How do I sell up & move!?

DebtKiller

Not certain if this is in the right area, although it is to do with becoming debt-free?

Anyway, you should know initially that I have a DMP with CCCS (see my sig for my debt), that I am slowly (very slowly!) getting through.

I am desperate to move closer to work to try and cut my travelling times and costs (currently taking 2 hours per day to commute), following my employer relocating further away (it used to only take about 1 hour per day before). Also, all my friends have moved elsewhere, so no real reason to stop in the area. I have a £44,000 mortgage on my house (bought in 2000), but I think I could probably sell it for upto about £100,000 based on identical houses being sold on my road in the past few months, so lots of positive equity there which I could probably use to clear my debts (all good news so far). The problem I have is that my house is not in the best of shape, despite me slowly trying to address the problems on my limited budget (it was bought with the idea that I would do this, then I realised how much debt I was in, so couldn't afford any of those things any longer!), so no way I sell for that kind of money. It needs:

• New windows/doors (doors are OK, but windows starting to rot)
• New kitchen
• Sort-out of back garden/fencing
• General spruce up of bathroom

I think in it's current state I'm going to lose out if I try to sell (and if anyone can see the potential and buy it) as I'd probably get about £80,000, and there's only so much I can do myself, so ideally I'd like to do something to bring it back to a decent state so I can maximise any profit. Problem is, how do I get the money? Chelsea B/Soc (who the mortgage is with) have the option to take an "additional advance", but I'm not certain I'd be eligible (with the DMP), even though there's plenty of positive equity and I'd probably only need about £10,000 (I could cope with paying the extra mortgage until the house sold) to get everything done (doesn't need an expensive kitchen as long as it's decent).

Oh, BTW I've not made any decisions about where/how to live once I've sold up, but I would be fine with renting somewhere if getting a mortgage is impossible.

What do I do? Any suggestions, comments? Have been going round in circles trying to think this through, but I could do with some impartial advice as I can't really see the wood for the trees right now!

Thanks for reading!

DK

P.S. Having re-read this I hope I don't sound smug or anything about the house being worth so much more than I paid for it - it was as much a surprise (or shock) to me when I found out (I hadn't really considered it before). That said, I'm determined to make sure I use whatever I can get to become debt-free!

CLAPTON

first of all get a local estate agent to value the house...its nearly always worth (as its cheap) to give it a lick of paint and make sure its clean and tidy. work out what it will cost you to upgrade it and unless you get a 100% profit dont do it because it always costs more than you budget ...so if its worth 80,000 now and will be worth 100,000 dont even think about spending more than 10,000. in the 10,000 include the cost of borrowing the money and a reasonable time to sell it

all_hours

Assume you sold it in it's present state and paid off the mortgage, you'd have £36k to pay off your debt and leave you owing under £4k. No hassle or energy spent on doing the renovations yourself.

If you spend £10k on fixing it up. Sold for £100k (being realistic would it go for this?). You would have £46k to pay off your debt, so you'd have about £6k in the bank. But you would have had to do the work. So it would depend how much you want to do the renovations.

I don't know if you would be eligible for the advance or not on a DMP.

DebtKiller

I was thinking of doing the "estate agent valuation" route at some point anyway. My real problem will be if I discover I do need to spend the extra £10K & how do I go about getting it! Anyone had any experience of doing this when in a DMP?

DebtKiller

all_hours wrote:

Assume you sold it in it's present state and paid off the mortgage, you'd have £36k to pay off your debt and leave you owing under £4k. No hassle or energy spent on doing the renovations yourself.

If you spend £10k on fixing it up. Sold for £100k (being realistic would it go for this?). You would have £46k to pay off your debt, so you'd have about £6k in the bank. But you would have had to do the work. So it would depend how much you want to do the renovations.

I don't know if you would be eligible for the advance or not on a DMP.

I see what you mean, but I don't think I'd be too bothered about getting the work done to the house, especially if it meant I'd end up £6K better off (subject to actually getting the money in the first place, of course). I'm happier with that option than selling for a loss.

BTW, I think one house actually went for £110,000, so I'm being conservative by saying I could sell the fully renovated house for £100,000.

all_hours

I think you should get it valued in its present state. It will give you a starting point and you can get some feedback from the estate agent about what you would need to do to push the price up. It will put you in a better position when working out the figures.

Hopefully another poster will be able to advise you on the DMP situation and the advance.

lynzpower

Where abouts in Manchester are you out of interest?

Personally, my feeling is, spend as least as you can. People love a tatty house, " we can make it our own" learned from the after kirsty & phils of this world.

Bear in mind HIPS come in in Summer 06, which means you have to pay upfront for surveys and so forth for your property to sell it. Not finalised as yet I dont thinkbut this will be money you will have to find before you can put the house on the market. YOu might want to get it on for the summer rush

tesuhoha

If you want to spruce up the kitchen you could put new doors on the units rather than going to the expense of a whole new kitchen. Try to make the rooms as neutral as possible and declutter. Make sure it is spotlessly clean. A few plants and nice vases here and there make all the difference. If your sofa is in a mess buy a throw and some colourful cushions. Use mirrors to reflect light and make rooms look bigger. Decorate your hall and clear any mess as first impressions matter. Make sure the house smells fresh and clean.

DebtKiller

lynzpower wrote:

Where abouts in Manchester are you out of interest?

Currently living in leafy Prestwich!

lynzpower wrote:

Personally, my feeling is, spend as least as you can. People love a tatty house, " we can make it our own" learned from the after kirsty & phils of this world.

Bear in mind HIPS come in in Summer 06, which means you have to pay upfront for surveys and so forth for your property to sell it. Not finalised as yet I dont thinkbut this will be money you will have to find before you can put the house on the market. YOu might want to get it on for the summer rush

Ooh, I'd forgotten about that HIPS thingy! Best get my running shoes on and see about getting a freebie estate agent valuation then. You're right about the summer rush - seems to be when all the "for sale" signs are out...

DebtKiller

tesuhoha wrote:

If you want to spruce up the kitchen you could put new doors on the units rather than going to the expense of a whole new kitchen. Try to make the rooms as neutral as possible and declutter. Make sure it is spotlessly clean. A few plants and nice vases here and there make all the difference. If your sofa is in a mess buy a throw and some colourful cushions. Use mirrors to reflect light and make rooms look bigger. Decorate your hall and clear any mess as first impressions matter. Make sure the house smells fresh and clean.

The rest of the house is already in neutral tones (all hail to the off-white!), but I think the kitchen would need more than new doors/worktops at present. I just don't see it as something I could do on my own & for very little money, unfortunately!

Thank you for the tips, though - always good to be reminded of the little things I can do to make the house more sellable!

BevS97_2

I wouldn't spend a lot on doing it up, you can make a massive difference just tidying it up, repaint, nice plants etc. If you watch the House Doctor she never ever puts in kitchens/windows/bathrooms etc, but she turns the houses around with smaller things, sometimes new carpets, but mostly paint and a huge tidy up. She also recommends spending no more than 1% of the asking price, so that would be £1000 which seems reasonable (if you can find it).