Sale through retrofitting heating technology in house built in 1957?

Hi,

the following situation and I hope you can help me a little as a complete layman.

My wife inherited a detached house. Fine and good. Now we have decided to sell the house. The house is already old (built in 57) and the last renovation was 25 years ago. At that time, an oil boiler was installed. However, it looks anything but nice and probably greatly reduces the selling price.

A certainly very naive and wide-eyed question, but would it be worth investing a little money in advance to retrofit a heating technology? And which one would that be? I know that the local gas supplier is currently massively expanding the network there. Would this possibly be our chance to retrofit a natural gas condensing boiler in order to increase the selling price? Or should we just replace the boiler?

Brief real data about the house:

106 sqm living space, very little garden (exact plot size is unfortunately not available right now), south-facing, detached.

Thanks and best regards
Der Baubär aka Michael

Just for understanding: You want to invest, say, 5 TEUR into the house and expect an increased profit of 10 TEUR when selling the house?

Counter question: You have a car with engine damage. Would you install a new engine and expect that after deducting the costs, more money remains from the sale?

I wouldn’t do it.

If you replace the boiler or the heating system, the value of the house increases by the price of the boiler/the heating system, otherwise nothing changes in my opinion.

If the heating works, why do you want to spend money when the buyer can do the same and then decide for themselves what they want.

The buyer will probably have to completely renovate the old house, including heating pipes and boilers. Often, the (old-fashioned) floor plan is also adjusted to the needs. Another keyword: energy-efficient renovation. A newly installed heating system sets unwanted limits and will be useless in case of doubt – and will be removed/scrapped again.

In short: leave the heating system untouched. And be prepared that you will not get money for the house, only for the land. Interested buyers are more likely to argue that the old house causes demolition costs and therefore want to pay little.

I would sell it as it is.
No one wants to renovate. At the end, it goes wrong. Whether there is any additional profit, I doubt it.

Leave the house as it is. Only renovating the heating system doesn't make sense. If anything, the new buyer should do that themselves. What if they want to do something completely different with the house? Sell it as it is. Renovations, even if it's just the heating, cost TIME and money. And you will definitely not get the invested time back.

It will probably be more effective to clear out the house and do a few small cosmetic repairs. But nothing more.