How to renovate to live in and make easily sellable?

[That70sHouse]

We are moving to a 1970s house that needs a fair bit of work. Much of it is cosmetic but we are also hoping to extend slightly and also convert the garage.

We are only going to stay in this house for max. 3 years. It’s for a variety of complicated reasons that I won’t go into, but not moving isn’t an option (obviously moving house costs money so I’m expecting someone to suggest just don’t bother moving now if we’re going to sell again in 3 years). We ideally need to make back the money we’ve spent on stamp duty (and on the work too, obviously) and maybe a little extra to get some more equity for our next move.

So my question is.. what things are worth spending on and what isn’t? I have already thought that it’s not worth spending on expensive wallpapers and specific curtain fabrics etc which future buyers may want to change. We are going to paint everywhere (walls and ceilings) a warm shade of white to start off with and add some feature colour in the kids rooms, a bit later on I might add a bit more colour elsewhere but we have a deep red sofa and can add colour that way so it’s not completely bland.

But also we do have to live in the place for 2-3 years. What will we actually get our money back on? If I buy for example Crittal style doors, or Miele fitted appliances, or Karndean flooring… does any of that add any value or is it money down the drain?

Similarly when looking at what we do with the space, I can’t decide whether to go for rejigging the layout for extra wow factor (which obviously costs more money) or whether to keep it simple and just work with what we have. When I speak to architects they give amazing ideas but no real indication of the cost or whether any of it will add any value. When I speak to builders they can tell me how much work will cost but again, not how much value it adds. Estate agents just seem to say what they think you want to hear.

any advice or tips please? Thank you

Thinking of these kind of looks for living area and kids rooms. But do I bother with “designer” radiators? Do the velux add value? How about patio doors, is it worth spending on bifold? Too many decisions and everything is expensive!

I totally agree about the cosmetics - everyone has their own tastes and to be honest if you have an acquired taste, might be harder to sell…. I mean if it is your FE home then it is more justified.

Decorating to a neutral taste is good too - seems like you’ve got that planned.

I’d be looking to replace the carpets/flooring, replace kitchen and bathroom and look at anything else that will need doing in the next 10 years or so to add value - central heating? Windows? Roof? Electrics?

Whilst the market will be different in 3 years time, you don’t want to invest all this money and get little/no return or sell at a loss. Have a look at right move and see what nearby properties on the same street have done?

If it was your forever home then I wouldn’t be so worried on costs vs return but seeing as this is a temporary fix for you then I would be.

About to exchange on a 1970s property ourselves, downsizing to a 3 bed bungalow from a 6 bed house. We will be the second owners and EVERYTHING will need to be done as hasn’t been renovated… still got the original kitchen and bathroom from 1976 and the property has been empty since mid 2022 when the owner passed away.

Space and light are things that people pay for. Decor is fairly unimportant as long as you don't go too far out there with colours and patterns. New kitchens and new bathrooms, go fairly plain but make it look expensive with lovely tiles and quartz surfaces. I'd only change layout if the flow was bad. Good access to outside space is fairly important, assuming it has a garden, and if it does then consider that as an extra room if it needs work too.
Yes to velux if rooms are dark. They don't necessarily add value but will make a house easier to sell.
No to designer rads, no one notices rads unless they are huge and prominent.
Bifolds are not necessary but if the opening span is over 2meters I'd consider it. I also wouldn't go for crittal style doors, they are lovely imo but other people really don't like them so too personal. Aim for nice but neutral in all choices. Comfortable, warm, clean spaces that people can imagine themselves living in. Doesn't have to be insta worthy.
No one can tell the difference between amtico, karndean or the good lesser known brands when viewing a house. Flooring is easily changed so I wouldn't overthink that, just put in what you like.
Best advice I can give is set your budget and stick to it, don't be swayed by things you fall in love with unless you can take them with you to the next house.
I would normally aim for one wow room, usually the kitchen, and then make all other rooms tidy and attractive. I don't normally white out walls, I like to choose a palette of complimentary colours and use them throughout the house to make it feel cohesive. I also use plants, wood finishes and warm lighting with soft furnishings. A wow isn't always architecture, it might be making the most of a view for example. How the house functions for modern life is important, think about your target market and what they would want. Look at houses in the same area on Rightmove to see what others have done and get ideas, about what you might do but also about what you wouldn't do

Good luck, I'm a bit jealous, 70s houses are amongst my favorites

Oh wow that sounds like a big job! A lot of ours also hasn’t been touched since 1970 although I think the kitchen may have been redone at some point… if it was though it definitely wasn’t after the early 90s as that kitchen is definitely at least 30 years old. Bathroom was about 10 years ago I think. Some windows were done in 2010. Other than that… I think it’s all original.

Estate agents won’t tell you how much value hypothetical building work will add in three years time - they can only judge on what they see today. Builders can only tell you about cost, not house values.

Some advice from a seasoned renovator:

Don’t go designer; for your appliances or your built ins or your paint. Unless everything is of an extremely high standard - eg marble and Karndean and Quooker overall, it really doesn’t make a difference.

Make everything clean, painted, modern.

Building work is extremely expensive at the moment. The more you spend on it the less profit you’ll make, so where possible don’t change the layout or make structural changes.

But my biggest advice? Don't stress about this until you’ve moved in. Live in the space for a bit, learn how you use it and what you’d improve once you’ve experienced it yourself.

Look to be neutral and avoid fashion on the more expensive things. Eg don't get grey window frames, or colour kitchen cabinets, which will date and be expensive to replace. Internal doors don't need to be oak, don't knock through walls to make open plan, but an extension or garden room may well be worth it. If you want a splash of colour on a skirting board or a particular light feature, it can easily be changed by anyone buying. Ensure that the bones are good.

I would say keep it fresh, uncluttered, maybe a few painted accent walls to add a bit of colour - repair anything that's a bit ropey - neutral hard wearing flooring and exactly as per the pics you posted- don't make every room the same Color- ie - all bedrooms, lounge and kitchen 'all grey ' etc

If kitchen is an ok layout just dated- replace doors and worktops- if bathrooms are dated- these can be no that pricey to change and will be a quick update for a relatively modest price

That’s interesting that you mention the window frames as a fair few windows need replacing anyway and changing the frames was one way I could think of modernising the appearance from the front without having to do something crazy to the roof etc (have seen a lot of architecture designs online where people change the flat roof over the garage and porch and/or do a double height entrance or something). Even if we replace the windows and doors there’s something about the design of the front that just looks so dated, and the opposite of stylish - not sure how to remedy this on the cheap!

Noted about the brands of appliances etc thank you. How about kitchens? Not sure if it’s worth going mid-range to try to get decent quality or just cheap-ish and white. I think in most larger homes now (this will end up being over £700k in the south east) people do expect a wow kitchen if they’re spending a lot of money so need to try to create that without shelling out £££. I might post the floor plan if I’m feeling brave (although not sure how to do that without image searches matching to the Rightmove listing… please tell me if you know how!)

Also I don’t expect estate agents to tell me how much value building work will add but I’m surprised that they can’t tell me whether it’s better to have, for example, a smaller utility room plus a downstairs toilet off the hall, or a larger utility room with a second toilet upstairs (even just based on current pricing)

A downstairs loo is good.
the central heating needs to be upto date and buyers need to be confident they’re not going to have to spend money on it. So new boiler and rads. Designer are unnecessary Stelrad will be fine. Wiring needs to be up to date. Probably need a new consumer unit and a few extra sockets.
Bathroom clean white and immaculate. Go for a 10mm premier finish bath but a standard pedestal basin and bog in a box are fine. Builders merchants have lots of bathroom catalogs. Ask for the mid range that stuff that the builders put in.
Get an account at the builders merchants you’ll save a fortune
Gower rapide kitchen or symphony from MKM. I’ve gone top range this time because I wanted a certain door colour but have gone base range in the past and just cream doors. Avoid any fancy drawers units etc. you also don’t need end panels in the gap the washer goes in. Get a joiner to fit the kitchen not a kitchen fitter. Don’t spend a fortune on tiles set a budget mine was always no more than £10 a square meter. Will be a bit more now

Remember the next buyer won’t want to do any plumbing wiring or building. They’ll just want to spend on decorating so you have to do the basics and then the decorating in a budget. It’ll still have to look good. Special offers and second hand curtains.
Don’t leave the garden until last otherwise it will look like you’ve left it until last.

Unless you can do a lot of the work yourself I think you will be hard pushed to make money on a renovation project within 3 years

For me lots of storage and clever storage was the main selling point of the place we’ve just bought. Also the fact there was a separate kitchen/living room/dining room - apparently the trend for open plan is dying and having lived in open plan for all my adult life I completely get why. The other thing is to keep really excellent paperwork of everything you’re doing - all the appliances, planning permissions etc. We negotiated a discount because our seller had zero paperwork so we were taking on a lot of risk, having to pay for insurance etc.

And yes i wouldn’t buy anywhere without a downstairs loo.

Sorry the downstairs loo was a bad example, I agree it’s obviously a good thing but it’s the sort of question the estate agents won’t answer. They’ll say “buyers like a downstairs loo” but they won’t answer the question “it will cost me £10k to add a downstairs loo to this house - will adding one add at least £10k to the value?”

I’m not sure why that would be - we have done up our last two houses and lived in one for 2 years and one for 4 years and made money on both of them. The one we’re about to move into could have about 10k spent on it and add about £50k value just because it’s a mess currently but the bones are good and it doesn’t need a new boiler or roof or plastering. Surely if you’re relying on time to make money on a house then you’re just waiting for house prices to rise which means it’s not the renovation that’s added value really.

Electrics, heating, plumbing, insulation. All the boring, messy, inconvenient at the time things you don’t see but which are what need to be done.

Bear in mind that living in a house during any renovation can be hard work, cold, depressing & filthy dirty while definitely taking a toll on any relationship. DP is a builder and we've lived through a series of renovations, loft conversions and extensions over the past 20yrs.

All true. I was heavily pregnant with my second when we started renovating our current house. I was due to go into hospital for my c-section the next day and the builder came to tell me that all the toilets were going to be ripped out and I’d be left with just the outdoor portaloo when I brought the baby home. The look I gave him made him change his plans quite quickly!

So this can’t be that bad… can it?! I’m no stranger to renovating but previously I’ve never done it with a view to “making money” I’ve always just gone with what I liked (should say we really but my DH just lets me get on with it). Obviously I’ve always had a budget as we’re not millionaires but I’ve never really had to think about getting that back and how it impacts the price of the house etc.

Please please please take this approach.

Sincerely

Someone who ended up spending £3k fixing problems caused by someone installing designer radiators unsuitable for the underlying pipework and has spent the last 3 years removing grey paint from fucking everything (even the bloody ceiling!)....

Yes, we bought from a couple who bought the place and "flipped it" in 3 years.

Things I do appreciate- massive kitchen extension creating amazing kitchen dining space, THAT was what I felt I was spending my money on and was happy to pay a premium for compared to other houses in the street. The space + light were amazing and couldn't be "created" and I was grateful someone else had gone to the trouble of doubling the size of the ground floor.

Eventually I'm going to change the layout and style of the cupboards but very happy with the Ikea kitchen they installed as a "for now" until we've saved up for the dream kitchen. I'd actually highly recommend this as we were able to pop to Ikea in week 1 and buy a couple of replacement doors where there was damage and buy a few additional drawers/sliders to rearrange the internal cupboard storage to suit us!

But they must have spent HOURS painting everything grey from the staircase, to the walls, to the ceiling, it completely sucked the life and light out of the place and I have done more sanding than you could ever believe to get rid of it. We've also ditched the designer rads because more grey and see above point re wrecking our heating system!

So my other thing would be if you DO go for things like electrics or plumbing, get it done well and properly- we've had to rip up perfectly good flooring to get at stuff to fix it. A leak in the bathroom cost us another couple of grand to fix the damage downstairs and then we ended up ripping it out and moving it anyway as it was in a pokey little space. So would also say don't spend loads on decor in any spaces that you suspect a buyer might want to do some reconfiguration later!

I would forget about paint colours and focus on the essentials which are boring and expensive ie heating, boiler efficiency, roof , insulation, windows, plumbing, modern kitchen, decent showers with good water pressure , flooring. Everything else is just fluff really

notes, I agree all these are important… but do they impact the value of the house that much? Or do they just make the house more sellable but not actually impact the value?

*noted not notes!

Please don’t ‘convert’ the garage. People have a lot of stuff to keep in garages, if there isn’t one you need sheds ( or clutter). Some people even have cars they are fond of which live in the garage.

I’m pretty sure adding square footage of liveable space is pretty much the most guaranteed way to add value to a home? Very few people keep their cars in a garage and if they have a classic car or something then they’d probably want an actual workshop space which this house doesn’t have. We can have a shed in the garden. You can get a massive shed for £600 but I think converting the garage to add a utility, downstairs loo and study would add around £30k of value to the home..