Renovating before selling on?

abnormalnorman

Hi,

i bought a house about 5 years ago. Fine 2 story, big site, big garage, all done well inside and out, good location.

But , all the garden / landscaping had to be done - which I did myself to a relatively ok standard.

We will probably be moving house in about 2-4 years (moving location).

There is a lot we could be doing to finish the garden / landscaping, wall in front (currently just a hedge), tar the drive etc , and also a few bits could be improved inside. Could easily spend 15 - 25k on it.

Buy my question is - is it worth spending this money if not staying here? i.e. will i get my money back on the resale of the house, or would it make roughly the same money even if i dont do these bits?

MAJJ

You say it's a good location, it's also currently a seller's market. I would not spend any money and sell as is.

BronsonTB

In general you only renovate if staying long term or if it's in such a bad state that nobody would buy it.

Usually it's not worth spending money on if moving on. Again this can depend on the market at the time of selling. Currently its a sellers market but that can change to buyers market in the distant future.

Nothing is in stone but no I would not spend the money if only to sell on. (Yes,have it presentable)

JPup

Any chance of a picture of the garden? Hard to imagine a garden wall adding value over a smart looking hedge once you've factored in the cost of putting it in. And the drive would have to be quite tired looking to be worth replacing I'd have thought.

As for the interior, I think the general rules when selling are clear out the clutter and do a fresh coat of paint in neutral colours. Anything more than that, I would be wary of it adding value unless it was something that really obviously needed doing like you've got an ancient bathroom suite from the 70s.

C14N

I'd say to consider how much you want the changes for yourself. You've said yourself you may still be there for 4 more years, if you think it would be worth it for your own standard of living then it may be worth your while, especially if it will increase the sale value somewhat (even if not by the full amount you put in).

If you don't really care about all that and just want to make a return on it, then it's probably not the best way to spend your money. The rennovations may not even be especially recent by the time it comes to sell.

It can be hard to break even in normal times, right now with supply and labour costs I'd be more surprised if breaking even was possible. Things look hectic with price rises etc. but that'll continue whether you renovate or not. A bit of rationality hits the market and you'll definitely not make it back.

C14N

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118108885#Comment_118108885

I don't think rationality will make prices of home improvements or rennovations come down, but in 2-4 years you would expect that curent supply chain issues will be resolved, and there will be less of a backlog of work that built up during lockdowns, which should make the works cheaper by then.