How would you finish a fixer upper that you no longer wanted to live in and just want to sell?

[doitorleaveit]

Posted again with a better title. I was never any good at writing!!!!

Advice please?
A few years ago I bought a fixer upper. Did loft and side extension, had nightmare with builders etc etc, now it is progressing again and I really don't want to move in. It just feels so negative to me.
I had originally planned to do underfloor heating downstairs, a pantry, another shower room downstairs. You know, make it lovely for my family. Now I just want to move on.
How much would you put into a property that you won't actually live in? I'm not sure whether ufh and the extra shower room etc will increase value, or rather more indirectly just make it a more attractive property with no increase in price tag or type of offer.
It is a 3 bed, with two extra bedrooms in the loft converted edwardian house in zone 2 of London, bought for £900k, others on the market for £1.5m with loft and side extension. It is a buyer's market in these parts.
What would you advise / do?

Put it on as it is and let the buyer finish it to their own preferences. Complete waste of money spending your own money on it to “finish” it when inevitably buyers may have different tastes and not be willing to pay more for the nice brand new kitchen (or whatever) you’ve installed

Why don't you consult some local estate agents and get them to value as it stands and then if you were to add another shower room etc.? It might not hike the value all that much, but would probably add to the saleability, which counts high in a buyers' market.

Personally if I were looking to buy a larder would also be a big attraction, or at least a large larder cupboard, but underfloor heating wouldn't interest me. I would definitely be looking at bathroom to bedroom ratio in a house with more than three bedrooms.

I'd seek advice and some valuations from local estate agents. They're the experts with experience.

One bathroom in loft, two bathrooms on second floor with other 3 bedrooms (one an ensuite).

I'd just see a downstairs shower room as a nuisance unless there was a bedroom on that floor. Presumably there's a toilet downstairs already?

I'd finish the rooms you've started on so nothing looks like an immediate project a buyer needs to finish and leave it at that.

TBH, keeping the pantry isn't a big deal. It is jut a room with some shelves after all! I personally love it, so think other people will.

Yup,

And what of tiles etc, what kind of budget? The buyers are probably going to be a young couple with help from parents, or the second of third home for a young-ish family headed by professionals - that is who already lives on the street mostly and who has moved in recently. Someone like us. on mumsnet!!! I'm thinking it's the London mumsnetter who will buy, so I want her to like it!

What kind of budget - basic, mid, high spec?

I want people to say basic, but think you will all probably say mid!

Its structurally a great house, I've made it great with rooflights, it's bright, smart lay out etc. I'm just so over the house. I just want to move on. I know I won't change my mind.

Yes, downstairs loo already.

Also should mention, it is a garden room with shower and toilet all plumbed etc, too.

Also, flooring.

I'm going to do carpet for first floor and loft, but was going to do engineered wood for downstairs. Should I just put carpet everywhere (except in kitchen and hallways where I might put luxury vinyl now?)? It would be £££ cheaper as a well known carpet retailer is closing down in the next few weeks with very high discounts.

Definitely dont do underfloor heating. You wont get that back in sale price unless it's all a super high spec.
Flooring just do whatever is most cost effective. Again people wont notice it much if it's clean and new. So do the most cost effective thing to get it looking shipshape and get on market

Ask the estate agent, but I think as long as it looks clean and tidy the buyers will have their own stamp they want to put on things. Keeping it neutral helps them to imagine how they'll liven things up in their own way. Think of it as presenting a blank slate, although if an interesting choice of paint colour would transform a room without being too challenging I'd consider that.

Decent tiles don't need to be expensive, especially as the first thing they will do is probably rip them off and start again (a lesson I learned when selling a previous home, my "pride and joy" bathroom being their first focus for change!).

Good luck OP!

My gran laments that too! Put in what she thought was a lovely kitchen. Drove past the house a few weeks after she sold it to see it in the skip!

Thanks, you have really helped.

The house wont even be lived so, it will have that advantage to other houses that have had two adults and three teenagers in it for a decade!

I have two cast iron roll top baths I am no longer putting in, but saving for my next house! I'd die if I drove by and saw those on the skip!

I assume you’ve thought about this but if you never live in it won’t you have to pay CGT on the profit on sale as you won’t qualify for PPR?

Thanks.

It's my main home. What I mean to say is I will not live in it once it is done. I have, unfortunately, been living the mess the past 18 months... Hence why I am over it.

Underfloor heating and extra shower - no, you have enough bathrooms already and underfloor heating you wont get the cost back.

You may recover a liking for the property once builders are gone and you've hired cleaners to clear up the mess. I'd consider putting in an air conditioning unit as I think more Londoners will start to care about that.

Flooring - put in something that wont mean you inflate the price to cover the cost. Better to market at a slightly lower price and sell than languish on the market. Interest rates are likely to be dropping soon and the market will improve.

Air con is a very good idea. I think the build has gone too far for that, though... Perhaps I can retrofit one, but let's see with cost - ta!

I definitely won't be putting in those solar panels....

I won't change my mind.

I wouldn't bother with ufh unless you need to replace all the radiators for space/design..

Same as downstairs shower depending on how many upstairs you probably just need a toilet downstairs..
I would keep utility room absolutely can you make it bigger if you don't do the shower?
Or have enough room in the utility for a pantry cupboard?
Thats the thing thats made the most difference in our typical late vic house.. which had no storage at all..

18 months feels like eternal hell at the moment but it won’t always. We bought a wreck with great bones when I had two under 2 years old, two young cats and lived without heating and lengthy periods of no hot water, no kitchen and in some rooms no floor boards for about two years.

At the end of it I just wanted to walk away into a new build with occasional bursts of “my next move will be in a box". We didn’t move because we had neither the energy or the money to buy something as good “ready made” and also had more children by then.

I’m still there, over 30 years later and now I’m glad we didn’t have the money to move at the time. Its a lovely house in a great location with large gardens and has been a happy home full of memories of DH and our 4DC and is still home when the DC+. return home. Weirdly some of the most talked about memories are those early years of shaking the munchies to persuade a dusty cat out from the floorboards, managing the laundry with no running water or the old window which was draughtier closed than opened.

That said, if you do want to sell get several estate agents in to advise. They will know your area and street, they will advise on what is worth doing to make it attractive on the market and what is a waste of time.

Op which carpet retailer is closing?

My sister told me about it. I'll ask her for the details.