Do up or sell up

tiernsee

I would be grateful for some advice.

My husband and I are divorcing and the family home (where I am with our two children) will need to be sold. I am not sure whether it would be preferable to redecorate and do all the little jobs that should have been done over the years and weren't or put on the market as is, acccepting I would get less for the house, I am sure whoever buys the house would want to redecorate it anyway. I know it will need a good declutter and deep clean before going on the market but I just am not sure whether it would be worth spending the money on redecorating/recartpeting etc?

In terms of value Zoopla estimates the value of the house at £247k, which I think is optimistic and if I was realistic in its current state I would guestimate as £230-5k and if done up £240-5k.

I often watch the property programmes and hear the advice about neutral colours, first impressions etc and am not sure which approach would be best to take and would welcome any advice. Thanks

hazyjo

Don't take any notice of zoopla valuations - even a zoopla bod's been on here a couple of times saying it's nowhere near accurate. It valued the house we're buying at £200k more than we're paying!

Sorry to hear about the divorce. Unless you're planning on getting the house to showroom condition, I'd not be spending out on new carpets, etc. The vast majority will be taking a hit in this market anyway so you probably won't be getting a lot of that back, but it might help make it easier to sell. It's impossible to say without knowing exactly how much needs doing. Some things are selling quicker which do need work as people want a doer-upper in this market so they can add a bit of value in a falling market. If it needs a new kitchen or bathroom and a lot of tidying up, or a new roof, new carpets ain't gonna make a lot of difference. Maybe discuss with an EA (or 3) and see what they say - if the area's pretty stagnant, you might have to take a hefty hit and it probably wouldn't be worth doing a lot to it.

De-clutter - DEFINITELY!

Are you likely to be in negative equity? Are you planning on buying somewhere else? You might be able to recoup any loss on the next purchase (presuming there'll be one).

Jx

martindow

Agree - make sure it is clean, tidy and uncluttered. It might be worth doing a few minor jobs that are likely to be obvious to a buyer. I lived for a long time with a bathroom cupboard that had a faulty hinge so the door fell at an angle every time it was opened. After years of putting up with this I repaired it in two minutes before selling the house.

tiernsee

Thanks for the reply. Fortunately no negative equity, in fact we are mortgage free (tried so hard to get us in a position where we were mortgage free and then six months later husband left (well actually he was arrested for assault and was found to have a drug problem...... can't believe I didn't realise, I thought he was ill)). Despite this we are still friendly but the marriage is over. I work full time, husband was a stay at home father unfortunately house work and house repairs was never his strong point and the house, I hate to admit it, is shabby (and not in the chic way!)

Yes, I will have to buy a property for me and the children (they are staying with me). Thanks for the comment about Zoopla, I've looked at all the oneline sites for valuation as well as knowing how properties around here are selling and I think it is in the right area. I will declutter (majorly!) and speak to an Estate Agent (or rather agents) and get their input.

Thanks again for the comments - appreciated.

eckythump

I think a small amount of improvement is worthwhile, if a house looks cosmetically neglected buyers may wonder what else has been neglected too.
Fix anything that is obviously broken.
get carpets deep cleaned or replaced if badly stained.
A lick of paint in any room that really needs it.
sometimes changing things like lightshades and soft furnishings can really brighten up a room and its the right time of year to save money on these.
Don't forget to have a look online at similar local properties to see what standard the competition is and what price difference the decor is making.

Jackinbox99

The key thing I learnt from my experience, is that do not spend any more cash than you have to. Things like new kitchens, bathrooms, landscaped gardens, new boilers etc... all do not add anything to the value of the house and are just money down the drain.

The best things you can do is to declutter the whole house. If needbe, get loads of boxes, put the clutter in those and hide up the loft. Then, repaint the whole house in neutral light colours... which isnt expensive - a big tub of magnolia is about 10quid and will probably do 2 rooms.

Price wise, its very hard to judge what its worth. The house I am selling was valued at 175k by 3 seperate local estate agents. One the same but not as good sold for 172k back in October. So, I figured thats about right. In reality im getting offers around the 150k mark. Prices on Zoopla and places like that are wildly inaccurate and are based only on previous selling prices, not taking into account any renovation or what similar houses have sold for.

hazyjo

I'd only bother cleaning carpets if they were neutral and in decent nick. If it's say orange with swirly brown patterns on (no offence to any bods with orange carpets with swirly brown patterns on that they love), I'd certainly not bother, even if it was obviously stained/dirty.

Feel free to put up any pics of rooms you're iffy about and people can say what's obviously going to make a difference to selling.

I do think clutter is the worst thing (and I'm certainly not what I'd call tidy) - especially in kids' bedrooms. Awful when there's stuff everywhere and posters, etc on every inch of wall. Plus, personally, I hate it when you go into bathrooms and they're full of kids' stuff. Just put it away somewhere, even if it's hidden in a crate in the car, garage or bottom of a wardrobe. Lack of storage puts tonnes off and if they go in your kitchen or bathroom and see stuff piled everywhere, they're going to think there's no room for anything. Clear and clean every surface.

I agree with the above - repair any obvious niggly things that people will notice. If you can greatly improve a room by painting the walls a neutral colour and hanging a nice light shade, do it. Just coordinating rooms helps, IMO. Really depends on how much work's needed and the size of the house. If houses look loved, it helps, even if they are in need of a bit of work. Just be realistic about what you can do to it to improve it. You don't want to be waiting 6 months to put it on the market while sitting there staring at a pot of paint every weekend thinking 'I'll start next week'. Get it sorted as soon as you're able, and call in favours. I had a small-ish 2 bed house I did naff all to and tried selling it with no carpets (no bathroom or kitchen flooring) and walls which needed painting, etc. I'd completely fallen out of love with it and everything was put off until 'tomorrow' - but a friend came over and put down all new flooring for me, we laid bathroom tiles and he painted the whole house for me, and I put up plain curtains. Made a massive difference and it sold very quickly after. Not always about presentation, but if the house is easy to update as mine was, consider it. If it's a major job with tonnes wrong with it, don't. A friend of mine has a house which would need selling on as a bit of a project. Can't see a lick of paint making any difference at all as too much needs doing.

Jx
PS hope things improve for you!