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We’re selling our house in 4 years, and quite frankly as much as it’s liveable for whoever buys it, it does look outdated.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

I would just spruce it up, new taps and flooring, clean paintwork. The bedrooms are small but would could be sold as home offices, for a young family wanting the school and fed up working in the dining or living room.

I love a beautiful luxurious feeling bathroom.
But I guess it would depend on which one is most dated/needs doing.
I agree that you could spend a lot of money on a kitchen that isn't to new owners taste so would go neutral and try and keep costs down.
If doing bathroom definitely keep the bath, don't turn it into a shower room.

Yes, hopefully they can see them as offices as they’ll be setup as bedrooms when we put it on the market.

the best way to sell this house I think is as potential student home (there’s a teaching hospital across the road).

how soon and for how much next door sells for will
br a good guidance for now.

So if they is going to be your market and price bracket OP, definitely don’t spend on it.

Just do what will improve your quality of life for next few years with the garage conversion and accept it won’t add value in all likelihood but WILL improve your day to day, which is more important

yes, I think that’s the best way to look at it

I think you would be wasting your money. Just sell as is.

We did

30 year old kitchen and bathrooms
Tiny bedrooms
no storage
Selling in all likelihood to a student

Op… I wouldn’t spend a penny. TBH I’d move. I know it doesn’t fit in with your timeline but it sounds like you’re unhappy and the thought of being unhappy in my home for the next 4 years?? Life’s too short. From someone who adores every inch of her home, I promise you that the sense of wellbeing I get from coming home, arriving home and being at home - is priceless!

as for the garage conversion Op… this will be money down the drain in fact it might make your property harder to sell (not many would take a cheapo garage conversion with no windows over a garage ), but IF it’s the only way you can suck up the next 4 years… treat yourself I say

Houses with 5 bedrooms are virtually impossible to find over here, that’s what we found out 4 years ago.

it’s not even a matter of budget they’re simply hard to come by or they tend to be new build with similar dimensions and layouts.

we’ve always felt the garage is what would improve our lives considerably (at least it would be easy to put the overspill somewhere!) and would clear the common areas.

It doesn’t take much to put a partition to make two bedrooms out of one Op

And yes… I am saying a garage conversion would improve your quality of life, so you should go for it.

but it is very unlikely to be an appealing selling point and for many would likely be off putting.

Do you have a driveway? Sufficient for 2 cars?

We did look into those too… and although easy it felt like one girl would get a better room than the other. (We also only found a couple of those houses and they just didn’t work).

I remember one had a very decent second living room and that was supposed to get partitioned, and I even think the girls room needed to be partitioned too and there was tons of drama.

I definitely remember my DD bursting into tears after one of the viewings.

the children are much happier since we moved and everyone got their own bedrooms, so in that sense it was worth it.

Yes the garage is too small to fit a car anyway (you’re unlikely to to open the the doors in any way shape or form).

the driveway currently fits two cars, and easily can fit 3 if a bush is removed. There’s also plenty of off street parking.

everybody uses the garage for storage and not cars!

A garage that can’t fit a car isn’t a garage 😆

The garage!

I am afraid that means nothing to me!

if you say the garage is too small to fit a small car, then I wouldn’t regard it as a garage!

I don’t think anybody would see any of these garages as a place to store a car. I’d bet money 100% here see it as standard storage space.

bizarre! To build an uninhabitable space thst represents a substantial proportion of the entirely property’s footprint, that also doesn’t fit a small car. Just for storage

all the houses are built at the bottom of a hill, so I think they just made the most they could with the slope.

the ground floor is only the “garage” and a toilet, the first floor is a normal first floor that gives access to the to the garden (which is also on a slope).

When will work begin on the conversion? Presumably won’t take long at all given what you describe being done?

Has anyone else converted the garage?

Yeah next door has (the ones that tried to sell last year)

And didn’t manage to?

are you friendly with them? Could you ask what feedback they got? Presumably better condition but still might be helpful

Yes their house is probably the one in the best condition.

however, their house is very much THEIR style, it has astroturf, the kitchen is much darker and narrower, and the bedrooms the way they were set up looked fairly unusable (from memory at least two just had beanbags and a screen).

my DH asked but I can’t remember what they said.

the ones who’re currently selling have an asking price £25k lower than the other neighbours

The sound like they’re being more realistic the ones on the market. Are you friendly with them? Could you ask how viewings are going? How long been on?

The one with the garage conversion, your neighbour, could you ask for a recommendation for a company and then make a gentle enquiry as to what viewers thought of the conversion?

The one currently on that is in much better condition , even if they sold for asking condition, would this still leave you short changed?