do bits as needed.
Next door went on sale not long after we had our offer accepted, it sold like ours in days. The asking was £40,000 over what we paid. It's very modern inside and looks fab but size wise it's the same footprint.
So apparently it does matter ( or ours was underpriced!)

Ours sold much quicker and we got more than our neighbours (ours is done, theirs is a bit tatty), and theirs is a semi.

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Say house B is bigger though?

Size isn't always important(!) - the houses I'm looking at are selling within a week or so if 'done'. Hanging around if in need of work, even if MUCH bigger. As in my prev para, mine sold over my neighbours' which is a semi. Pretty much same size though, but they have a path down the side for access so prob bigger footprint.

Marvel1

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Say house B is bigger though?

In the OP they are the same size.

Tiners

I'd say it's the biggest single influence on buyers these days... I've seen some houses with 'nice' interiors but in dreadful locations, on busy roads, next to pubs, opposite petrol stations etc sell quite quickly and easily, whilst houses in much nicer locations but with more 'standard' interiors have hung around for a long time.

Buyers seem to have little concern for ''LLL'' these days and are more bothered about buying a house with a chichi interior that reflects their 'aspirational' lifestyle.

Waterlily24

We much prefer ones that need to be 'done up'. We've had 6 different houses all but one, which was new, needed renovation. One really bad and unmortgagable. The rest were quite bad. We lived in them all while doing them up.

Snuggles

For us, at that sort of price point, and all else being equal, we'd be prepared to pay around £10-15k extra for a house where everything was already done to modern standards, in good condition and to our taste. We would prefer not to have the hassle or disruption involved in ripping out kitchens and bathrooms, so would be prepared to pay the premium, knowing we wouldn't have to pay to have that sort of work done for a good number of years.

That said, we would prioritise things which can't be changed (location etc), and wouldn't compromise on this just to get a house with everything already done.

Cakeguts

In some areas there is no difference in the price between ones that have been done up and ones in original condition. The different buyer's tastes means that those that want done up houses buy those and the ones that want original condition buy those and they both value them the same.

Crashy_Time

Snuggles wrote: »

For us, at that sort of price point, and all else being equal, we'd be prepared to pay around £10-15k extra for a house where everything was already done to modern standards, in good condition and to our taste. We would prefer not to have the hassle or disruption involved in ripping out kitchens and bathrooms, so would be prepared to pay the premium, knowing we wouldn't have to pay to have that sort of work done for a good number of years.

That said, we would prioritise things which can't be changed (location etc), and wouldn't compromise on this just to get a house with everything already done.

What about if the house was over-priced to begin with but had 15k added on for "improvements" plus a 20% mark up just for "holding" it for two or three years? This is what buyers have been up against, until recently.