Renovation help!

[Secretsevens]

Hello,
We purchased a house a year ago with the intention of making it our “forever home” but the location isn’t working for us.

We now are renovating with the view to sell in a year.

Those that have renovated, how far do you go? It’s an 18th century house so needs some work, would you insulate walls etc or would you just remove current wallpaper, plaster and repaint?

The area we plan to move to is more expensive so we don’t want to spend too much here, but want to bring the house to a good resellable standard!?

Would you replace an unfashionable modern bathroom that isn’t in keeping with the style of the house?

Any advice appreciated!
x

I’d be wary about insulating the walls of an 18th century house as to do it properly is expensive and you’ll unlikely recoup the cost. Get it wrong and you could negatively impact value if it removes character or traps moisture in the structure.

In general you need to think about whether any improvements will detract from the property’s period character (as ‘original charm’ adds a value premium). Eg plastering over original undulating plasterwork with crisp modern plaster might seem like an improvement but isn’t. However, if the original character has already been stripped out I would look at adding some of that back in to appeal to buyers.

Bathrooms and kitchens are usually worth doing of course - unless the house is an obvious renovation project for a potential buyer. And a lick of paint goes quite far.

I’d also think about anything you can do to brighten up the garden and add kerb appeal. Something as cheap as hanging baskets and a few pots out front make a big difference.

It might be worth asking an estate agent or two because in the area I live it is no longer worth renovating as the needs renovating houses don’t fetch much less than the done ones.

Thank you for replaying! All the walls are covered in thick wallpaper with gloss paint so there are no original features to preserve here…

We insulated the lounge using a trusted builder (believing we would stay long term and this cost £5k)

We have an estate agent coming round soon so will get advice from them…

How can anyone possibly say without knowing the location, how much you paid, what is the value now, what is your budget, more detail on the condition of the property. It’s a piece of string question that isn’t going to get you any useful answers unless you share more specific details.

Agree with the PPs, it's hard to say anything not knowing the location or style. I'd probably do something on a budget, the bathroom would be done no question, though I'm not sure about everything alse. There is a 3d interior design program where you can build a project of what the house looks like right now and it can help you decide what really should be changed in order to keep up with the general style.

I would say leave it. If you only bought it a year ago it will appeal to someone in the same way. Unless of course it was on the market for ages.

I would just leave it, surely someone else will see the same potential you did. Personally I'd rather renovate to a standard and specs I can choose rather than deal with kitchen/bathroom stuck in to increase the sale value. Whenever I see properties like that I just want to rip them out and replace, but of course that would be a total waste as you'd be paying for it twice. So when we were looking I just ruled out looking at properties like that immediately.

I’ve just sold a flat. Went to local carpet store to re carpet main room. Guy told me not to bother if you’re selling the property as the new owners come in a few months later to replace with their own choice!

So don’t do superficial decor.

Given the age of the property I would be very cautious about insulating, and even about plastering with modern plaster. These could be problematic in terms of damp etc, and although some buyers will see them as a positive, others will be mentally totting up the cost of ripping it all back out again. By all means whack a coat of paint over anything utterly ghastly, but I don't think it's worth doing more.

It was always questionable whether you got back money for renovations or not but with the current extortionately high costs of both trades people and supplies it's worth getting a few estate agents round and talking to them at length about what needs to be done. At the moment with all the energy issues insulation and energy related maintenance is particularly important but you only need to look at an EPC to see it takes many years to save the initial investment.

I’d say no. You risk it looking like something done on the cheap to flip. And if you replace the bathroom it could end up in a skip very soon as new owners want to do something different….

Just give it a coat of paint and put it back on the market. Skimming over old lime plaster with modern plaster is out of keeping and potentially damaging. Sticking a new bathroom or kitchen in to sell it probably won't do it justice. It'd be better to let the new buyers do it to their taste.

Was it being marketed for long before you bought it?

Kitchen and bathroom and decorate in a manner that's in keeping with the building. Sort the garden / front out and anything like storage areas etc that normally put people off. We had a 16th century house where there was hardly any storage, hence the thought.
Good luck

Don't do anything and price accordingly. Doing it properly will get you over budget and you won't recoup it. Doing a tiny bit badly and adjusting your price upwards will put off buyers. Just sell as an opportunity for someone 'to put their own stamp on', but property prices have gone down, so you are likely going to sell for less than you paid.

Be careful insulating an old house as if not done properly can cause damp. Never cover over air bricks. Strip off old wallpaper, get walls skimmed and either paint or consider more wallpaper for period house. Has it got nice old fire places? If not you can buy old in period fireplaces on eBay for about £100 each. They can transform a house. Modern kitchen to sell. Any original corbels, plate rails or cornicing should be restored. Modern bathroom with shower. You don't have to have claw foot roll top bath use nice tiles to give good look. Long curtains as opposed to blinds look good in older period properties. Something like a dark red, green or navy velvet. If you can insulate loft and try to get highest EPC as you can. Energy saving lights help with this.

Also tidy up garden front and back and clean the windows.

I'd keep your money for your next purchase. Just declutter, make sure every room can be seen at its best, clean everything until it sparkles especially the bathroom and kitchen, nice bed linen, light the fires when you have viewings.

I spent fortunes on my listed grade II before I went on the market, and the developer I sold to is ripping everything out. I downsized to a tiny bungalow and have just spent £15K having all the floors replaced because I didn't ask and the vendor didn't tell me all the floors were rotten :(