Investment Advice for Preparing My Apartment for Sale?

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irldonalb

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Hi all

I'm gearing up to list my 2-bedroom apartment in Dublin 18 for sale. It's been a rental for the past decade and definitely shows its age, prompting me to consider some updates and repairs. Here's what I'm contemplating:

- Fixing the cracked bathroom tiles around the toilet, though matching them is a challenge. I don't know if it's worth replacing them all.
- Replacing missing patio tiles, but finding an exact match seems impossible. Replacing them all seems excess given I'm missing 6-8 of 200 tiles.
- Giving the entire place a fresh coat of paint.
- Sanding and either varnishing or painting the wooden window frames.
- Redoing several odd jobs. From a makeshift shower door solution to sagging suspended ceilings and protruding nails, there’s a bit to do.
- The cheap laminate floors are warped and there are small gaps but I don't think a replacement is worth the cost.
- Clearing out old furniture and paying for staging.

The bug issue is that the complex itself isn't in the best shape either, with a noticeable hole in the corridor ceiling and signs of previous water damage at one entrance. It seems like the building's condition might limit the impact of any improvements I make.

Originally, I figured spending around €5,000 would be reasonable, but just finding a tiler has already eaten up two weeks of my time.

Would love to hear any broad advice on how to prioritize these tasks or if there are other considerations I should factor in. Thanks in advance!
 
One consideration is that the accounting might not be obvious but every month delay could be costing you well over 1k. If it's sitting there empty you are losing 4%/12 of the equity sitting in the apartment every delayed month versus having that money in an N26 account (although in practice it's less due to taxes). You probably have service charge of a couple of hundred a month and possibly mortgage interest also as a cost. So I'd get a move on in marketing it, painting is probably worth it after that I don't think you would see much difference in price you get.
 
Honestly in this market I would do v little. I would focus my energy into getting all paperwork in place, eg copies of accounts of the management Co, any certs you might need (unlikely in an apt as probably more so for house extensions).
 
I would say make it as clean as possible.
And as empty as possible.

Fix anything which is actually broken.

The sagging ceiling would worry me as a buyer so if that can be easily fixed, then do that.

Not sure about other decorative issues. I don't think I would bother.

Sometimes if you paint one room, the rest looks old and dirty.
 
Detailed deep clean, scrub every surface. Walls, ceilings, kitchen cabinets, the lot.

Ditch the curtains / furnishings. Make sure the windows are sparkling.

Steam clean oven / loo / bathroom

Leave the place empty. Though if the kitchen appliances are working you can leave them in place - steam clean. Make sure there's a floor plan done.

You can photoshop staging photos - make clear they are "artists impressions".

Also agree with taking the time to put together a purchasers info pack. Shows you're serious about a sale as well as helping everything go faster.

Unless you have water ingress; your ceiling will be a quick fix - its only plasterboard.

Edit to add: get on to your management company to get those repairs done.
 
Thank you for all the great advice.

A few people mentioned the ceiling. At some point we added a false ceiling. I can't remember the logic, but that's sagging. It could do with skirting. Easy to fix for a handyman.

General consensus is a deep clean, a paint job and fix what's broken.

It doesn't sound like that extends to tiling and floors.

I know I could lose a year waiting for the mgmt company to fix the common area so I can't wait.
 
Last edited:
irldonalb said:
could lose a year waiting for the mgmt company to fix the common area so I can't wait
Click to expand...
Wouldn't be waiting, but I'd start pushing them to get it done. At the very least if you get a commitment date, you can include that letter in your info pack.
 
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