Should I stay or should I go?

[jwills]

Bought the house for 165k in October 2021

Needs a lot of work - new gutters, pvc windows, new front and back door, new bathroom and kitchen and possibly taking down a wall, some roof works.

Put it on the market for 169950 a week ago. Current offer 183k.

Question: do I just sell it, take the money and run? Or do I stay and do the work which will take me years to afford.

Yes - sell
No - stay

So if we sell, it will be 18k profit in 10 months. We have done nothing to the house.

Sell it!

Sorry, when did you buy it? Did you mean Oct 2020?

You have ~£20k equity so I'd be tempted to sell, but do you actually want to move? I know you said it needs quite a bit of work, but how long did you envision living here when you first bought it? If it was a while then I'd look at competing the work in stages, otherwise, if it wasn't a "forever home" type then take the money!

It depends on how much you like the house and how easy it would be to find another one that you like with the extra £18k.

If you could buy something with the proceeds that's 'done' or at least liveable without needing to do all that work, definitely sell.

Nothing as dull or disheartening as having to do loads of DIY or sourcing of tradespeople, who are massively in demand right now as are materials, when you don't have the money and/or it's not something you're particularly interested in.

Sorry yes. October 2020.

We thought like 5-10 years with the work done. Defo not forever home as it is semi-detached.

Selling now puts us in a better position for when our next house comes up I think? No chain and we will have about £35-£40k deposit?

Thank you for all your comments

@BarbaraofSeville I think you are right. When we bought this, it was about £80k shy of our affordability. So we will/should be able to buy something that is ‘done’ next time.

Hard to let something go when you love the house but deep down you know you can’t afford the works and I don’t have the effort in me to organise it all.

Why did you put it on the market? Because you want to move? Or just to see..?

Well just to see I suppose and if the offer was enough, we would sell.

In that case, I'd definitely err towards to selling side of things!

It won’t be anywhere near 18k profit though by the time you factor in all the moving costs, stamp duty, solicitors etc. How much would you have to spend to sell it? Would you make more of a profit doing it up, increasing value even more then selling it?

What’s the ERC on your mortgage? There’ll be stamp duty to pay next time too.

@MagnoliaBeige

Solicitors are free (through work)
We aren’t buying right away so no stamp duty
Moving costs - stuff into my parents

Selling it - 150 marketing costs 80 energy cert and then 0.75% plus vat of price if we sell it

Also it’s not 18k profit is it, unless all the renovations were free.

So 18k minus the reno costs, ERC, agent fees, solicitors, lender fee, stamp duty and you’re probably just breaking even.

Erc is 1% after nov plus £65 so not much really

I’d be mindful that other properties will also have gone up in price. So whilst you’re making 18k, you’ll be paying solicitor fees, agent fees, moving costs, stamp duty on a new property and the new property will have also gone up its equivalent of your 18k.

Yes, it will cost a fortune to move.

I think we will be better trying to find a new place without being subject to the sale of our own house.

To confirm, we’d just be selling for now. Not buying so no stamp duty (yet). Moving in with parents. We’ve spent nothing on the house since buying it. We don’t pay for solicitors fees (free due to my work).

We paid 165k for this house. Budget for next house is 240k.

I get that you’d be waiting before moving but in the time you’re waiting prices are likely to go up more so you’ll get less for your money