Selling a house - to do it up or not?

goodadvice12

Hello - I own a small detached house which I have let an elderly relative live in for some years, but she will shortly be moving into residential care.
The property is structurally sound, but pretty tired and dated in terms of decor, carpets, bathrooms (2) and the kitchen. I think with a following wind, I might be worth 300-320k. I am unsure whether to spend money on tarting it up a bit, in order to get a better selling price. Given 40% of any uplift will be eaten up by Capital Gains Tax, I am doubly unsure!
Does anyone have any advice? I wondered about asking a local estate agent for advice? Also, I live some distance from the house so it would be hard to manage any improvements/renovations etc.   Many thanks.

Jd843

I'm no expert on this topic, but my instinct would be to sell it as it is.  You could spend lots of cash doing it up, someone buys it, then wants to replace the carpets/bathroom/kitchen anyway because they're not to their taste.  

skm1981

I don't really have any advice, but if it was me, I think I'd probably give the place a good clean, paint all the walls white (or grey seeing as everyone seems to love grey at the moment), re-carpet and then sell.

youth_leader

I am in my 60's and viewed a flat in Devon where the elderly person had been living in terribly tired and dated conditions.  It was a probate sale and a very large flat.  I could see the potential,  but was very put off by the smell of damp as the heating had been off for months, the hospital blanket on the bed and the personal effects ie hairbrush etc.  If you can clean the floors, clear all personal possessions, keep the heating on  and 'dress' each room to its best advantage I'm sure it will sell.  

Blue_bell_20

skm1981 said:

I don't really have any advice, but if it was me, I think I'd probably give the place a good clean, paint all the walls white (or grey seeing as everyone seems to love grey at the moment), re-carpet and then sell.

I think this is a good idea (although I have no experience with this, my friends bought a house where only the bathroom and kitchen needed updating and they enjoyed making it to their own style and needs)- if the bedrooms and living room look fairly ok/livable without too much work then prospective buyers may think ‘well the kitchen and bathrooms need replacing, however we could do this slowly over time’ Instead of ‘the whole house needs care and attention, it’s too much work for us’. 

Redwino222

Speak to a local estate agent and ask their advice.

i am about to put my house on he market and know it will appeal to younger first time buyers.  I have repainted everywhere and replaced the kitchen cupboard doors.  I haven’t spent much, but it looks like a new build again.  I know the photos will look great.

treecol

We bought our current house 6 years ago from elderly owners. Very dated, very stinky but lots of potential. We gutted it, replastered artex ceilings new kitchen and bathrooms (but not high end) and new flooring. Tidied the garden then lived in it once finished. We've just sold and although we've made a handsome profit, to get top dollar in our price bracket we'd have had to put in a £30k plus kitchen and knocked down walls to make it open plan. 
In your price bracket I'd suggest just clean it and sell it as a doer upper. The more money you spend the more you have to get back and as you say you loose 40% in CGT.  The comments we had from viewings was still that people would rip out what we'd done to make into their own taste. However if people know yours needs modernising you'll most likely only attract buyers who can see through things to spot the potential straight away.

JGB1955

Sell it as it is - your idea of 'ideal' may not be the same idea as potential buyers.

Falafels

Here's another vote for cleaning it and selling it as a doer-upper! Just make sure it's aired and doesn't smell of cat urine, cabbage or damp.

A couple of years ago I came back to live in a property I'd rented out for a few years, and while I was waiting for the keys at the estate agents I mentioned in passing that I was looking to put the house on the market some time in the future. I found her response very interesting; the first thing she wanted to know was if I had off-street parking, and then said NOT to spend large sums of money doing it up. She told me they'd recently been given a bottle of champagne by a vendor who had originally gone round with it as a gift to her purchasers... until she saw that the luxury bathroom they'd put in at great expense was in pieces in a skip outside....

tink_1983

Sell and accept ppl might barter due to work needed I say. Save the time / effort.

TheProfessional

Sell as it stands. We have just bought a house with a relatively new kitchen. My wife is already counting the days to when we can replace all of the new worktops and flooring with her own choice