Developing properties

[Itsjustanidea]

Is anyone doing this at the moment? We are selling my relatives house as executors and it has been gutted due to a massive leak. No kitchen, doors, skirtings, carpets etc. Our dilemma is do we take the insurance pay out and put it on the market as it is (so really only a developer would want it) or get the insurance company to reinstate kitchen and doors etc and decorate. There is structural stuff needs seeing to in the garden and although it’s two bed, the conservatory has been added to the back and you enter through the second bedroom so even done up a bit it has some issues. Market is so slow I wonder if doing it up and putting it on low is best option because it will increase buying pool? But that will take months and be a headache.

Any advice greatly appreciated. It’s a nice plot in a nice area but house has been neglected.

Don't do it. There is no money to be made in development at the moment. It is a lot of work and very expensive at the moment especially if you can do much of the work yourself.

Just be aware that if there's no kitchen, you are limiting the buyers to someone who doesn't need a mortgage.

Would you auction it? I have no experience of that btw, nor the potential pitfalls, but might be an option to get rid quickly?

Take the money and cut your losses. If it is in a decent area, you could look at costs for planning. If the house needs that much work, is it worth more as a site with OPP? This would be very much location dependent though.

If it’s uninhabitable it will attract lower stamp duty so definitely of interest to developers.

We are just about to start 7 properties, there’s always a market for the right price.

No intention of doing it. It’s just whether or not to reinstate following leak.

That’s my concern. A much smaller pool of buyers.

Could auction it. No idea if houses are going at auction still or not. I’d be so worried about not getting the value of it. This is likely my only inheritance. So I want to maximise the amount.

The idea of a quick sale appeals but it’s just how much less we would get.

That’s reassuring that people are still developing. Do you buy at auction?

Thanks all. Helpful to have different perspectives.

I would be tempted to take up the insurance company on the offer of reinstating it. They should take care of it without giving you too much of a headache and then it will have a much bigger pool of interest.

I was having the same thought but then the house isn’t an ideal layout - conservatory off second bedroom renders it unusable as a room really. Conservatory is old too. Also it’s likely to take months and months. So hard to decide. It’s quite a stressful process with one thing and another. But housing market might have rallied by spring.

Do you get the insurance payout whether you reinstate the kitchen or not?

If yes, I would research selling it via auction.

If no, I would get the kitchen reinstated and basic remedial work then list it with an EA.