AIBU to think we need to do this work before selling up?

[Swearlikemalcolmtucker]

We bought a house last year. The plan was to stay for five years then sell up and move further out where we have family. We were tied to a train station when we bought but since Covid, DH has had his way of working completely changed and it’s now been written into his contract that he won’t be office based again.

Because we thought we were staying for a while, we bought a house that needs work.

I think we still need to do some work to it before selling, not the same amount, but to make it up to date and attractive.

It currently has some very out of date decor, a leaky conservatory roof, needs a new front door, the deck needs replacing.

I think we should paint the out of date decor all cream throughout, replace the front door, replace the deck and fix the conservatory roof and then put it on the market. We can’t go and find a property at the moment due to Covid and the tier system, so my view is that the deck/conservatory can be done during this partial lockdown as it’s practically outdoor work anyway, as can the front door and we can paint the interior cream ourselves.

DH Thinks we should just put it up as is and expect to knock a bit off if we get a buyer and they do a full survey.

What do you think? What would you do?

I’d also think carefully about what you buy next.,if you’ve had a hole in your decking for a year, and you’ve not fixed the other stuff, and you’re now arguing about this stuff. I’d not advise buying another house that needs work.

I had a property I’d rented out for 20 years, thought it would need updating so asked estate agent for advice. I followed advice did a very limited amount apart from fresh coat of paint throughout. It sold within 5 days at over the asking price.

Not a fan of estate agents but they can be useful.

I'd paint white/cream throughout, do the basic repairs and replace front door. I bet that would add £15-20k to your asking price as it'd then be a blank canvas

Those sound like quite cheap fixes, TBH. If you are set on selling it now, I would:

Fix leak - as any leak always looks far worse than it is.
Paint through with a neutral colours
Change door if it really needs it

Don't bother with the deck - lots of people hate them anyway, and if you put a posh new one in, they will be thinking "I'm paying for something I don't want" Same for new kitchen/bathroom/any major work. If I saw a house with a swanky new kitchen that I really didn't like, (or made extending etc difficult) it would actually be a mark against the house, as again I am paying for something I don't want.

Just make it bright, clean and liveable.

I would do the leak and sell. A new front door is about £2k and doubt you would get that back. But then I'm all about moving on to be happy after my last house experience

@Bluntness100 we were waiting til this coming spring, due to lockdown and shielding DS we couldn’t get a lot of the work done we wanted to.
We had agreed what we would do for us, we are just debating the most cost effective route to go. We aren’t arguing, just working out what the best thing to do is.

The hole is in a far corner and we’ve managed to patch it, and the leak only became evident in the last few months when the weather turned.

Some good advice here thanks. I think we will restain the deck and tidy up the patch job, we have the stuff already so it’s easy. I was thinking of replacing the whole thing but as people have pointed out, doesn’t make sense.

We could paint the front door, so it matches our side gate rather than replace it completely. I think that would make it look more modern, cleaner and give it a bit more kerb appeal as well.

I’ll get a quote for fixing the conservatory roof as agree that is the main one.

Painting the hall might require a decorator as we have really high ceilings and not sure either one of us fancies getting on a ladder at the top of the stairs but we will see how we go.

What if DH loses his job? What if they change his contract and say he needs to be office based again?

Then he will change jobs. No job is guaranteed at any location at any time, but it’s been written into his contract until 2024. As a company director he also has some sway and more flexibility. We are also moving somewhere that’s further out than we are now and more rural, but has access to a mainline train station so we’ve covered that base.

Anyway, we’ve already discussed this, and this isn’t what I’m asking advice on.

Repair leak.

Depending on existing colours/cleanliness indoors I'd consider repainting, as you would benefit from that to in the short term. Very over the top bright colours as we've had in every house we've bought can put some people off (not us obviously but EAs said many others were) and it's an easy fix.

Would removing decking be a better option? As pp said some people don't like it. It was one of the first things to go in our doer upper as a death trap and rotten. If not only repair the hole dont waste money on a new lot, I wouldn't want it when buying a new place.

The front door - not sure without seeing it. No one looking round the house would notice the gap and draft. If it looks reasonably clean and tidy from the street I could probably leave it as it's an expensive fix if a new one isn't to new buyers taste. Maybe a.coat of.paint again if possible?

Sounds like he’s got a certain amount of sway as the director but I think a lot of people think that just because it’s in their contract it can’t be changed/they can’t be treated as a detriment because of it. Glad to hear that’s not issue.

My view is ultimately every house has a price, I wouldn’t be throwing too much money at it now!

I would actually do the front door, and sort out that it looks 'nice' in the front door photo and on a drive past.

I had a house was difficult to sell, changed the tatty looking front door, 2 planters outside - and first to see bought, prior to that you'd see people drive past and not stop long.

A decent wooden external door will be £1500 upwards
Not worth it. UPVC would be cheaper but would devalue any house.