To renovate or not before putting house on market

littleteapot

I have a 2 bedroom mid-terraced house which I bought in 2012 (my first house - I'm now 42). It is an old house which was completed in the late 1930s. When I bought it, it was quite run down and I've had the most important external work done such as double glazing, doors, fascias, soffits and guttering soon after buying it. However internally I haven't done a lot except a new kitchen which was fitted in 2013, new carpets and flooring. The bathroom is basic and a bit old but still perfectly serviceable. I redid a lot of the plumbing when the kitchen was done, and also a new consumer unit and some necessary rewiring plus fitment of modern storage heaters in each room. I had the part-P signoff done by a registered electrician. As for the internal walls I just did minimal repairs and repainted.

Four years ago I got married and had two children who are both under 3 years old, so we are now intending to move in the next 12-24 months to a bigger house. I now have savings to cover nearly all the remaining unsecured debts i.e. a personal loan at 3.3% and credit card at 0% (I've only kept it in savings because the savings interest rates are currently much higher than the debt interest rates). I drive an old banger which I maintain/repair myself so no car finance nor any other debts.

I am remaining with <£60k on the mortgage of the purchase price of £115k. Similar properties in the same road have recently sold between £170-220k depending on condition so there is plenty of equity.

However as I mentioned it does still need a lot more work, notably the following;
1. The master bedroom has very cracked plaster on both the walls and ceiling which the previous occupants had papered over. So needs paper stripped, repair, and re-skimming.
2. The landing, stairs and hallway have very bad plaster which has been repaired badly from historic damp issues and age related deterioration, so also needs repair and re-skimming
3. The plaster in the lounge and kitchen has a lot of minor damage (chips, scores and damaged corners) so would benefit from re-skimming.
4. There is a single-glazed wooden conservatory which was improperly built on top of an old concreted raised area which I think was probably part of the original build. This has been botched to give internal access to what used to be an outside toilet which was part of the original build. The concrete base has sunk in the middle so the conservatory has deformed such that the doors and windows of it do not close properly.

I'm in two minds whether we should just put it on the market as-is or to get some or all of the above defects corrected beforehand.

The plaster work wouldn't be a huge expense and would make the house a lot more presentable.

However a harder decision is the conservatory, which may put off potential buyers as it's clearly not right and will detract from the value. There are at least two possibilities to deal with this problem;
1. Demolish it and have the old outside toilet (which is attached to the house) also decommissioned and demolished.
2. Have a new conservatory built - however this still leaves me with the problem of the toilet. It would need to again be either decommissioned and demolished, or somehow have access integrated into the new conservatory.
3. Have a small extension built (within permitted development limits) to provide a utility or dining room and a modern toilet room. However I would have to take out additional mortgage borrowing to do this which might not be fully recovered in the sale price so this is most likely not a viable option.

Any views on the above would be most appreciated

Grizebeck

Don't waste your money doing it up
Sell it as it and accept that price level that brings

dimbo61

Unless you fancy moving out for 3 months.
Empty everything in the house ( Everything )
Employ a team of builders to strip every wall that need replastering.
Once you go down that route you may as well rewire and replumb the whole house which means floors up so all new flooring.
With wife and 2 kids !
Clean and paint, declutter and put on the market

lookstraightahead

Paint and tidy, leave as is. It won't add value and people will start again. Once you've renovated it's not new to someone else.

MultiFuelBurner

I would disagree with the above as cracks and bad old plasterwork may well narrow your selling market. A lot of what is selling near us is presented well. Badly presented property tends to hang around and large price drops. A combination of the market and material costs.

If it is relatively low cost to get a skim done then that could be a no brainer.

The conservatory is difficult to advise upon doesnt sound good at all.

If this was the spring of 2022 I would have been say do nothing. The market is different now.

RelievedSheff

I wouldn't be spending huge amounts of money on a property I was selling.

Declutter, tidy up, deep clean and perhaps give a few key areas a lick of paint and tart up but nothing other than that.

The people that buy it will have their own ideas what they want to do.

CSI_Yorkshire

Low cost "decoration" type works often add enough value to cover the outlay - usually because they give a good impression to prospective buyers of a well-looked-after property and looks attractive on viewing.

For that reason, I'd say the reskim is likely to be a good idea.  Big impact for relatively small cost.

Anything more significant tends not to add enough to the sale price to cover the cost - so only do it if you will get a benefit.  Do you think you'd get enough benefit in the next 12-24 months from a new conservatory to make it worth spending the money?

gazfocus

I would agree with others in that I'd probably reskim - cracks can easily scare ftb's off so for what it will cost, getting it skimmed is a no brainer. The rest, I'd leave as it is and sell it as it stands.

Grizebeck

gazfocus said:

I would agree with others in that I'd probably reskim - cracks can easily scare ftb's off so for what it will cost, getting it skimmed is a no brainer. The rest, I'd leave as it is and sell it as it stands.

Or hide with new wallpaper and filler
We hid big cracks with a wardrobe and a mattress 

Ditzy_Mitzy

Difficult one.  Conventional wisdom would be to do up on the cheap and increase the price accordingly.  That, however, can pose problems in itself.  Some buyers will prefer an honest presentation of the premises, i.e. warts and all rather than with a thin skim of paint trying to cover problems.  Signs of corner cutting are worse, I think, than being able to see the true extent of any dilapidation and making a fair appraisal.

Secondly, prices are on the slide and rates are on the up.  You might get more interest in a slightly cheaper project than in a tarted up but not quite move-in ready place that still requires rectification work - assuming the conservatory isn't fixed.  The buyer will be having to cover your costs in doing the work (added to the sale price) plus any additional bits and pieces.  Without the work, the buyer will have largely the same costs but won't have to worry about needing to pay you for decorating he probably didn't want done in the first place.  

Just my take.  A genuine ready-to-roll is a different kettle of fish, but it doesn't seem economically sensible to shell out on that purely for sale.  I suspect the days of the buy a wreck, strip, plasterboard, paint grey and sell for twice the price are over...  

pumas

If the plaster is lath & lime, be careful. It is not easy to repair, best left alone.