House valuation!

[berryfull]

I live in a three bedroom 1930’s ex council flat . There’s lots of identical flats on the street.

Originally these flats had very small kitchens, just a galley style with no room for eating . So when we bought ours we moved the kitchen through to one of the bedrooms. Which gives a big kitchen with room for a table to eat at. The original kitchen then became a third bedroom. Tis a small bedroom but not infeasible. My teenage son has it and he has a small double bed, desk and wardrobe in there.

a few other flats on the street have done the same conversion. Tisn’t a massive deal, just moving gas and electricity one room along. Easy to put back too should you want to. only cost us a few grand to do.

We’ve had the flat over a decade now and it needs a new kitchen and re decorating. but we’re wanting to move so haven’t done these things. It’s not awful, just needs a repaint and refreshed and the kitchen cupboard doors need repainting.

We got the flat valued recently and the estate agents have valued it as 30 grand less than other indentical flats in the street that still have the kitchen in the original room. They say it’s because it has a small third bedroom and needs redecorating!

will this really make 30 grand’s worth of difference?

Might be worth refreshing the paint - can you add a Rightmove link? Moving the kitchen sounds sensible really - I’d rather have a larger kitchen than bedroom too

Yes, this is something landlords do create small poly rooms and maximize rent. In recent years, people have started to care more about usable food sized spaces rather than small unusable bedrooms where you can fit nothing but a bed.

The same estate agents are marketing an indentical flat round the corner from us at 30 grand more than they valued ours . It still has original kitchen and has been white washed for sale. Other wise indentical!

are the estate agents right?

Difficult to say but there is huge variation between values with different agents so might be worth getting some others to come and have a look around.

You don’t have to go by the valuation of the estate agent. Just put it for sale for what you think it’s worth

You don't have to accept their valuation. It's rare but you can ask for your property to go on the market at x figure.

Oh that's annoying, I'd have thought if the bedroom is big enough for a double bed, desk and wardrobe people would prefer a bigger kitchen.

I'd get another agent in for their opinion. Also I'd decorate and paint the kitchen cupboards, just a general smarten to show off your big kitchen.

Presumably it would cost more than 30,000 to swap the rooms back, so best to make the most of what you've got.

Have you asked them why? It may be that from their experience the flats with the moved kitchen sell less well than the original layout or they know these sorts of flats appeal to e.g. landlords buying them for HMOs where having all bedrooms of similar sizes is more popular.

Have you a couple of very good and honest friends who will give you objective feedback on your home? One person’s “it just needs a coat of paint” is another’s “dated wreck” and I’d imagine the agent has a fair idea of which side of the divide more potential buyers will fall on.

How long has the other flat been on the market, is that a realistic price for the other flat?

Also if the kitchen cupboard doors need repainting then do so before listing. Many people will lack confidence to do it themselves or think it will need endless sanding and several coats of different substances and still end up looking like a Blue Peter project. And as a prospective buyer, whenever a seller or agent has said “oh, it just needs redecorating / a good clean / a new panel” I’ve thought, well if that’s that easy and cheap why haven’t you / they done it for the sale? and suspected there are more issues than they’re letting on.

Small kitchens don't bother me & I prefer not to eat in the kitchen.

Where was the dining area originally?

Have more quotes from estate agents.
My mum was given a huge variation and went for the EA that gave the highest value. Another one suggested he'd be able to sell it for £200k. She laughed him out of the door. It sold for a bit shy of £300k.

Is painting everything white an option? Is white the new grey? Hurray if so.

As an experienced buyer. no, that does not warrant a 30K difference.
I could not care less about the decor in houses for sale; I'm going to change it anyway. I have happily bought an open plan house with the entire downstairs painted the exact colour if tomato soup; a house covered in anaglypta and woodchip papers; and one whose main room had a ceiling covered in a huge swirly silver and purple paper. Looked lovely with the loud orange green and puprple fitted carpet. If the kitchen is crap, I'm going to change that too; after I've lived in it a while and worked out a better conformation.

Family buyers will appreciate a kitchen they can eat in, and a 3 rd bedroom however small. Market it as "option for WFH downstairs office."

Your agent probably has other clients selling similar homes he has overpriced.

He's using your house to try and justify to the other client, why he's overpriced theirs.

For me kitchen cupboard doors need repainting means they are old and I would expect to refit a kitchen , while it might be ok for you it might not be for buyers

I would get declutter and get decorators in to spruce the place up with light neutral colours

Also are the valuation of the other properties current and not completed sales when the market wasn’t falling ?

I've been flipping houses for years and love properties like yours.
That tells you all you need to know!

Get some other valuations. Some EAs are over valuing properties at the moment to get the business in a stagnant market then trying to get seller to reduce, but a lot of homes are being reduced now as nobody can afford the mortgages and buying power has been hugely reduced. You neighbour might have a higher offer, but they probably won't sell if it isn't competitively priced. Your lower value will probably sell eventually whereas your neighbour will end up chasing the market down or not selling at all. Given that the values of SOLD prices are reducing month on month (Rightmove and Zoopla use asking prices) it would be wise to price competitively if you need to sell.

Recently bought a house (completed in December), I looked at many different properties. But yes, re the redecoration, it can add a lot of 'value'.

Sometimes I would see houses that sold a few months back, new owner painted all rooms white and chucked in a cheap new kitchen and carpet (which any new buyer would want to replace). This work could have only cost a few thousand £, but the house is listed for resale for tens of thousands more.

One place added on £100,000 after upgrading to a nice new kitchen (cabinets), but the kitchen could have only cost 20k max: nothing structural was done. It seems like a little bit of work goes a long way.

I can't comment on the room size, but the tiny third bedroom was a huge annoyance to me, although most of the houses I looked at (and the one I bought) had the small bedroom issue. I want 3 decent sized rooms, not 2 usable rooms and a large cupboard.

That being said, my experience was during the bananas house price inflation where houses were selling super fast and way over asking price. Things might have changed now... but it might be worth painting and giving the place a cheap refresh, even if the new owners will want to re-do it to their taste: make it look as desirable as possible if you want to sell quickly and for a good price in this market.

Why don’t you get another agent in and see what they say ? Don’t tell them what you’ve been told by first agent until you hear what they have to say.

Maybe the others will be sitting round for months and then the final sale will be more like your asking price. Some estate agents value way too high at first and it just wastes everyone’s time

I don’t understand, would you spell it out for me?

I have a small kitchen and 3 double bedrooms. The dining table is in the lounge diner. Sometimes people aren't fussed about eating in the kitchen. Not £30k not-fussed though!

Is the third bedroom accessed off the kitchen, or off a hallway?
And are al 3 bedrooms together? It may be less about the size (which sounds reasonable) and more about its position in the house.

OR, the other flat is over valued?

How long has the other one been on the market? Surely they key part is that it is listed -it hasn’t sold?

the other flat was listed this week. It’ll likely sell quickly, we’re in a very desirable area, flats sell in days. The asking price is the same as we were expecting given what other properties in the area have sold for.

the bedroom/kitchen makes no difference in terms of layout, they are both off the hall.

it had no dining area before. I guess people would have put a table in the living room.

i don’t think anyone on the street has tried to sell a flat with the new lay out yet. We set a trend of neighbours doing it, so there’s 4 flats I know of with that layout. It makes a lot more sense for a family. And this area is very desirable for young families.

the flat is cluttered and does need decorating (nothing done in 10 years). We’d paint and tidy up before photographing it for sale. I was just surprised that it would make 30 grand’s worth of difference.