Selling - how much to improve/repair house?

dodgy

Hi,

We have a 14 year old house we are looking to sell (as first-time sellers). We are currently living in it with a newborn baby, so clearing spaces to decorate or improve is tricky.

We've done quite a few things that 'need doing' such as a new kitchen floor, repaired the facia boards, repointed the garage roof and apex - but the inside still has a few little niggles and I'm not sure how far we need to go before we get it valued or put it on the market.

There are nail pops in a few of the ceilings, there are a few hairline cracks in the walls under the windows where we had double glazing installed (and the installers hammered the old windows out). Other then that the decoration is in a reasonable state - but a few years old so has a few marks.

Getting the house completely redecorated is the obvious thing to do, but it would cost money we don't have spare - and would be incredibly tricky to remove furniture from each room as with the baby we don't really have the space to put it.

I guess my question is how far do we really need to go, and how many people will pick up or reject the house on the few minor decorative details if we don't do them. Will it massively affect the selling price?

The house has been improved since we had it, UPVC double glazing, conservatory, new kitchen (and now floor) - so there are lots of good things. I don't want to waste time and money on things that are perhaps unnecessary - and things only noticable if you live in the property. A few visits to buy and you may not even start staring at the celings!

Advice gratefully received - thanks

pawpurrs

I wouldnt worry too much, they dont sound llike urgent matters. Obviously any thing you can do to make it a little smarter can only help, but it would be better to get it on the market sooner rarther than later, depending on what you plan to do afterwards I guess. Its Spring and viewings have generally picked up, so as good a time as can be at the moment to put it on.

poppy10_2

Major improvements (new kitchen/bathroom) aren't worth the money at the moment - but there's lots that you could do that doesn't cost much. Tidying up and removing 14 years worth of clutter for one thing, a lick of paint is cheap and can make the place look much fresher. A couple of hundred pounds should be more than enough to give the place a decent facelift.