Selling house and central heating.

[Jim S]

Hi,

I am going to sell my house in a couple of months time and may main worrying concern is that we have no central heating installed. Just a boiler for the hot water.

So my questions to the group are:

1. Do I sell the house as it is and expect a slightly lower price?

1. If I do need to have the system then what would be a rough estimate of costs.

The house is in worcestershire, 1975, 2 bedrooms,bathroom, one lounge, kitchen and hall, semi detached. The existing 2 year old boiler would have to be replaced but could stay in its existing position. There is one bath and an electric shower.

The house otherwise is well presented and we have just had a new kitchen installed?

Many thanks

[Peter Crosland]

"> 1. Do I sell the house as it is and expect a slightly lower price?

Ask a couple of local estate agents to tell you how much the addition of CH would make to the price.

Ask some local companies for quotes.

Do the maths and decide.

Peter Crosland

[Rick]

I suggest you ask the estate agents, the ones round my way are happy to give some advice on what will be more sellable.

Rick

[Anna Kettle]

There is a retired estate agent in the group who will give good advice. Meanwhile my twopennorth is that I would leave the house as it is so the new owner has the hassle of finding a heating installer, redecorating etc. Put the house on the market at a price that assumes it has central heating and let the buyer be dead chuffed when he beats you down

Anna

~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Lime plaster repairs / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

01359 230642

[Andrew Gabriel]

Might only beat you down the cost of installing the heating, forgetting that it requires pulling bits of the house to pieces to install, and then redecorating.

After putting in heating (pull up all the floors and chuck out the floor coverings) and double glazing (replaster half the walls), I found I was pretty much starting from scratch in redecorating the whole house. The ceilings were about the only parts which got away with something as simple as just repainting.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I would most certainly reather have a house with no CH than one with a cheap and nasty system for which I was being charged a few grand more.

That way its my choice what I put in..

BUT ask you estate agent.

If its the sort of 'move into it right away' type place, then modernising it will make it very saleable. In fact it wants to all LOOK new - thats what first time buyers want.

[tony sayer]

Quite.. With very rare exception this is what people want these days they don't have imagination anymore.

Perhaps there're out working all hours to pay the mortgage!.....

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd say it depends on the type of house. If one suitable for first time buyers, then it might make sense to make it ready to just move in. If it's up the chain a bit, many buying might prefer a house sound in wind and limb that they can customise to exactly what they want.

Next door was sold recently. I'd have described it as suitable to just move in - good clean decoration and all fittings etc recent. But the buyers have ripped near everything out - including a three year old bathroom suite and kitchen and started again. Not sure about the central heating - the last owners complained about poor hot water from their combi. And I complained about the noise of the pump which came straight through the party wall. ;-)

[Andy Hall]

Perhaps it's because there are two combis and in reality you are living next door to........

(sort of like Quatermass and the Pit)....

[mark d]

Selling in the winter sans heating will put buyers off more than you can imagine having got used to it, but in 2 months it will be still be summer so I'd at least try at a realistic price and hopefully it'll sell quickly because of the modern decoration.

I got my current house with 28k knocked off original asking price after it had been up for sale all winter with faulty heating / no insulation. Around here buyers like there houses warm.

[Richard Faulkner]

In message , Anna Kettle writes

Do you mean me??

Firstly, it is impossible to value a house to within the range of the cost of central heating, i.e. to within £3,000/£4,000, so you will never know if you got more because of the heating, or less because of the lack.

In general:

more people want central heating than dont Some people are happy, or even prefer, to fit their own. Some people will not buy without central heating.

On the whole, I would suggest that a house with C/H is more saleable and, in the softening market, it may be sensible to fit it.

Not sure if this is good advice - more of a waffle around the subject

[The Natural Philosopher]

Thts te hanswer. Foit the cheapest crappo combi you can. so its just liveable in,. in the knowledge that anyone with any sense will rip it ouit and install something decent anyway.

In te same vein as paintng the whole house magnolia, not because anyone likes it, but becaus it just makes it look 'cared for'

[Anna Kettle]

Oh hi! Yes

Anna

~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Lime plaster repairs / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

01359 230642

[Les Desser]

In article , Jim S Sun, 29 May 2005 17:46:58 writes

Consider that besides the cost of installation you have to allow for making-good and re-decorating.

Unless you want all pipes to be surface run, these costs may be quite significant.

My own inclination would be to leave well alone. If you do the job well it is unlikely that you will recover your costs - you may just get a quicker sale. If you do it badly you may actually decrease your chances of a sale.

[RichardS]

Or just as likely, in our society with the increasing "cult of the professional" (and an ever-increasing number of laws to back this trend up), the vast majority of people have just not learned the basic skills that they require to perform even basic maintenance of a property.

For a lot of people I know, the only tool they are likely to pick up is the telephone. It's a bit worrying, really.