Should we do up our kitchen before we try and sell?

[interstella71]

Currently own a 3 bedroom terrace and desperate to move to something with a bit more space. Generally, our house is in quite good condition, however the kitchen is very dated (late 1980's white and grey melamine with cream and orange tiles and orange/terracotta/green vinyl) It is a pretty big room approx 19 by 10. It doesnt look so bad with loads of junk/pictures/photo's to take your eye off the colours but if you try and open a drawer for example they fall off. If we do the kitchen it will be with the aim of selling the house and not making more money. I have spoken to a builder today and will be getting a quote - it will def have to be under 5 grand. The thing is, Im not sure whether it is a waste of time/money in this market, however if we cant sell I dont know whether i can cope with putting the drawers back for much longer ... any advice will be great!

I think a tatty kitchen would put alot of people off, cos they'd think straight away 'new kitchen mmm 10K' - you could you replace the worksurfaces and doors and new vinyl on the floor for £500. Ditch the junk too and personal photos are supposed to be bad when selling as viewers judge you.

whatever you do it won't be worth more atm.Better to discount the house accordingly imho.

i'm with noddy. you will lose some people who just can't hack the idea of installing a new kitchen, but you are going to attract other people who think 'great, will knock x off the price and put in a new kitchen'. also if you do do it, some poeple will hate it and think 'ridiculous to change this because it's brand new, and i don't want to live with it, don't want this house' AND the builders will take ages so longer before you get the house on the market, and it will come in over budget.

if you really really have to try to sell at the moment, my strategy would be to price up a tiny bit so you can accept a lower offer - the buyer will think they are terribly clever getting the house for so much less than the asking price. BUT keep your expectations realistic.

it's a good time to trade up - your house may be worth less but a bigger house will be worth even more-less (if you see what I mean).

don't fall in love with anywhere until you have sold your house (ie good offer from buyer in good position) AND you have checked you can get a new mortgage!

I think if you have the kitchen arranged so that people can see how big it is, then no need to replace. Get rid of all your junk and photos and see if you can fit in a decent-sized table with matching chairs (buy a really nice tablecloth and put it over your table if it isn't that smart) plus some sort of dedicated play area. Then family buyers will be more inclined to say "what lovely space" rather than "what grotty units".

Obviously be prepared to knock a bit off price.

I would consider it. Isn't it a buyer's market ATM? You don't want your house being discarded because of the work involved in a new kitchen.

I would consider it - but doing what Furball has suggested probably the best plan. This house is about to go on the market and I'm going to try and get a few cosmetic bits and pieces done just to try and make it more sellable - we're putting it on slightly higher than what we expect/want to get for it so that as someone else said buyers can put in a lower offer and (hopefully) think they're getting a good deal

I agree with furball.
Plus, you will have an ok kitchen to use untill you sell, no more doors falling off etc. If you can keep the price down to £500-£1000 then there is no down side to doing it.

Well, the first thing that people tend to do is strip out the kitchen and bathroom when they move in anyway. We'd seen so many we disliked that when we were looking we added the kitchen replacement figure into our budget.

Thanks for the replys - we looked into just doing the doors, worktop and floors but it wasnt economical - the units arent standard sizes due to the age, so we would have to have the doors specially made. Also, the sides of the units including the oven housing are in mottled grey (nice ) and so would either need replacing or would look rubbish.
We have a nice table with ok chairs, but if we tool out all the kids pictures etc it would make it look a lot worse. I can remember when we viewed the property the vendor had removed everything and it just looked bleak and grey and awful.
Still feeling confused - I rang the mortgage people this am and we could just transfer our mortgage over and have the same rate (5.9%) which is good.
hmmm

I would do the kitchen, don't give people a reason not to buy yours compared to another, most people do not rip out perfectly good kitchens and bathrooms when they move, paint or wall paper maybe.

I have been property developing since 1999 and for the first time ever i would say it will m ake no difference as would many agents if they were honest.It might make yours the preferable buy over another similar house but the price would be unaffected.Don't waste your time and money.If there is someone looking for a house in your road and has the funds then you will sell it Kitchens bathrooms etc boost prices and sales in a boom but in a crash buyers are looking for one thing a bargain.I have just bought and there are 3 houses for sale in the road.I bought the shabbiest but slightly bigger at a big discount the other 2 are still at 2007 prices and one in particular has lovely interior but it has sat for 6 months plus and the agent admitted it isn't worth more than the one we bought but they can't afford to drop the price because of what the paid for it.

I'm with Noddy on thIs. I would clear out the children's pictures but look at doing something to lift the feeling of grey in some way ie. Paint a wall a different colour or a brighter blind/accessories and some general rather than children's pictures on the wall and I would leave it at that.

I'd leave it. I wish the chap I'd bought from had left well alone too!

I'd leave it. We did a basic makeover of the kitchen in the flat we sold last year -- not major but spend a few hundred quid on new cupboards etc. The first thing the guy who bought it did was rip out the kitchen and bathroom!

I think buyers like to see an area where they can add value so I would price it to reflect the fact that the kitchen will need a revamp.

I think it depends on the condition of the rest of the house really- are buyers going to need to replace the roof? Damp-proof course? Flooring? If they are taking that on, then they'll be doing the kitchen too, no problem.
If the rest of the house is in good nick, and decor fine, then go for it- they will need a kitchen that works!