What do you prefer when buying a house?

[CVVFan]

I’m pretty sure I’m in the minority group that prefer either houses that are ready to move in or that are liveable for at least 2-3 years. I never buy based on a vision/project/putting my stamp on it.

We’re selling our house in 4 years, and quite frankly as much as it’s liveable for whoever buys it, it does look outdated.

I think we’re already on negative equity, so we think we’ll at least need to refresh the kitchen somehow (and possibly the bathrooms) the question is how much work is it sensible considering we’re selling it? The whole pint of the remedial work would be to sell it faster and not get cheeky offers because to some it might look more like a project than a liveable house.

Given what you have said about your house layout I wouldn’t do anything to it. A new buyer might want to change the layout such as make the bedrooms larger by knocking them into each other or want to create en suites etc.

Okay, so your property sounds like it needs a complete renovation including knocking through bedrooms in order for it to appeal to the wider market. Unless your heart is in it and you go for the whole thing with enthusiasm, please don’t bother and leave it as it is. Doing a cheap, half arsed job will put off both potential renovaters and people wanting a quality finished home.

Because of the layout is literally impossible to knock down walls and make bigger bedrooms. All bedrooms would end being L shape and who likes that anyway?

This is what I mean with the bedrooms being almost impossible to make bigger / more useable

Nope! Otherwise it would mess up our DSs secondary school.

I prefer to make a house my own, and will look at the bones of the house rather than decor. However, I've recently moved and been shocked. By how much renovation costs now - it's eye- watering. As I buyer I don't want to pay extra for someone else's taste in new bathrooms and kitchens. Personally I think the best thing is to do all the maintenance and spotless cleaning. Make sure the house comes over as carefully looked after and being a bit dated doesn't matter - but you have to be sure to fix everything!

Now I’ve seen the “bedroom” sizes I’m even more certain you shouldn’t do the kitchen/bathroom. Just make it look as nice as you can and stay on top of all the maintenance

Have a good realignment of space usage and over the next 4 years take on one project at a time so you're getting bargains and enjoy living in it.

This is exactly what the estate agent told me when I sold mine a few months ago. Had it been extended and finished to a top of the range standard, we could have asked for about £30-40k more. It was neutral, had period features and in an area where people are desperate to locate to for the schools. The photos were fantastic once all the clutter was cleared out. I sold it in an hour - and I know it was mainly school related. My kitchen was 18 years old but still looked good, however they are likely knocking it through into the back room to make it open plan. I hate open plan - but that’s just me. Building materials and labour costs are so high at the moment that it’s apparently putting people off ‘doer uppers’ right now.

The fact that you’re in negative equity seems to be driving your approach to the house sale, when really op…. It’s down to

sell for the price it will currently go for, which leaves you worse off

or

Spend money on what sounds like polishing a turd, maybe achieve a little bit more, but you’ll have spent that on polishing the turd so no better off anyway.

It really isn’t worth tarting up a house in a shite locations of you’re looking to sell. Just present right (which will be a blow OP, but if you don’t want it to languish for months and then have to lower anyway, then price it right from the outset).

Do a huge clear out (and I suspect with 6x of you in this sized property with what seems very limited storage will be a lot!), keep it very clean and tidy for viewings, price it right…. And it will go. Just not for the figure you hoped for. However you will move on to your next house and soon forget about it!

The location is OK! The best secondary school is within walking distance, so is the 6th form. Hospital across the road but it’s still a leafy location.

it’s the layout/dimensions of the house that make it awkward. I remember when we first viewed it, it definitely looked more spacious than what it really is (apart from the main bedroom I remember I told my DH it felt claustrophobic). But our girls were set on not wanting to share a room, so that’s how we ended up with this house.

it was the right choice at the time don’t get me wrong! But with the eldest going next year to uni, and knowing we’re halfway through our ownership, plus seeing the house next door go on sale has made us ponder the reality of the state of our house, and how worthwhile (or not!) is to redo certain things.

the only two things that need doing because we’re desperate for the extra space are the garage and the utility room, anything else it’s just making it aesthetically pleasing.

the lamps might need changing (they’re all crystal chandelier type of lamps), but again maybe not!

of three carbon copies on the road, one sold quickly (lower asking price than what we paid for ours), one didn’t sell at all (around 10% higher than we paid for) and one is currently on the market.

the one currently on the market…. What condition? And price?

if the best secondary schools are on your door step, why would not moving mess up secondaries schools for your ds?

Your taste of a new kitchen and bathroom are probably not going to be someone else’s taste. Unless they are a bit grim and you don’t want to live with them yourselves, then I wouldn’t bother changing them just to sell.

that said, 4 years is quite a long time to live with an old kitchen or bathroom. And then what happens if you actually don’t want to sell when you are four years down the line.

kitchens can be made to look new by replacing the doors and keeping the carcasses. It’s a good way to freshen up without spending too much.

ditto bathrooms by new tiling and modern taps / shower head. Change the loo seat. The white goods in bathrooms are often fine, it’s the room around them. I would even say this to those pink or avocado suites from the 50s-70s…they can look really cool against modern tiling and with new taps etc

I don't mind redecorating but wouldn't want to take on anything more major.

What really puts me off a house is if it doesn't have a bath. Even if it has the most super-duper enormous shower with rainfall and mood lighting, it's off the list if there's no bath; I couldn't go without a bath for the time it would take to replace said super-duper shower with a bog-standard bathtub.

We will sell, there’s no question about it.

everything is serviceable just old/dated. The oven is newer maybe 5/6 years old.

The identical house on the market

condition? Thoughts on price? How long has it been on?

Personally, I always go for complete projects that need everything doing.

Updating a property so that the next owners don’t have to will in most cases add value within reason and you should recoup that outlay. However beware of ceiling price for the area, no point putting a Smallbone kitchen into an average semi.

Updating the kitchen and bathroom can be done carefully on a budget, good builder for the work and kitchen and bathroom bought second hand will make it much more achievable.

If you are not planning to move for 4 years you will get to enjoy the improvements before you move.

Someone will be in the same position as you OP and need as many bedrooms. I would wait and see how it goes before you spend any money. Could you put it on the market a bit earlier than planned and see what happens?

No harm getting a new kitchen design and quote done so you know your options?

if you can make the kitchen as bright and spacious as possible it will help get you a good price. We spent 9k on ours and the valuations went up 40k.

that house just went on the market for £10k more than we paid for ours… and in much better condition.

the kitchen and bathrooms would not be our priority (the garage conversion is the main one) so I’m sure we would be get to enjoy really.

also both neighbours have made it even more “enclosed” which I’m not a fan of.

The space is super limited in this house (especially storage).

oh op

You are going to have to accept that you will to price your property at a price which will be disappointing to your given you’re on negative equity.

why do you need to move for your son’s secondary if you’re surrounded by great ones?

Op with 6 people and barely any storage…. First thing is a MASSIVE clear out and clean. Nothing will be better than that.

what sort of price point are we talking op? Under £400k £400-£800k or over?

You might get more people willing to put an offer in if you do the work - they will be people who don't want the hassle of doing anything. However, it would need to appeal to the buyer and be high quality.
But you might get offers anyway from people who are happy/want to do the house themselves so it might be a waste of time.
I always plan to buy a house that needs nothing doing, but I've never actually done it because the potential (rooms, size of garden, way it's facing etc) and the price ends up being more important.