Refurbish or sell?

SupaWales

Hello, new here.

I own a semidetached mid 1930's 3 bed house.

I'm trying to decide whether it's worth the cost of a major refurbishment with the end game of selling it versus just selling as is. 
Wonder if anyone has done similar and can tell me rough costs & timescales of works and was it worth it when they sold the property?
In other words, did you get back the cost of the works etc. or would you have been better off selling for slightly less than if the property was in 'showroom' blank canvas condition?

I've paid the mortgage off so no problems there.
But the place needs new kitchen, bathroom, floors, windows, some plastering, re-decoration & possibly new heating / hot water system
( currently a Baxi Bermuda gas back boiler ) and electrical rewire.

I can't do the work myself as I'm working and pretty useless at the DIY stuff.

What would you do..
Cut your losses & sell?
Do it up & sell?

I'm pretty much set on moving once I retire ( early 2025 ) & my wife's mother departs as this is what ties us here at the moment.

Thanks!

Beeboo23

I would sell as is because you could spend a lot of money and have a lot of hassle and it might not be to your buyers taste anyway. Also not guaranteed to get back what you put in. 

Loza2016

Sell as it is. Materials & labour costs have gone up considerably during the last two years plus most decent tradesman are booked up months in advance. 

Good chance you won’t make the money back. 

wolfehouse

If it’s a seller’s market in your area then probably best just to sell as is.
we did just that in the covid selling rush and the agent said just to leave as is. We made a good profit without the extra hastle and cost.

dimbo61

Why would you spend money refurbishing a property to your tastes when you want to sell ?
You could spend £10,000 on a new kitchen and bathroom and potential buyers absolutely HATE them and walk away from buying because they wanted a Peach coloured bathroom and bright Green kitchen.
Spend money on making sure the electrics are safe so maybe EICR and have the boiler serviced.

Woolsery

Looking at world economics it seems unlikely that house prices will remain as buoyant this year as they are right now. You could waste valuable time faffing about refurbishing and then gain nothing.

I agree with getting the electrics up to a minimum safety level and a service to show the CH works.

Scotbot

Loza2016 said:

Sell as it is. Materials & labour costs have gone up considerably during the last two years plus most decent tradesman are booked up months in advance. 

Good chance you won’t make the money back. 

Try and get 3 tradies round for a quote  then you will find out just how hard it is to get someone to do the work.  Getting them to respond to a call and turn up to quote is a challenge in itself. You will also get an idea of costs.

jonnydeppiwish!

SupaWales said:

Hello, new here.

I own a semidetached mid 1930's 3 bed house.

I'm trying to decide whether it's worth the cost of a major refurbishment with the end game of selling it versus just selling as is. 
Wonder if anyone has done similar and can tell me rough costs & timescales of works and was it worth it when they sold the property?
In other words, did you get back the cost of the works etc. or would you have been better off selling for slightly less than if the property was in 'showroom' blank canvas condition?

I've paid the mortgage off so no problems there.
But the place needs new kitchen, bathroom, floors, windows, some plastering, re-decoration & possibly new heating / hot water system
( currently a Baxi Bermuda gas back boiler ) and electrical rewire.

I can't do the work myself as I'm working and pretty useless at the DIY stuff.

What would you do..
Cut your losses & sell?
Do it up & sell?

I'm pretty much set on moving once I retire ( early 2025 ) & my wife's mother departs as this is what ties us here at the moment.

Thanks!

What have the local EAs said? A doer upper might be perfect for some who may bid more, but complete will suit others who may also pay more.

newsgroupmonkey_

I guess it depends on how much work you're prepared to do yourself.

We've just had a 1970s bathroom entirely refitted with everything for £1500.

How?

Firstly, our fitter (plumber would be a bit unfair - although they're a proper company, they don't deal really with gas or heating plumbing, only bathroom plumbing which is fairly straightforward).

Removed all the old blue bathroom suite and capped off the bidet (honest!). Installed not only the new suite, but also fitted the panelling (this goes over the existing tiles) and the flooring. Provided all the glue and sealant as well as some extras (needed some additional pipework for new toilet). Swapped the bath and shower end.

Took 4 days, £900 all in.

We provided the bathroom suite which was a very reasonable £389 for what is essentially a "bog standard" bathroom suite (but not "value"). The fitter recommended it.

https://www.victorianplumbing.co.uk/melbourne-1700-x-700-complete-bathroom-package

We also provided the panelling which was just over £100.

The rest? A lot of hard graft. We had wooden panels everywhere else in the bathroom which needed sanding down in places and painting. Some new modern skirting (which I already had tbf). Painted the roof. Took down the light down and scrubbed it. Painted all the shelves and replaced/refurbed as needed.  Replaced the blind. Put some new trim in place.

Again, you'll be amazed how much a £30 roller blind can transform a window.

You could do very similarly for your kitchen. If your units are in good condition, you could simply replace the doors and worktops. These things come in standard sizes and it literally takes 5 minutes for each door to replace (4 screws).

I'd definitely pay someone to do the worktops.

The rest? Again, a lot of hard graft. It's not difficult to paint a house top to bottom, but it can take a few days for the prepping. If you can find a local painter, I've seen them do it for £150 a day, fully insured and come with their own cloths. You'll be amazed at how much a professional can do in a week! They even get trade prices for the paint. Whitewash the place or use very light greys etc. It makes the place look lovely and airy.

So yes, put £10k and some effort into it, and you could get it back.

Put a £20k kitchen and a £10k bathroom in? No, you'll not get that back.

SupaWales

Thanks for your varied responses!

Plenty to consider.
But yes, I had already suspected that investing heavily & then selling will probably cost money. 

FreeBear

newsgroupmonkey_ said: It's not difficult to paint a house top to bottom, but it can take a few days for the prepping.

If there is a stairwell involved, the task can get to be quite exciting (dangerous) if working off ladders - Much better to use a scaffold tower if you can find one to fit.