Should I spend money before selling or not?

[HillyMillylunchmunch]

After opinions as not sure what is best.

Selling my grandma's flat in London. 2 bedroom victorian flat, SW, likely to go for 600-700K based in previous sales in similar location.

It is clean enough and in fairly decent repair, but it is dated. Think wood panelling all along the hall, old fashioned kitchen, very dated wallpaper everywhere.

It also doesn't currently have a working boiler connected or a working gas cooker - both appliances were condemned for being ancient and leaky.

Hadn't been rewired in 20 years probably.

Would it be worth spending some money to upgrade the place before selling? Or would we see so little return that we might as well just send it to the market as it is? With the London market in downturn I'm worried we won't get many interested people. Equally if most London properties of this sort are being sold in tip top condition then maybe for the 5-30K we could spend on it we'd only get 10-35k extra sale price, so not worth the hassle.

Im more concerned that by not doing the work we're reducing our pool of potential buyers, and less demand = lower price, maybe?!

Opinions very much appreciated.

Assume for the sake of simplicity we're able to fund whatever work is needed, though organising a boiler install would be much simpler than project managing a new kitchen and full redecoration. And by the time we finish a big project brexit migjt have happened and all prices be rapidly plummeting downwards?

Probably the boiler, but not the rest. It sounds as though it would appeal to a developer, so they would do a complete refurb ( which might include moving the boiler depending on where it is). Why don't you get valuations and advice from a couple of local estate agents who know the market?
If you could do a lot of the work yourself it might work, but for people like us who would need to rely on tradespeople it probably wouldn't be worth it.

I would thinking the boiler would be an issue. Might mean the buyer wouldn't be able to get a mortgage? Worth checking this out. Otherwise you'd have to look for a buyer who doesn't need a mortgage and they'd probably won't to pay less for a cash sale

I'd do the boiler and anything else that is either dangerous or would prevent the property being mortgageable but not do the rest.

The problem with doing one room with new kitchen units etc is that it makes the rest of the decor look even tireder, so you'll end up doing a full renovation which will cost loads, take ages and be a massive hassle. If someone wants a project they'll want to do the whole lot to their own taste/needs anyway.

It depends on the price you want and ease of selling. If it's a 'do-er upper' then that's the sort of price offers you'll get - lower than you might want, plus less potential buyers.

Get some agents in to value it as is. If you've a good idea of how much flats in 'good condition' go for, then you can consider whether the cost of renovating is worth it. I wouldn't bother asking the EAs if it's a good idea to renovate, I think most of them can't really estimate based on how you say it might look, they need to see the finished product.

If it's empty than it would be easy to paint the wood panelling a neutral colour. Emulsion over the wallpaper and some new cheap carpeting. Freshen everywhere up. If the space/connection is there for a freestanding cooker I don't think that's a problem. The boiler might be more urgent and if you get a new one be prepared for the radiators needing checking.

It’s a difficult one given the London market at the minute. In our experience estate agents got used to the easy run they had for the best part of 20 years and arent always that good at “guesstimating”. Call me cynical but often I’ve found a lot of what they say has more to do with securing the listing and potential commission than actually being factually correct (apologies to any EAs this may offend but in our experience many have been less than stellar if not plain useless).

Depending on how quickly you’d like to sell the property it might be worth a shot advertising it as is and seeing what offers come in. In the past in London we missed properties with good development potential because buyers paid pretty much finished price for a property that needed gutting.

For all the downward pressures on property borrowing is stilll pretty cheap and people do need property especially in central London so you likely won’t lose a lot by trying to sell as is for a couple of months.

You can then compare any offers you get with average SOLD prices in the area (nethouseprices etc) and this will let you know whether or not it’s worth your renovating the property yourselves. I would recommend full renovation or sold as is but not a halfway measure (unless you can tackle anything that would make the property easily mortgageable for relatively little investment).

All the best!

Just sort out anything dangerous. I.e. make the house safe for a family with kids from day 1 but leave things like decor -- people will want to change it anyway.

Our EA advised that we should finish any work we started and finish it properly rather than doing a half-arsed job that won't add value.

So for that reason, I would not bother putting in cheap carpets. Cheap things look cheap and they will end up going in a skip when the buyer chooses decent ones.

I'd get the boiler done. A lot of insurance policies will have a clause about minimum heating requirements for an unoccupied property. Even if insurance isn't an issue, it's no fun trying to sort out burst pipes etc.

We had a similar issue with an aunt's house after she had to move to a care home.
Except for anything essential, probably the boiler, I honestly wouldn't bother. From experience, a major refurb will almost certainly cost quite a bit more than you expect, take longer, and involve an awful lot of time and hassle. And very likely the difference in the sale price won't reflect all you've spent.

Plenty of people do,like a doer-upper - that way you're not paying a premium for someone else's idea of a nice kitchen, etc., rather than your own choice.

Cheers for views.
I'm minded to think a new boiler would be enough, so good to see most people agree. I don't want to do a cheap refurb only for someone to rip it all out

Definitely don’t do a cheap refurb. Seen so many of those recently and it’s a waste of time and seems such a waste to rip up new carpet etc.
We viewed a flat last week where the vendor painted over that horrible chipboard wallpaper - apparently everyone viewing (us included) said “oh, isn’t it a shame they didn’t strip that off before redecorating”!!
But the boiler sounds like a good idea.
Good luck with it !

Selling a 2 bed flat in SW London right now is going to be hard no matter the position. I'd replace the boiler and leave everything else as is. You don't mention if this is a post death sale or if you're selling on behalf of your grandma and need to achieve best price for care home fees etc? If it's the former it doesn't really matter. I know the SW London market fairly well and price discovery is almost impossible. As pp has said EA don't know where to pitch things & you can't rely on previous sale prices anymore as a guide (especially for flats!)

Would add that besides checking actual recent sold prices, Zoopla's 'most reduced' search function is a useful guide as to overpricing of similar properties - you soon see which have been 'optimistically' priced, and how long they've been hanging around.

Anywhere near the new stuff in nine elms will be very hard to sell whatever condition it's in. But I agree to definitely do the boiler and anything else to ensure it is mortgageable

I wouldn’t buy a house with a new kitchen. If it’s only been put in to tart the house up it’s probably cheap and crap, and unlikely to be to my taste. I’m not paying for something I’ll rip out and replace asap. Rectify the boiler and any structural issues etc but don’t waste money on cosmetic issues.

Going slightly against the grain, I’d say if any of the wallpaper is particularly dark or busy then have the whole place painted neutral. Sure, people will still want to redecorate but making the place lighter will always make it more appealing to the masses.

I agree with a very simple paint job if the paper is very dated/busy/dark. But otherwise don’t bother. Anyone with 600k to spend isn’t going to be impressed with new but cheap carpet.

I'd redo the boiler (not sure a buyer would be able to get a mortgage without working heat?), give it a deep clean, and would spend a weekend or two there with my husband taking off the dated wallpaper and giving the place a lick paint throughout (a nice warm white or light warm grey probably) so it's relatively neutral. Paint is cheap and elbow grease is free. If nothing else, it'll help get a few more people through the door, especially those who might want a bit of a project but really can't see past dated decor. Definitely wouldn't spend on a whole redo in this market, first because people with that much money probably want to do a place up to their own tastes anyway, and secondly because it's not a guaranteed return if the market falls further.

New boiler and leave the rest

We’ve avoided properties which have been cheaply done up. We would rather buy a wreck and make it our own. If a developer has been there this is often the case, if someone’s done it up themselves then it’s usually much nicer, and we might only change a few things, but then they are going to be losing a lot of money.

We are buying a probate house which needs complete refurb - can’t wait to get my hands on it!

Is it a first-floor flat with potential for a loft conversion? I'm in SW London and any property which 'needs updating' (ie hasn't been touched for decades) and has an unconverted loft would be snapped up by someone looking to do a complete renovation. Boiler aside, there'd be no point you doing any work pre-sale.

Bit trickier if it's a ground-floor flat with no obvious scope for extension, but if it's priced realistically then it would likely still be fine in its current needs-all-the-work condition.

We bought earlier this year, and it was interesting to see there was almost no middle ground: every flat/house we saw was either in excellent, turn-key condition, or required total refurb. I assume there's a distinct market for both type of property.

Crucial to be realistic, though; whatever the agents say, this is a very tricky time to be selling in London. I wouldn't get too attached to the idea of a particular price based on previous local sales.

I wonder if there’s an option to leave the boiler but add a credit at closing? In case they are planning a major refurb and want to move it!