Do we 'do up the house' or sell it as a 'doer upper'??

[blummineck]

Hey guys,
We've been in our current house for about 8 years, we did intend on it being a good family home to stay in for a good while longer than we have already. Its a big house, of which I also have my brother and sister living with us just to help them out for a bit.
This house hasn't become the home we wanted, we spent alot of money on it to begin with, as it needed gutting, etc, but we just haven't managed to get that homely feeling we wanted. There is still alot to do on the house, such as replacing windows etc but I'm just wondering if we should cut our loses and sell it as a property that needs improvement, or spend the money doing it up before we sell it on? We deffo want to sell it and perhaps downsize (stop the rabble wanting to stay with us! :) )

I feel like I can't be bothered with this house anymore, and want to do the absolute bare minimum to it if possible.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has had a similar dilemma and what you did etc?

Cheers xxx

I was just thinking about this with respect to my own house. I will watch this thread with interest.

It probably depends on what the property market in your area is like at the moment. Also, what potential would it have for development - would it always have to be a single house, or would it be big enough to convert into flats (which might interest a developer)?

It depends how much you feel you have to get in order to move to the sort of house you feel can become a home. What has stopped you believing that this one will do and is it something likely to put other people off if you leave it as it is? Personally, I would much prefer to buy a doer-upper but I get the impression I am in a minority and I also think that enthusiasm for renovating properties depends on whereabouts in the country you live (if it's an area where you could buy a "perfect" house for a reasonable price, there tends to be less need for them).

So, the question is: what's the market like locally? How much are you willing to take below the price for a "good" house? Is its potential realisable or are people going to look at it and think "money pit"?

Sell as a doer upper.

People will always have different ideas to you, and , tbh, rose tinted glasses about the cost and disruption of renovations.

Have you had it valued as it is? Does that give you enough to move to the type of house you want next (quite likely if you're down-sizing)?

If so, sell. It doesn't sound as if you want to put the time or attention into this house anyhow.

Thanks for your input guys.

We originally bought it as a doer upper, we knew there was alot of work that needed doing on it, but there were also alot of hidden nasties, that we needed to fix also. so we believe we have now got rid of these.
This ate into our budget and hence the reason there is still some work to do. I think we're just tired of constantly having work to do on our house and still it not feel like 'home'.

Its a good idea to have it valued as it is, we've been biding our time, as there is a big pylon right in front of our house, that is coming down next year or the year after, we know the houses round here will increase in value once that has gone.

Its interesting to know there are people out there still willing to buy houses to do up, so that is very helpful.

Thanks again guys.

xxx

I'd sell it, doing up a house is expensive, hard work, emotionally draining and you don't have the energy. Our renovation will not give us back what we spend - BUT we intend to live here for a very long time, so profit is not our motivation.

Friends have suggested thata we move instead but we know that we'll end up buying somewhere we're not entirely happy with and we'll still need to spend ££££ to get it the way we want it.

If you do sell it for god sake don't look back. We sold ours as a doer upper and then they literally gave it a lick of paint and sold it for £65k more.
I'd consider that option first personally after the pylon has gone.

Interestingly the people willing to buy in a depressed market are usually cash rich (due to need for large deposit) and therefore aren't daunted by spending a bit more cash on a property in terms of investing in new kitchens/bathrooms etc. especially if it means they reap the benefit of the increased value overall of the property.

You could well spend £15k on putting in new bathrooms/kitchens and whilst this would usually make it more attractive to the family market who need to move in and live there ASAP, it puts off property developers and investors as there's less uplift in value available to them as you'll need that £15k added onto the value of the house, whereas with good contacts they may well have been able to get that job done for £5k.

Who is your market?

I am a buyer and would rather buy something to modernise or do up. Most revamped houses are horrors with cheap kitchens and bathrooms, even in high price ranges or decent quality but horrible taste... It's best to sell it as it is. It's also not worth your efforts as experts now say no more rises.

Finally the media is seeing sense and reporting falls in prices... Where we live they have kept rising despite the recession but I see some reductions now. Finally sellers seeing sense. We had so much trouble getting our mortgage and we can't borrow as much as we used to be able to despite equity.

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/8216681/House-prices-to-edge-lower-in-early-2011-say-estate-agents.html

The answer depends hugely on where you are. Where I live there is such demand for property that unmodernised homes go for very little less than the sparkly, perfectly finished ones.

You also need to consider how much it would cost to renovate - doing the "Boring" jobs can be beneficial to help a sale (e.g. new windows/central heating) but they have to be done really well and you may not recoup your costs.

Ask a good estate agent for a valuation as is and an estimate as to what it would be worth if the work was done.

I agree with Nancy. I did a house up in the past years when things were good and when I sold it I recouped the money I spent but really low profit (despite the rise in prices).

Proper double glazing is not cheap, nor a new boiler...

Hey guys,

Thanks for all your feedback, it really has helped, my husband has an estate agent friend, so he's going to have a chat with him also, find out whats selling etc.
Its certainly made us rethink the whole 'doing up the house' thing, don't get me wrong we'll do what we can to make it look nice, but as for the big jobs, I'd rather just leave it to be honest... :)

We'll see what the estate agent friend says...

xxx

The way the market is atm i would sell as is.If you decide to do up a large house to a good standard the time involved will erode any increase in value you achieve by doing the work as it could take about 6-10 months and if prices fall in that time you will have taken on a huge task for nothing.

We're facing teh prospect of having to have internal tanking done too 'fix' damp as it has made one buyer pull out and two other offers be retracted. People have lived here for over forty years since the reason for the problem arose, it's never been a problem. the last thing I want with a toddler and being pregnant and it being winter, is too tear plaster off the down stairs walls, but we have to sell. For some reason at the moment, NO ONE will negotiate on this, even when we offer to do it, the last people pulled out. I'd just try to sell your's in it's current state, and like someone else said, 'don't look back'.