Reno to Sell > Where to spend money ?

[FeverPitch]

Hi

I'm in Wellington and I'm looking to sell my home and income property. Three bedroom, two living area, great kitchen, two living areas, parking, garage and one self contained flat.

Agents have said don't spend a penny or only the absolute minimum but I feel differently.

I have some essential maintenance to take care of which will come to $15,000.

I have $15,000 left in my budget to either save or spend.

The bathrooms and en-suite are very dated/ghastly plastic although functional.

The whole house also requires new carpet from 10 years of tenant wear and tear.

I can only afford one ... reno bathroom(s) or carpet. Which one would be the most wise to update ?


I'm aiming for a family and would like to use the one bedroom flat for either extra income or a teenager to live. Targeting the higher end.


Any advice would be most helpful.

thanks Fever.

[Don't believe the Hype]

Do the maintenance and leave it at that... You may not get a return on your additional $15k if you do a partial Reno.

properties that are unrenovated can achieve good prices as the new owners are buying with the intention of updating to their taste.

[Nick G]

I'd like to put myself forward as a buyer, very keen on a H&I in Wellington. Will shoot you a message.

Putting that to one side, what Hype said. The more you invest upgrading it to a certain purpose the narrower the potential pool of purchasers becomes. If I were to buy the property I (from what you have said) would go through and upgrade everything completely and maybe reconfigure some rooms. Last time I did property of a similar size I spent close to $100K (including roof, council, architect) and replaced almost everything inside the house. However a family might have a different idea etc.

[Connor]

I agree. Either do everything or don't do anything. A new bathroom with everything else in poor condition won't get you the same value back. They might even start asking why only the bathroom is new, is it a leaky issue? A home-and-income is very attractive in itself, and there's a lot of people looking for do up as a trade in a hot market.

[Propertytrader]

Hi FeverPitch.

From experience, get a third opinion, from 3 different real estate agents. who walk their talk.

And also consider who is your target market, for example is the house near schools, shopping centre,etc.

if it is in a marginal zone, i would recommend not to upgrade it, as tenant quality wont be good, thanks

[Bobsyouruncle]

To your actual question, if you're aiming for a family to buy it then probably the bathrooms are better money to spend. An agent can say the carpets need replacing which everybody knows is a simple phone call and relatively inexpensive, especially these days with imported solution died poly at under 30 bucks a metre.
But bathrooms really put people off so spend your money there.
I do agree with others that doing nothing is best, but that is because we are all investors. A home owner is going to be more emotionally attached to it if it has some new feel about it.

[FeverPitch]

Hi Guys

Thanks for all your replies. Generally it seems the consensus is leaning to all or nothing.


You are basically repeating what the agents have said. Thanks Propertytrader I got three different agents through and all three said the bathrooms are a good size and fully functional so you don't need to renovate & also don't install new carpets. The plan was to do a basic but clean job I didn't want the bathroom(s) let the rest of the house down & put top buyers off. The brown vinyl horrified the wife.

Three doors down a house about 20% bigger than mine sold for $1,280,000 and it had a full renovation nothing flash.

My property has commanded a solid $1000 a week in rent so there's no problem attracting an investor but the agents said my top market were families.

thank you I'll take your opinions on board.
Have a great weekend.
thanks Fever

[lissie]

Why not just lift the carpets and leave it at that. We bought a place that the seller had clearly lifted the carpets throughout the majority the house- so it was just stained chipboard - didn't put us off made it easy to redo the floors when we wanted to. I'd rather that than someone installs nasty cheap carpet which would be the last thing I'd have wanted in the lounge!