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We’re selling our house in 4 years, and quite frankly as much as it’s liveable for whoever buys it, it does look outdated.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

Because we’re relocating to London so I can have a fulfilling career and so my DH is closer to his DM.

We are just waiting on the secondary school aged DC to finish their Sixth Form to then make a move.

from that POV the move is non negotiable.

there's also the small chance that my company my ask me to relocate to LA (fingers crossed!)

So what’s the latest you need sold by?

Although kitchens and bathrooms sell houses. Go figure.

If you can decorate to a pretty good standard yourselves then that's a few hundred quid using good quality paint and equipment and can make a huge improvement.

But that's unlikely to make a difference to the price you get if the kitchen is falling apart and scruffy because buyers will factor in replacing the kitchen make making an offer. Think about how the kitchen and bathroom will look in another 4 years.

May/June 2029 to complete in the school hols.

And you aren’t at all happy with the house as is? In that case, spend a bit of money on doing things that would improve your life for the next 4 years.

and in that time..,, fingers crossed the market improves for you

If we were to redo anything it would be super neutral, but given we wouldn’t want to spend too much, I think we’d go with just what really dates it (like the bath panel or those fruit tiles that I keep mentioning)

I’m these set of circumstances I wouldn’t do any work to it. Put it on the market as is.

I thought this

until the op clarified she’s not thinking about outing on the market for 3/4 years!

It is in almost 4 years! But we obviously don’t have all the £££ to do all of the improvements within 12 months. So we think we’d get to do the kitchen in say 18 months, 2 years. So is it worth doing the kitchen when we’ll only live there for 2 more years?

that’s the conundrum

I’m confused
you said 2029?

You don’t have do a big job

just replace the tiling and repaint.

and cupboards doors can be covered. My friend did this (professionally) and it was £2k and looked brilliant

Yes, that’s when we’re moving out. But we don’t have the £££ to the kitchen (as the garage conversion is the priority).

so by the time we have the £££ for the kitchen, then we’d only have 2 years left in the house.

Op only you know the figures involved and the state of the property
so I think there’s not much point in us guessing and speculating

I wouldn't do any major work to that house. I can see someone buying it, ripping out the kitchen & bathroom and putting a nice big extension on the back of it to create a better sized house.

Potentially the only extension would be the same footprint as the conservatory. But none of the houses on the street have done it (there’s at least 12 that are carbon copies of each other).

If no precedent, Pp may be difficult to achieve

My husband and I have decided that the “refresh” is ok rather than redoing the whole thing. If we were to were talking about £60k for all the work that needs to be done to a decent spec, we’re happy with £20k which would mostly cover the garage and the remedial work on the kitchen bathrooms

£20 for a garage conversation and remedial work on kitchen and bathrooms???

good luck op!

We know the garage is £12k. It’s not really full conversion, just the internal door and the garage door for an insulated one. Everything else will
be boarded and we’ve already got the floor!

Go for it then! And that includes wiring, heating, insulation ? Decoration? Wow!

no window ?

Is it worth considering new coat of paint, new worktops, wrapping the kitchen cupboard doors, regrouting, or just a deep clean and new bright and cheery accessories for the kitchen? Something cheap to lift it a little?

Nope, no window! After all it’s really so I can a working space and a gym

It won’t meet building regs for a habitable room, so the particulars will need to be careful re how described

A bigger factor than how high spec your house is, will be how many similar properties are on the market when you try to sell in 4 years time. If there’s not many you will get lots of offers, if there’s plenty it will take more time to shift. You cannot predict the number of similar properties, but I wouldn’t try to hedge your bets by spending money unwisely in the meantime.

So £12k for a windowless workspace and a gym space…..you are very unlikely to get the money back on that.

Either do it well and spent the money with a view to increasing the value or do nothing as your plans sound half hearted at best.