Selling a House left in a will

Cheeselady

We have been left a house by a relative and don't wish to live there as it's not a convenient area for us, but wish to sell and then buy another property as we are renting at the moment. Ideally we would prefer not to do anything to the house at all, apart from empty it of furniture etc and give it a good cleaning, as we don't really have any spare cash to spend on doing it up.

It is not in bad nick with no major problems, just the decor and carpets are old fashioned but still ok, not really worn or anything like that, I would say the bathroom needs a new suite but that's about the most major thing really. There is one bedroom where the wallpaper on the outside wall has bubbles, not sure what it's like underneath, the wallpaper must have been up there about 25 years at least, maybe that room might have to be sorted, stripped and repainted?

I'm wondering if in fact that would be better to offer the house as it is, at a lower price than if we'd painted it, put new carpets in etc to make it look nicer, what do you all think?

Any advice, suggestions would be great, thanks.

G_M

Some work will probobly make it sell faster, at a better price. It depends of course how much time/money you are willing/able to spend on it.

Talk to local agents and get their advice.

I assume the property is in your name now? Probate is complete and the inheritance transferred? Or is probate ongoing?

Cheeselady

G_M wrote: »

Some work will probobly make it sell faster, at a better price. It depends of course how much time/money you are willing/able to spend on it.

Talk to local agents and get their advice.

I assume the property is in your name now? Probate is complete and the inheritance transferred? Or is probate ongoing?

Thanks for your reply. Probate is ongoing, it's all quite recent, I am just researching ideas and what to do at the moment and thought this would be a good place to ask for ideas and suggestions. We really can't afford to spend much on it, but of course if spending a bit on it would help it sell faster we would consider it, I just wondered with house prices being high, whether people generaly prefer to buy for less and then do the work gradually themselves?

BitterAndTwisted

Most people would budget for re-carpeting and re-decoration as a seller's taste is rarely the same as any buyer's. Expect the place to attract a slightly less favourable price if the bathroom and kitchen are completely inadequate but if they're perfectly serviceable but slightly dated then you shouldn't expect to adjust the price substantially. Do your research on what similar properties in the same neighbourhood have sold for recently and and then get a couple of agents round to give you an estimate of what they think it could sell for. If you want a quick sale you could then choose to price it really keenly. Not being in a chain should be attractive to a lot of buyers and could mean a relatively decent price. It all depends on what the market is like in the area and who your potential buyers might be.

firesidemaid

am not sure if this helps or if relevant, but if there may be either inheritence or capital gains tax to pay, could you reduce that by living in it first?

lilac_lady

If the house is in a good area you'll get a better price for it whether you decorate it or not. As long as it's clean it'll appeal to sombody if you don't set the price too high.

nell53

Most people who are are interested in buying probate sales know that it will need updating and IMO you shouldn't spend a penny on it other than to get it clean. One of the main attractions is there is no upward chain- and the deceased being a LTS [last time seller] won't pull out for some spurious reason.

I once went to see a deceased estate that the beneficiaries had put on the market less than a week after the 'event' and there was still a half eaten bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk on the side table. Very un-nerving- it looked like the lady had just been tucking in before she died. I did actually make an offer on the place, but was outbid on price.

poppysarah

A house that's lived in will attrack buyers rather than developer-buyers...
One without furniture will be harder to sell.

People will want a bargain more if it's not your home perhaps too.

Get it valued and ask opinion of EAs whether they think tidying it up would help sell it.
The chances are NO imo. We are in a falling market.

Cheeselady

firesidemaid wrote: »

am not sure if this helps or if relevant, but if there may be either inheritence or capital gains tax to pay, could you reduce that by living in it first?

No, there wouldn't be any tax applicable, but thanks for thinking of that.

Thanks everyone for your feedback, we do have a couple of agents coming round next week so will see what they have to say. It is a pretty decent area with quite a few schools including a grammar school just down the road, and also a college all within walking distance so a good area for families.