Decorating before selling - worth it?

Boozle

Hi all

Some background. I recently came into a reasonable inheritance and we have decided to move house. My husband has a terminal illness, and we live in a flat, so we're looking to move to a house with better disabled access, nearer the specialist hospital etc. The inheritance means we can afford to buy in cash before we sell our flat, move, and then sell our current home (I'm aware of timescales around stamp duty and CGT etc). I'd prefer to do things this way, as it will make things easier to manage around my husband's care.

Our flat requires a little work. It's all cosmetic - new carpets and painting throughout and some tidying to grout and caulk in the bathroom and kitchen. Everything is structurally sound.

Unfortunately, owing to my husband's illness, it's not possible for us to do the DIY ourselves, and I think the work will probably cost around £3k. Is it worth spending this money, or will new owners just expect to move in and redecorate anyway? The flat is worth around £350k and is shared ownership, with us holding a 40% share. It's in an area where the market tends to move quickly. It will be sold empty.

This is the first time I've sold a home and I'm not sure how far to go. I know that, when buying, I tend not to look at decor as I'm expecting to have to redo it to my taste, but I'm not sure if that's normal or not.

Thank you!

[Deleted User]

Since its a shared ownership property the price is set by the RICS surveyor that comes out (that you have to pay for). It is up the his or her opinion as to whether the work is worth doing from a value perspective. You'll pay around £500 to have them come out in the first place and then i suppose if they say it could be worth £10k more then you make the call on what to do

If you are thinking about how to appeal to the market, is it the type of property that is likely to sell quickly based on location and availability of other options? If so then dont bother until you start to get feedback from viewings.
If you are up against stiff competition then you might need to redecorate to put yourself in the best light.

Id personally keep the money in my pocket until i knew that people werent buying it because of the work.

Mojisola

Boozle wrote: »

Our flat requires a little work. It's all cosmetic - new carpets and painting throughout and some tidying to grout and caulk in the bathroom and kitchen.

I would much prefer to decide for myself what carpets and paint colours I wanted in a new flat rather than pay a bit more and have to live with the seller's choice.

sal_III

Generally if it's not DYI it's rarely worth it, unless it's in a desperate state which would discourage buyers. Reasonable buyers understand there will be some work required when buying old property.

Grout/caulk are OK, since there can't be much changes with regards to them. But walls and carpets are better left to the taste of the new owners. If you go with your own choice there is as much chance to make it less appealing to some as more appealing to others.

Maybe mention to buyers that you are open to knock down a couple of £k off the going price to allow for refreshing the walls/carpets.

Edit: Just noticed it's Shared ownership - AFAIK some (if not all) Shared ownership properties have restrictions on wall colors and carpets, so definitely something to check with the HA, before you make any moves.

Mistral001

If the decoration is done well and the house is not being sold as vacant possession then it might help as many people go on first impressions.

However, if you are selling as vacant possession, then many buyers will be suspicious that the house has been redecorated to cover up defects.

Boozle

Thank you all for the replies. So fast!

There are restrictions on changing the bathroom, kitchen etc, but painting walls and laying carpet/wooden flooring with underlay is fine to do without permission.

Other flats in our building have all sold within days of going on the market. Of course, that's pre-Brexit...

PasturesNew

If it were just a splash of paint needed all round to freshen it up, then it could be worthwhile to present it to the best of its ability.

I am personally irritated at wallpaper/large flowery wallpaper/feature walls - and I am very irritated at "new carpets throughout" as I don't want carpets so you end up thinking you're paying a premium for something new that you'd have not chosen.

Just get the carpets cleaned so they look the best they can.

getmore4less

If you have to get someone in the work can be done in a couple of days.

I would get the pre sale stuff started to get estimates for a before after some of the work, then decide to do it or not.

It might be that some work is worth doing to assist sale,.

Cleaning up the bathroom and kitchen maintenance.
These are the key rooms people like useable.

Back to blank canvas depending how bad the painting is.
Some won't like to much prep but happy to slap on a colour.

If the flooring is tired but generally OK just leave.

Boozle

The walls are fine, no wallpaper just neutral paint, but they're quite scuffed up. The carpet in the living room is fine. The hall and master bedroom are very worn and quite stained through pets/medical stuff/wear and tear. I've wanted them changed for years, but the logistics of it has been impossible.

Once the flat is empty I can have them cleaned and go from there.

I could tackle the grout and caulk myself. I'm no expert, but can probably do enough to brighten them up.

Soot2006

Sounds like a decent handyman/decorator job for 2-3 days. You'd be looking at about £700 around here, including materials. Worth getting quotes and having someone do a gentle spruce up once it's empty.

Boozle

Unfortunately we're in London, so having anything done by a handyman is going to cost over the odds (another reason we're moving).