Home improvements/Selling price

[Narnia]

Any know if ?'s on improvements is reflected in an increase in sale price?

[elloriac]

I think that this is hugely variable - depends on what you are doing and what the state of the house is at the moment. There are lots of articles online on the topic weighing which improvements are best and which won't bring any extra...

Before we moved to East Dulwich, we were considering having a new kitchen put into our old place. Got a few quotes, then decided to have a few estate agents in to see how much they thought it was worth spending/what it might add to the property value. Now of course, they do have a vested interest in trying to persuade you to sell now. We had a good number round though and they agreed that in the bracket of similar properties, it was wasn't worth it, as we wouldn't be able to get much more than what our place was currently valued at because of its size. Of course, if we wanted to hang onto it for another 5 years or so, then we may have been able to recoup the costs.

(but as you can guess, we decided to put the place on the market instead, and moved here!)

[womanofdulwich]

Sometimes it is not value but "sellability" .

Lets be honest putting a new kitchen in is a complete pain so some people may not want to live through this - in a tough market- and it will be for first time buyers I would put one in. For a bigger property - as long as it is serviceable the buyer might be ok about it. I think it depends on the rest of the house. I think mortgage lending will be tough so you don't want a retainer put on a property to sort something out. I think loft conversions always pay for them selves. What were you thinking of doing?

I would say sauna and hot tubs do not add value.....

[kford]

Downstairs loos, quality loft conversions, new bathrooms and new kitchens were worth an extra ?3 for every ?1 spent during the good times, I remember reading.

Not worth putting in: really expensive bathrooms, bathroom TVs and loft conversions in properties with small gardens.

[karter]

Selling prices are coming down, unfortunately. (tu)

[Moos]

I've also read you need to keep an eye on the ceiling price of your street. If the houses in your street are fetching ?100k, you aren't likely to get substantially more than that regardless of your improvements. I don't know what the multiple is, but would guess a max of 20% or 30%?

Personally, I wouldn't take on the hassle unless I wanted to live with the changes but maybe I'm just lazy.