En suite - increase value?

Skiddaw1

Rivernight, I think your house is much nicer than the second one. Far better proportioned and the bedrooms look significantly larger too.

Alan2020

Rivernight wrote: »

Yes, the house was built in the 80's. This is it

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-87568280.html

We've lived in it since 1987 and then an ensuite wasn't common in 4 bedders. We've put in an extension, put in new windows and fascias in the last couple of years, still under warranty. I don't think it looks too dated. We've never been shy of DIY and would have put one in if we'd needed it. I had three children and it was never a problem but I guess expectations are different now. For us, we didn't want to take any space out of the master bedroom to put in an ensuite.

This is the same style of house that recently sold down the road:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-83578133.html

It sold for £495k.This one backs onto the main road (ours doesn't). It has an ensuite but not a conservatory or a dining room.

Now that you have put your house up I can point out a few things I would think why your house isn't going to be as high a value as you would think.

1. You don't have an ensuite, so going to disrupt all cosmetics and possibly ceilings etc (-£10K)
2. Conservatory: No one has one these days, this will need to be pulled down and made good (-£3K)
3. Half width rear extension, people want full width with roof lights, so mostly economically to pulldown at least one wall and roof and start all over (-£5K)

When you add this up you will be shocked to find your real market price is actually in the region of £480K.

You might get angry with me and tell me how you lived in the 80's. Think of it, would you have paid extra for an owner who had a bucket loo taking 4m by 3m space in the back garden and charging you for it because it was a cool addition in 1700s. You would charge them to get rid of it. Conservatories these days are a disposal cost as are rear extensions without massive roof lights.

Just realised you have also lost half your garage, which depending on area will exclude a proportion of the market. Also no one uses a dining room these days. People have kitchen diners, if the position of your conservatory and extension were swapped, someone could have knocked through. If I was a buyer I would offer a value after I subtract the cost of knocking all the extensions down and clearing off, before I can extend to todays standards. Sorry this may not what you want to hear.

Skiddaw1

Uh?? What's wrong with conservatories? When we were house-hunting a couple of years ago we saw quite a few new-builds with conservatories and there's certainly a fair few conservatories in our road (houses are generally only 6 years old). Am I missing something?

Rivernight

Alan2020 wrote: »

Now that you have put your house up I can point out a few things I would think why your house isn't going to be as high a value as you would think.

1. You don't have an ensuite, so going to disrupt all cosmetics and possibly ceilings etc (-£10K)
2. Conservatory: No one has one these days, this will need to be pulled down and made good (-£3K)
3. Half width rear extension, people want full width with roof lights, so mostly economically to pulldown at least one wall and roof and start all over (-£5K)

When you add this up you will be shocked to find your real market price is actually in the region of £480K.

You might get angry with me and tell me how you lived in the 80's. Think of it, would you have paid extra for an owner who had a bucket loo taking 4m by 3m space in the back garden and charging you for it because it was a cool addition in 1700s. You would charge them to get rid of it. Conservatories these days are a disposal cost as are rear extensions without massive roof lights.

Just realised you have also lost half your garage, which depending on area will exclude a proportion of the market. Also no one uses a dining room these days. People have kitchen diners, if the position of your conservatory and extension were swapped, someone could have knocked through. If I was a buyer I would offer a value after I subtract the cost of knocking all the extensions down and clearing off, before I can extend to todays standards. Sorry this may not what you want to hear.

Not angry at all I appreciate your comments. I think you misunderstood my comments in regards to the '80s though. I was just trying to say that back in the 80's hardly any 4 bedders were built with ensuites, you tended to find them in 5 bedders. I said this to show how things have moved in, which I'm well aware of. It's just that we never felt the need to put one in and thought we'd be living here until we pegged out (we're in our 70's) but the situation has changed. Obviously you don't put one in case you have to sell it one day.

I do understand what you are saying. But likewise, there are plenty on the market that have atrocious looking extensions or kitchens not kitchen diners etc that have sold. Its not been on the market long and I'm not saying that my house is worth that much, its what the estate agent is indicating is the sort of price they go for around here, open to negotiations of course.

Alan2020

Rivernight wrote: »

Not angry at all I appreciate your comments. I think you misunderstood my comments in regards to the '80s though. I was just trying to say that back in the 80's hardly any 4 bedders were built with ensuites, you tended to find them in 5 bedders. I said this to show how things have moved in, which I'm well aware of. It's just that we never felt the need to put one in and thought we'd be living here until we pegged out (we're in our 70's) but the situation has changed. Obviously you don't put one in case you have to sell it one day.

I do understand what you are saying. But likewise, there are plenty on the market that have atrocious looking extensions or kitchens not kitchen diners etc that have sold. Its not been on the market long and I'm not saying that my house is worth that much, its what the estate agent is indicating is the sort of price they go for around here, open to negotiations of course.

Thanks! Understood. If you are not in a hurry then I am sure there will be some buyer out there that like the current layout. I think a lot of people watch TV programs and look at the instagram posts and want the photo perfect houses, especially at the £0.5M mark and above. I personally will wait and see, if you are in a hurry, then maybe drop prices to make it more attractive, sometimes if dropped sufficiently you generate lots of interest and a bidding war starts. Good luck

Alan2020

Skiddaw1 wrote: »

Uh?? What's wrong with conservatories? When we were house-hunting a couple of years ago we saw quite a few new-builds with conservatories and there's certainly a fair few conservatories in our road (houses are generally only 6 years old). Am I missing something?

Nothing wrong with conservatories, they just are no longer in fashion these days as they are too cold in winter and too warm in summer etc Where I live out of 50 or so houses only 2 have conservatories from the 80s, all the rest have rear extensions with the exception of a handful. Then updated ones have big roof lights. House price range from £650K to £1.2M. The OPs house is in the higher price range and I think conservatory on a £150K house sounds right, but anything above £400K its out of place, that's my view of the current trend.

Skiddaw1

I suppose garden rooms have rather replaced conservatories really. May be a regional thing too I suppose? As I say, there's a fair few around here. Not sure it's necessarily price-range related (we're in a 4 bed detached albeit in Cumbria so house prices are far lower than OP's house in Reading).



But I see your point.

nwc389

We live in a 1980s house on a development of 34 houses , 12 have conservatories so it’s far from the case that nobody has one any more !
Almost all of the houses on our development have been extended, ours has got an en suite and I have noticed over the years that the houses that sell faster have the en suite .
If families are moving into a four bedroom then they may well be upsizing from a property that already has an en suite so they will be looking for a house that will have the same .
Honestly I do think that the extra bathroom trumps a fourth bedroom but I do think your house is lovely OP .

sst1234

Interesting debate about conservatories. It won’t knock anything off the value of your house, but it won’t add anything either m. They are totally impractical, too cold in the winter and too warm in the summer.

And the dining room point is also true. People don’t use dining rooms anymore. It open plan kitchen living rooms all the way. The house will sell, but not fast if competition has en-suite, or an orangery(instead of conservatory) or open plan living areas - or indeed all.

markin2

Its always a list of things that are wrong and the thing that breaks the camels back that is more likely to be said, lease and road for the other poster, and then it is only 1 compromise.


For a 4 bed its #Only 1 bathroom, #Small Garden, #no real Garage, and on, and on. It feels a bit over developed for the plot size.


I would not be surprised if most young couples today would want to just gut the back garden.