How much decorating to do before selling?

Navy blue

We are considering trading up at some stage this year. We are currently in a 3 bed mid terrace in an estate and would like a bit more space. The house is probably worth 180-190k so definitely at the lower end of the market. The house is in reasonable condition but there are some areas which are getting a bit shabby. The weakest areas are probably the main bathroom which is not great but not a horror show either! I have pretty much ruled out doing anything bar a deep clean there due to cost. The other weak area is the hall, stairs, landing and living room floor. Hall and living room floor need re-sanding, stairs and landing carpet need replacing and the hall wall needs repairing where there used to be a stair gate and then repainting.

I've budgeted about €2,000 to do the above, I am wondering if it is worth spending that kind of money if we intend to leave? Houses in this estate don't come on the market that often and tend to move quite quickly if they do so I wouldn't anticipate any serious problems selling but obviously it would give a bit more of a 'wow' factor on entering the house if we had this work done to the hall and stairs. Thanks in advance for any advice!

GreeBo

Navy blue wrote: »

We are considering trading up at some stage this year. We are currently in a 3 bed mid terrace in an estate and would like a bit more space. The house is probably worth 180-190k so definitely at the lower end of the market. The house is in reasonable condition but there are some areas which are getting a bit shabby. The weakest areas are probably the main bathroom which is not great but not a horror show either! I have pretty much ruled out doing anything bar a deep clean there due to cost. The other weak area is the hall, stairs, landing and living room floor. Hall and living room floor need re-sanding, stairs and landing carpet need replacing and the hall wall needs repairing where there used to be a stair gate and then repainting.

I've budgeted about €2,000 to do the above, I am wondering if it is worth spending that kind of money if we intend to leave? Houses in this estate don't come on the market that often and tend to move quite quickly if they do so I wouldn't anticipate any serious problems selling but obviously it would give a bit more of a 'wow' factor on entering the house if we had this work done to the hall and stairs. Thanks in advance for any advice!

If it was me, in that price range I would clean it and be done with it. Forget about sanding floors or new carpets.

What would a top condition house on the same road sell for?

jelly&icecream

I'd probably do the painting, provided you can do it yourself relatively cheaply as well as a deep clean and declutter. Not sure i'd bother replacing carpets or flooring.

3DataModem

There's one school of thought that says that investing a few grand in 'staging' a house is a good investment and will be reflected in the price. I know someone who used to do this professionally and bring in / ship out furniture, redecorate completely, etc. Depends on the house of course.

GreeBo

3DataModem wrote: »

There's one school of thought that says that investing a few grand in 'staging' a house is a good investment and will be reflected in the price. I know someone who used to do this professionally and bring in / ship out furniture, redecorate completely, etc. Depends on the house of course.

If its a "move in condition" house then staging it can help to encourage buyers to see themselves in it, but if 90% of your potential buyers are going to redecorate anyway, spending £2k isnt going to do anything other than effectively reduce your sale price by 2K imo.

Claw Hammer

If the house is in a modern estate where there is any kind of demand staging won't do much for the price. Clean, declutter and possibly neutral wall paint to remove the shabby look. There is a shortage of housing at the moment and buyers will simply be glad to get on the ladder and will overlook detail like paintwork and will go their best price anyway.

beauf

Strip the house of everything so it looks bigger than it is. Make sure nothing is broken and everything they touch works. Paint everything a neutral color so its seems fresher, and the people aren't put off by odd colors and can better picture their own stuff there. Cost probably 2~3k.

Don't invest in any big items as people will want to replace them anyway.

There is shortage of supply, you don't need to put any money into a place to sell it at the moment. If it was a bad time to sell, or a property wasn't selling due to other reasons like poor layout. Then you might consider, fixing those issues, to make it easier to sell. But everything will sell in the current market. So its not needed and you mostly won't get it back.