Selling inherited property as is or remodelling

london21

What did the agent advice?
Can have like 2-3 EA assess and value to decide which you will sell with.

Money spent doing the place up might not lead to much higher sale price. 

TripleH

Agree, but it might cost a little bit and effort to tidy it up and shift it quicker,  maybe a little painting but nothing more.

theoretica

I think it depends on how bad the carpets are - old and stained or unhygienic and disgusting even after cleaning - and what the floor underneath might be.  The carpets are a basic and common problem, and anyone renovating will expect to change them.  If taking them up reveals rot, patches or other issues then taking them up won't make it easier to sell the house.

Flugelhorn

I am not tax expert and others may have the answer to this - if you so probate with a specific (current) value - and the do up the property, are you liable for CGT if you sell it for more than the probate figure?

TripleH

I think yes, but that you could off-set appropriate expenses against the gain.

If you paid for an extension / converted building to flats, then the cost would be allowable to offset any gain.

What I'm not sure about is if you put in a new kitchen. If there was none when you got 'contro- of the property then it would be allowable against capital gains, but if there was one, I think it would be disallowed for capital gains but allowable as an expense of the estate before allocated to beneficiaries.

I have a very narrow understanding of capital gains and I may be wrong..

strawb_shortcake

I know the area quite well, as well as the University there are quite a lot of big companies nearby so the rental market has always been really buoyant - though this was pre-pandemic. 
Depending just where the house is, there are and have been some shocking houses about so personally I wouldn't worry too much about doing it up as the local market is familiar with those sorts of houses. Though I would take the carpets up

Debsnewbudget

Smells put the majority of people off buying houses unless they are property investors.  
Have photos done with furniture in place, as most people do not have the imagination to place furniture in their head.
Put some plants and pops of colour in for photos. This will get more people willing to come and view the property. Then get rid of carpets and as much furniture as you can before viewings.

theoretica

When a friend wanted to buy a 'project' property a few years back she discovered that actually some of the properties that looked worse had more interest - they attracted people who thought they looked bad so would put other people off and therefore be a bargain.  And then people looking for bargains got into bidding against each other...  Different year, different city, but a reason for talking to estate agents before doing much work.

jcuurthht

Debsnewbudget said:

Smells put the majority of people off buying houses unless they are property investors.  
Have photos done with furniture in place, as most people do not have the imagination to place furniture in their head.
Put some plants and pops of colour in for photos. This will get more people willing to come and view the property. Then get rid of carpets and as much furniture as you can before viewings.

An agent visited today and said to leave the furniture in place and remove any clutter. This is for the photographs.

I asked about removing the furniture after and he said they could help with that. Convenient, but paying a premium perhaps.

I have another visiting tomorrow and I'll ask him the same questions, and also about removing furniture and badly stained carpets after photos but before visits.

I also need to ask about cleaning before photos and visits. Bathroom and kitchen are a bit off-putting.

dean350

+1 for selling as is. Hiring and managing builders from a distance is a stressful nightmare. Also, while they are doing all this work you have to pay insurance and council tax. Even getting the carpets removed might cost you several hundred pounds so I would be wary of that. The type of people that buy these projects can see through the dirt and clutter and quickly get an idea of what's needed. They will only be interested in checking structure, windows, guttering, electrics and boiler having already satisfied themselves that the property is in the correct location for its intended use. The most important thing for you is to pick a business like buyer who has all the finances in place and who can move reasonably quickly.