Renovate before selling or not?

Jonboy_1984

A viewing of a doer upper last year sticks in my mind. Over the course of the 20 minutes as going around the EA recommended some possible updates and said if you spend £10k on X, £10k on Y and £10k on Z you will add £30k to property value…

vman

Depends on the condition and the house, market, how handy you and what needs doing. If you have a 1970s pink bathroom suite and you are quite handy you can spruce up a bathroom with a perfectly decent new bathroom suite and neutral tiles for a few hundred quid. If you threadbare psychedelic carpet, you can pay someone to wiz around and put new carpet throughout a 3bed semi for about £1.5k, or a smidge more for LVT or laminate downstairs. If you have falling off plaster or woodchip wallpaper you can get an entire room skimmed for about £200, paint it all-white and it looks great afterwards.

It really depends, if your neighbours houses are million quid then your buyer will expect high-end so probably not worth it, if your neighbours are 150k or 200k then you are probably looking at first time buyers or possibly landlords (less likely nowadays). First time buyers more often than not just want to get in, do no more than some light decoration, and fill it with furniture. They dont really have the money for a refurb. Landlords typically are happy to refurb but personally I'm not (as I'm too far away to do the work).

I've bought a couple of properties this year, I view a lot, having a look at a couple more tomorrow. I am quite surprised at what refurbs people do sometimes and where they spend their money. I would say, if you aren't going to do it to a professional standard then just dont bother. I've seen a few ex-rentals the owner has got 'ready for market' and its just a mess (patchy paint work, poorly laid laminate, missing trims, bad tiling, poorly fitted kitchens, etc) I just think "why bother, you've spent time and money on this and I still have to pay someone to correct your shoddy work". On the other end, I've seen people pull out kitchens an bathrooms of their homed/deceased elderly parents because they looked really bad and didn't want to embarrass them but have unwittingly made the property unmortgagable in the process so cash buyers only.

When I look at a house I'm mainly concerned with the age/condition of the boiler and electrics, the EPC, if it needs a new kitchen or bathroom, and the general condition of the floors, ceilings, and walls (and windows, but seldom a problem TBH). That and maintenance issues like damp.

If I was selling I'd look to tidy up a kitchen rather than replace it. New bathroom, carpets, skimmed walls and ceiling where needed, painted/sprayed white or grey throughout can be done for £4k on a small/moderate house if you do some of the work yourself and dont over-spec and it doesn't take long to do. You've basically created a clean blank canvass for every room but the kitchen at that point, haven't offended anyone with your taste but nudged people who cant see past a bright green carpet along. Kitchens are more personal and double the budget so look for cheap, quick wins there if possible.

Sorry, a bit rambly.

Green_hopeful

We have just sold my parents in laws house. It is quite dated and the kitchen and bathroom needs doing. We decided not to do any major work but one ceiling had cracks and come down a bit. There were a few cracks and unusual design choices. We tidied the rooms, stripped out all the random personal stuff people collect, got rid of excess furniture eg 5 spare wardrobes, got the ceiling boarded, filled any cracks and painted any tatty walls. We dressed all the rooms with furniture so that the buyers didn’t need to use their imagination. I know the buyers will renovate because it needs a new kitchen and at least three new bathrooms but I wanted it to feel nice when you walked in. I think we would have got less for it or fewer offers if they thought it was ‘gross’ or very shabby. We also put double beds into the larger bedrooms to show they were big enough. We got two good offers in three weeks in a slow market. 

Bigphil1474

I think 'tarting up on minimal budget' rather than renovating is what you want. I've done that with mine. House looks okay rather than shabby or great. Price reflects condition. Ours needs a new kitchen but that's a point we can negotiate on, or if a landlord bought it, they might decide the kitchen is serviceable as is. Windows are old but in reasonable condition etc. etc. 

Albermarle

Thanks for your prompt responses. This reflects my own opinion. Family are all telling me that I should renovate. They all watch "homes under the hammer".

It is just an entertainment programme. People showing off for the TV, making semi ridiculous claims about how little they have spent and most of the ones that go wrong never see the light of day.

GDB2222

I'll vote for clearing out all the furniture. It makes the place look more spacious. 

Green_hopeful

GDB2222 said:

I'll vote for clearing out all the furniture. It makes the place look more spacious. 

But can look really sad. My husband’s aunt sold her house which was dated but clean and tidy. The family emptied the furniture and it looked dreadful. Utterly rubbish. It draws your eye to any issues whereas having some furniture shows that it can take what’s needed and can distract from the tired decor. 

Green_hopeful

Re homes under the hammer. Most of the renovations are dreadful and dreary. I look at them and think of all the work to put the poor decorating right. Cheap grey carpet everywhere. Normally they rip out all the original features as well. 

missile

Many thanks again for your responses. I find these helpful, but I am still undecided :-(

I am happy to spend if I can see a return on my "investment". I am concerned that increased asking price may limit my buyers. I feel it might attract more buyers and sell quicker if it is the cheapest house available.

FreeBear

Issue with a quick "tart up" is the buyer might suspect it has been done to cover up problems.

A house a few doors down was bought by a flipper. He did a bunch of work including kitchen, and then slapped the ubiquitous grey paint everywhere. The new buyer has since been uncovering all sorts of nasty bodge jobs as he went round decorating to his taste (which isn't grey). Only saving grace is he didn't pay what the flipper originally asked - First marketed at £360K, eventually sold for £285K (flipper paid £215K).