How much work to do before sale?

[LittlePickleHead]

I just want some opinions of what would make a difference to you when looking to buy.

We want to sell our flat in the summer to upgrade to a house. It's a ground floor 2 bed period conversion with garden and parking space, in an area of SE London recently connected to the overground, and it's noticably improving.

We have done some work to the flat and have put alcove cupboards in the living room, laid some patio in the garden and sorted out the flower beds so it looks lovely out there. We are going to do the bits that need doing prior to selling, but I just wondered how much we need to bother with? The stamp duty is the sticking point - we want to ideally sell for £275-£285k so it needs to be good enough to get it over tha £250k point.

My two questions are:

Should we put a period fireplace into the living room (it's just a blank wall between the cabinets at the moment)

The bathroom/kitchen are OK but do need a bit of work (i.e. retiling, lick of paint, possibly new flooring in the bathroom). Is it enough to just do cosmetic improvement, or would we need to consider doing them properly?

I don't want to spend unnecessary money, but we really need to make some profit on the sale. Sold 2 bed flats in the area vary between £230k -£300k (generally for those that are larger and in an amazing period building) so there is some precedent...

you need to look realistically at where you flat fits into the scale of 230-300

300k for amazing period building? does that describe your building?

also are they the prices that the flats were marketed at or the price they sold for?

you need to get an estate agent around, tell them the works you plan on completing and the budget you have for this and let them guide you as to whether it will make the financial gains you are looking for

sometimes with stamp duty it is better to aim for the top end just below the stamp duty threshold than it is to aim 20-30k over but it depeds on if you are looking for a quick sale or maximum price

clean, tidy and empty.

If you spend a lot of money tarting it up to your own taste they'll probably put it in the skip and do it again to theirs. For example the fireplace.

Plain pale colours, clean and fresh, get rid of all the junk, maybe recarpet. I personally also like new sockets, switches and light fittings, nothing expensive, just fresh and new. Nothing cracked, broken, torn or dirty.

I wouldn't pay extra for a fireplace to be honest.

And I certainly wouldn't pay extra for retiling / bathroom flooring which was just cosmetic and hadn't been to use your own words 'done properly'!

Workshy's advice is good. Buyers are looking for value in these uncertain times. I don't think you can spend £1000 on a bit of cosmetic stuff and add £10,000.

Hmmm sold prices - it's hard to tell as there are a few flats on the market worse than ours (cosmetically and size wise) for £285000, but not a lot seems to have sold recently (though it only goes up to October 2011 on Zoopla) but this is quite a similar flat that is under offer (though don't know how much for!) with the exception that it has a fireplace, and a nicer/bigger bathroom (we have shower in the bath and it's not new). It's also probably a slightly nicer location.
here

Would you think that that house lacking those two features would put you off buying? We have decorated in similar neutral style, and have fairly new wool carpets. I just know in the houses we are looking at, a nice fireplace and alcove cabinets already fitted is a massive plus point, as is a nice looking bathroom.

The ones that seem to be not selling are ones that lack those features such as this (ours is by far 'nicer' than this)

this

the one that is 285 has a share in the freehold -does yours?

the one that is 275 is chain free (investor property, certainly looks like it is rented at the moment) if you are buying another property I'm guessing you will form a chain which puts investors off

free hold, and chain free both add value to a proprty so you definitely need to factor this in when you are comparing your 'dream' price vs what is already on the market

We do have share of the freehold, but no, we are not chain free. So you think these are more important factors that the cosmetic work we are considering?

Food for thought, I think we do need to get an agent round.

I wouldnt bother buying a fireplace - use the money to retile (properly) and refloor bathroom/kitchen. These are the rooms which 'sell' the place. you can always mention the blank wall as being 'perfec tfor a fireplace' and leave the choice up to the buyer.