Costs of renovating house in terms of value of overall property!

hi,

THis is quite a general and subjective question so i'll try to be very clear and just gather some opinions.

I have recently moved into an old ex-corpo house and have spent alot of money and effort in installing gas central heating, re-wiring the house, and putting in a new kitchen as well as aesthetic things such as flooring and wall coverings. we paid €381k and have spent approx 20k on the renovation.

Now the question,
1. the windows are only single glazed and let in a bit of a draft at timesas one or two dont seem to close correctly. Can you employ someone to look at the windows and try fix this (dont know who the installer was).

2. the bathroom, whilst newly tiled, had alot of alterations for an older person so when we removed them we were left with lots of holes from screws etc. I would like to retile it and fit it a new bathroom suite -we ahve no bath and i want to fit one as i think it is an attractive feature in selling a house.

3. the kitchen has a flat roof which is approx 20 years old (dont know when it was last felted). We were thinking about putting a new roof (slated) on this and fitting a velux to allow more light in.

Is it worth doing the above work in terms of resale value. I know no-one can forecast the property market but we hope to sell in 4-5 years and would like to get our money back. Can anyone contribute anything here?

thanks,

Dazed and confused!

The usual thought is that most cosmetic work won't add any real value, but will make the property easier to sell.
Can't say I fully agree (though in general I do agree), some work will make it more valuable but obviously some will not.

As the potential buyer may have unique/personal thoughts on what they want/like, it's usually a better idea not to invest (for sale purposes alone) and let them carry out the work themselves. Again, this comes down to who the buyer is (some can't see past current decor etc. and just want something they love to walk into - but whether you can provide this is again questionable).

If you're not planning on moving for five years I'd say only do the work if you want it done for personal reasons. Don't expect to get every cent back on resale (or make a profit from it), but this could happen. The market will have far greater impacts than any work you do, but any work done will/may make the property more appealing and help when selling.

You are generally better off only spending money on major improvements that meet your own specific needs while living there and not with an eye towards the resale value. Most EAs will tell you this too and just encourage you to tidy, "dress" and maybe repaint a house before sale just to make it presentable. Keep your money for putting into your "dream home" if planning to move in the next few years.

Hi Kcat,

I could have posted your post, we are in a very similar position.

Bought our ex-corpo house last year. So far have put in new central heating, didn't need to rewire thank God, put in new kitchen, new patio doors, put in double glazing, new doors, new floors, new bathroom going in, the list is endless! We bought our house for €370k which was €30k over the asking price. So far we've put about €25k into the house and we're not finished yet.

From looking on myhome there are a lot of similar houses for sale at the moment and a lot are a) in good condition and b) are not much more than what we paid for our house (which at the time was in terrible condition). We had made a bit of money out of our first property which was great, but I dont' see the same thing happening here. Market is slowing down big time now and as you say, no-one knows what'll happen in 4-5 years time. We're still going to do the jobs we want in order to make the house the way we want it - we're just not going to go nuts doing things we would LIKE to do but are not necessary. e.g. I wanted to get shutters for the patio doors but they're horrendously expensive, not really necessary and I won't spend that sort of money on extras for this house- it's not worth it and we'd never get the money back if/when we sold.

So, I agree with Clubman and Setanta. Try not to do everything with a view to selling on - do things that will help a sale (e.g. we're shoe-horning a bath into our 6ft x 5ft bathroom ) but don't go overboard.

M

ps: we had single glazed windows as well but they were horrible and the difference with the double glazing is well worth the cost.

Could anyone recommend a reasonably priced (cheap is nice as well!) company who supplies a good range? I dont like the traditional PVC doors but i think a nicer range is available more recently? Also would you pick wood over PVC or vice versa?

Have you checked the many existing threads about PVC windows/doors?

my two cents worth -
as someone who would consider buying an ex-corpo house in the future the double galzing, bath and properly tiled extension roof with velux windows would definitely be the things that matter to me, particularly the first two, and I would see them as fairly big jobs. In other words I would be put off doing them myself unlike say a kitchen which is much more a matter of taste.
Whether they add much value depends on the market, in a slow market these repairs should still make your house more likely to get bids.

The only work that you're considering that may positively effect eh value is conversion of flat roof to apex roof, IMO. Flat rooves have a certain lifepsan and are notorious for leaking with age.

Welfarite said:

The only work that you're considering that may positively effect eh value is conversion of flat roof to apex roof, IMO. Flat rooves have a certain lifepsan and are notorious for leaking with age.

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I agree with this, we were looking at houses before Christmas and although we were willing to take on a certain amount of work, the deal breakers for us were flat roofs, no upstairs toilet and if there was no central heating.

Like other posters, kitchens I see more as cosmetic, roofing to me comes under more constructional. But that must IMO, everyone has different prerequisites.

Double glazing is often worth it - you'll have lower energy costs to keep the house at a comfortable temperature and it will make a difference, even if not full cost recovery, to the sale price. Remember that with energy rating of houses coming in, these things will be noted up front in the future. Any house I've ever seen that didn't have at least mostly double glazing I've immediately knocked several grand off the top offer we were prepared to make to pay for replacing the windows. You'd also be surprised how much difference it makes if your street is at all busy - really reduces the noise.

I don't think you'll get the money back on the roof work, to be honest, unless it's in lousy condition and needs to be replaced anyway. Have a look at it - is there water pooling when it rains, especially at joins, or any damp staining on the ceiling below it, is the flashing sound, are soffit, fascia and gutters in good nick? If it seems ok, it might not be worth it, but if you're worried, get a roofer to come and look and give you prices for repair work versus replacement with pitched roof.

The bathroom stuff sounds too cosmetic to get full cost recovery, but if you're bath people and suffering from not having one, then do the sums and see if it's worth it to you - but between plumbing and tiling, labour and materials, that sounds like several thousand.

The advice here is generally sound - don't pour mad money in if it's not your forever house: do enough to make living in it for the short to medium term comfortable and enjoyable. And only you can really assess your comfort priorities!