Or is dh over getting house ready to sell?

[Shitpipe]

Recently found out our extension won't be happening. So we need to move.

House is 1970s semi in popular area. It's a ftb house. We were ftb 15 years ago. Valued at 145.

To get ready to sell dh wants to:
Do new kitchen
New boiler
Laminate floor throughout whole house
Paint all rooms
Get rid of built in bookshelves
New wardrobe doors in our bedroom
Wallpaper hall and landing to hide the plaster crack

I accept new kitchen/boiler. Kitchen is no longer fit for purpose.
I think carpets could have a deep clean. Although they're a bit tufty where cats have had a go.
Agree with paint.

I think he's being over the top. H

Collapse?! Isn't it made from melamine chipboard that could be glued and screwed to last a bit longer?

Clean it up and fill the crack. Put it on the market.

If it doesn’t sell, act on the feedback from viewers (is if carpets / kitchen / whatever putting them off?)

Personally, I’d rather buy a cheaper house and do it myself than an expensive one in someone else’s tastes.

Paint, clean, declutter. I'd be put off by a new kitchen that wasn't my taste tbh...

Slightly annoyed that yet again our new house has a perfectly acceptable kitchen with a layout I'd not have chosen so will be years before I can justify an upgrade with the storage I want and need!

You don't need to do any of that it's a sellers market at the moment so as long as the house is clean and tidy and reasonably priced you will sell easily.

Let new owners put their own kitchen in. You'll never choose something they really want. What a waste of time and effort. People can be more keen to buy and renovate something themselves.

We thought we needed to do loads. Estate agent told us not to do anything and house sold for full asking price last month (£10,000 more than we was expecting).

He's wrong. Kitchens have to be wow fabulous or just not worth doing.
Paint, clean, tidy, leave the book shelves, get boiler serviced. Job done

There is no way I would be putting a new kitchen in to just sell it. Far better to just price it to reflect that the kitchen needs replacing and let the buyers choose their own.

I really hate those cheap as possible, buy to let style generic kitchens, but it would feel such a waste to rip it out if it was new. It would actively annoy me.

I wouldn't do anything without speaking to the estate agent (apart from concealing the crack and other basic cosmetic bits like filling in any gaps/marks in paintwork and getting it very clean and decluttered).

Our neighbour sold his house a few months ago and he spent ages getting it ready for sale - repainting all the rooms, new skirting boards to replace battered ones, getting a gardener in to trim all the trees and bushes. New people arrived and they have totally gutted the house. everything stripped out (new skirtings and all), walls knocked through, most of the garden cleared. I am still in touch with old neighbour but haven't told him - he'd be gutted at all the time and money he wasted.

Get an estate agent in and speak to them.

If you spend 10k on a new kitchen, why not just drop 10k off the asking price, and save yourself the hassle of replacing it, and potentially miss out on the housing boom at the moment.

A lot of people like houses where they have to do things like kitchens, bathrooms, floor etc as they can make it theirs. Putting laminate floors in is nuts, all that expense and some people don't like laminate. Things like that are personal preference

We were ftb buying our place and our kitchen is definitely knackered (and we can’t afford to replace it). All the other places we looked at had newer kitchens than we’ve got but I didn’t like any of them. The kitchens were in good Nick and I couldn’t justify ripping them out because I didn’t like them. Now obviously some people won’t care about that and just rip them out anyway but it’s hugely wasteful.

New carpets - they might not want carpet. We pulled up carpet and preferred to walk on bare floor boards for quite a while. Laminate flooring is again very individual. What if the new buyers want solid wood or even a different shade. The previous owners to our house liked dark woods, everything was varnished in a dark wood but we preferred lighter oaks.

Unless you are painting a magnolia to get rid of some questionable paint choices you’ve previously made, again I wouldn’t bother. Again paint is so personal but everyone is going to come in and ignore the paint anyway and imagine their own colours. I would paint of your paint choices are too dark for the room.

Fix the boiler because if it’s knackered that will be picked up during surveys. De-clutter, give a deep clean. Maybe consider changing your light bulbs or adding some mirrors if you need to add more light to a room.

Why will your extension not happen, out of interest?

To get ready to sell dh wants to:
Do new kitchen - time, cost & upheaval unlikely to be worth it.
New boiler - is it serviced and working OK? If so don’t bother.
Laminate floor throughout whole house - definitely not. Some people hate it and again unlikely to be worth hassle.
Paint all rooms - fresh, neutral paint always good
Get rid of built in bookshelves - why?
New wardrobe doors in our bedroom - no. If they’re dark paint them if you must. Why bother?
Wallpaper hall and landing to hide the plaster crack - or polyfilla & paint? Might be worth it but probably not unless you’re doing it yourselves to a good standard.

How long will it take you to choose a kitchen, get it slivers, book the fitting etc all before you can put the house on the market? At the moment the stamp duty holiday is inflating things. I suspect you could potentially lose a lot more than you’d gain if you don’t put the house on the market for spring. The market traditionally goes slower over summer anyway...

Ask the estate agent for their full and frank views, but the usual advice is to not bother.

He could be having the house sale crazies. Is he doing all the jobs he wished he had done five years ago? Don't underestimate the psychological effect of selling a house. Detach. Detach. Detach.

@Shitpipe

He's worried the kitchen will reduce price/ make it slow to sell. I know when we were ftb, we couldn't have afforded a new kitchen.

What about new cupboard door and drawer fronts in the kitchen and potentially new worktop?

We did that when we first moved in and it kept us going until we could afford a new one. Pretty cheap and the most we did is get someone in to do the worktop. Door and drawer fronts I did in a day.

Lick of paint around the place I would go with. Laminate floor is the devil's work and I'd rip that out as soon as I moved in.

I wouldn’t put a new kitchen in.

Save all your energy for doing all this to the house you’ll move into.

You need to have a look at the listings for similar houses in your area. Both my DDs are looking to move. They are in completely different price brackets. The DD in the FTB bracket sold her house to the first of 15 viewers and had offer off 8 others. She’s struggling to get another house as they are all being snapped up at ridiculously over inflated prices. The majority of them shes viewed she believes need total overhauls - new bathroom, kitchen, decoration etc and yet theyre still being snapped up.
My Other DD has had 2 offers in 6 months. Her house is immaculate! There are no properties on the market that suit her wishes in the next price bracket, all the ones shes competing with to see are immaculate.

You need to sit down with your DH and look at the cost of completing all the jobs he says need doing. I’d say he’s looking at 10K. Will that add the equivalent in value to the house when it sells? Most likely not. FTBs are looking to get a house as cheaply as possible, most with the knowledge that they may need to do it up over time to their own taste.

My MIL has been doing things to her house for over a year now...she's 'almost ready' every week. She thinks of something new all the time.

It's because she doesn't really want to sell.

New buyers will likely have their own idea of what kitchen and floor they want. Serviceable but dated suits most people fine, they don't want to pay for your taste and then rip it out.
Just paper over the cracks literally and metaphorically.
But most important yes ask what you estate agent thinks. If she saves you wasting several thousand for once she'll be worth her fee!

@maartjebaabes

New buyers will likely have their own idea of what kitchen and floor they want. Serviceable but dated suits most people fine, they don't want to pay for your taste and then rip it out. Just paper over the cracks literally and metaphorically. But most important yes ask what you estate agent thinks. If she saves you wasting several thousand for once she'll be worth her fee!

I agree.

Ask the estate agent. If a new kitchen costing £10000 would increase the value by £30000, then maybe, but not otherwise.

@pinkpeoniesplease

I wouldn't do any of it! We had similar situation re kitchen in our last house and EA told us of clients who had replaced the kitchen in order to sell and buyer ripped it out day one as it wasn't to their taste. Honestly, people will but it to make it their own.

Put it up for sale and if it doesn't sell ask for feedback and respond accordingly.

I agree about kitchens, and so does my BIL, who's a builder and does a lot of refurbs.

The cost of doing a kitchen is massive and most people have their own ideas of what they want and often rip it out. If the units are basically ok but cosmetically shabby, it may be worth getting new doors/drawer fronts and possibly worktops.

I'd say the same about flooring, not everyone's in love with laminate and they can do it themselves if they want.

New boiler can be a big plus point when selling, as these days they often come with really long guarantees (mine's 13 years) so a buyer will have the security of knowing that they'll only have to pay for the annual service for several years. Plus they can improve the EPC rating.

I'd do the minimum and take the benefit of the current overheated market. Who knows what will happen to the economy post-covid and Brexit - it'd be such a shame to miss the peak. If there's a crash, you could end up stuck for a while.

My brother replaced his doors and worktops with some made to measure ones on ebay. It looks fab and is essentially a new kitchen.

@Shitpipe

I've booked a valuation. He tends to think age and sex makes him an expert. We have many full and Frank exchanges of views.

How does his sex make him an expert?

I'm a FTB. I'd be impressed with a new boiler but otherwise I'm not bothered about the rest. I currently rent a house with a 20 year old kitchen where the laminate is swelling and drawers are beginning to buckle but the cooker and white goods are fine so I could easily live with it for another 5 years or so. Just declutter and take decent pictures so prospective buyers can see the rooms properly. It's a pet hate of mine viewing houses with brand new kitchens that aren't to my taste (which is surprising as my taste is really boring - Hiya cream shaker kitchen!)