New kitchen and/or bathroom before selling?

superbabe612

Advice needed please!

We put our property on the market in November at £110k, reduced it to £105k in February, and again to £100k in April (the Estate Agents' original valuation. We wanted to encourage offers of around £100k which is why we started off higher).

We have had an average of 1 viewing each week (some quite promising) but almost all the feedback is that it needs too much work.

The kitchen and bathroom (avocado!) are functional but old-fashioned; the decor is also out-of-date.

We think the description and price reflect this, so where are we going wrong?

These are the details:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31850252.html

There are 2/3 bed properties in the same area (with/without the need of modernisation) that are selling for similar prices.

We are now considering replace the kitchen and/or bathroom (cheaply) and using a different estate agent (the current one rarely calls us with feedback and we are constantly chasing them for updates :mad: ), and possibly re-painting - but we've avoided doing this so far because of this forum's advice of buyers wanting to decorate to their own tastes).

Any thoughts? Advice? Suggestions? Be nice, please!

Jaynne

Having just gone through the buying process I would say its hard to go wrong with a new bathroom. A white suite with a bath and at least a shower over the bath is pretty universal.

Other things I would suggest is to do the easy stuff. Paint everywhere white/magnolia and possibly replace the carpets with basic ones that are the same throughout the property. Look at things like door fittings and electricals, do these match throughout as although this is quite subtle it makes the place feel disjointed. Get some plants from homebase/ikea, at least one in each room as it makes everything seem fresher.

I'd probably also at least paint the kitchen try too make it as modern as possible and stop it looking so advocado! If the units are in good nick maybe look at replacing the doors and maybe worktop as this is a lot cheaper than replacing the whole kitchen.

Not many people did this when we were viewing but those who had made an immediate impact. It makes places seem very much brighter and much more desirable. It means that buyers can either leave it as is and it will be very unoffensive or its easy to add a new coat of paint.

The painting and carpeting is something you can do yourself for probably well under a £1000 so is quite economical. I'd say updating a bathroom suite is also an investment that can't go wrong.

Doing that I would say you should be able to put your asking price up by at least your costs so you should recoup your investment.

Basically bland + boring is good when you're selling/buying as it makes it easier to imagine how you would put your stamp on the place.

ItchyFeet

I don't really have any experience, but would suggest perhaps giving the bathroom a basic makeover - changing the suite and a lick of paint. I think having to redo two major rooms is quite daunting financially especially for first time buyers, but sometimes cheap kitchens just look cheap so this may be best left? The kitchen in your link looks acceptable.

Jaynne

Just looked at the pictures, it doesn't seem that offensive to me, its not my style as I prefer more modern fittings. A coat of paint anywhere is always good and I imagine that the living room would probably feel much larger with a lighter coloured carpet, new light fittings etc. Dark wooden furniture probably doesn't help much here but its a bit extreme to replace these but you could look into maybe taking some of the dark wood units out temporarily? I've also heard of people renting flat screen TVs while selling to make places look more modern!

pinkshoes

Photo 2 - why is the plant in front of the (front?) door?

Photo 3 - empty cupboards yet things out on kitchen surfaces. Kitchen looks very narrow and dated. I'd consider re-arranging into an L shape. You could use the units, but just put a black work surface and some new tiles.

Photo 4 - the garden looks very scrappy. could you not spend an hour or so weeding the paving slabs, trimming back some of the plants, and use a power washer on the wall? And take the photo on a sunny day - always looks so much nicer!

If the bathroom is also dated, then I'd say replace it. A 3 piece suite from screwfix is relatively cheap.

EDIT: No. 48 (4 houses to the left) sold for £112,500 in Dec 2009, and no. 46 sold for £124,950 in June 2008. Neither of those have an attic conversion. Yours seems reasonably priced in comparison!

Lilibee

It might not be the big things that are putting people off, more an accumulation of little things. Have you got any half-finished DIY projects or loose door handles/light switch mounted upside down, that kind of thing? Looked at a house recently where this was the case and it was really off putting...

Otherwise...
The kitchen units look fine to me, but what I might suggest is replacing the worktops, and maybe door/drawer handles? All white makes it look a bit clinical and dated, perhaps a wooden/wood laminate worktop would go well with the existing white cabinets, that's a very popular kitchen colour scheme at the moment!

Also (and this might just be the photos) but the living room carpet looks a bit old and maybe stained around the fireplace? So buyers are probably thinking they'd have to replace that too. Perhaps just a new, basic, more neutral carpet? The rest of it looks fine.

No photos of bathroom so can't really comment, but I once lived with an avocado suite for years (rented house) and didn't mind it all that much - but it was paired with bright white walls and tiles so wasn't too overwhelming. As long as it's in good condition, fully working, and the rest of the room is light and bright, shouldn't be too bad.

superbabe612

Thanks everyone for your comments; we don't live in the property so we've been gradually emptying it. Only the leather suite, dining table & chairs remain downstairs, and 2 beds and a wardrobe upstairs. (and the plant in front of the door has been removed!)
We've had the carpets (and house) cleaned, and tidied up the garden. The carpet does look old though!
We're not sure about replacing the kitchen worktops/doors without the units since they're not in very good condition - drawers stiff to open, etc. The photo makes it look better than it is! It IS very narrow so we were thinking of changing it to an L-shape to give more floor space.
The bathroom is in fairly good condition and a good size (separate shower) but I'd personally want a white bathroom suite!
It'd be cheaper to paint and carpet neutral colours rather than re-do the kitchen or bathroom - but which should we do first?
Or should we just wait it out?

harrup

I wonder whether you would stimulate more interest if you listed the property just fractionally below the 100K mark, e.g £ 99500?

Could the EA add pics of the bedrooms? Or at least one of them?

I fully concur with pinkshoes in regards to the layout of the kitchen..... it does look VERY narrow. Personally that is the only thing which would put me off. Oh, and I agree - it seems odd that there is a kettle and a breadbin on display but all the cupboards are empty. Is the property already vacant?

I'd ask the EA to re-shoot all the photos ( but then you are thinking to change EA's anyway!), hide the plastic green garden bench - even if it's just for the duration of the photographs - add some colour to the garden & experiment in photographing the kitchen from different angles. And add photos of the bedrooms.

Also, I ,too, do not comprehend the plant in front of the entrance door at all. HOW and where do people enter?

mlz1413

either sell for less or do a bit of work to it.

if your not skilled enough to change a bathroom suite without paying for help then I'd go for decorating, I'd leave the kitchen out of it everyone wants different things so your unlikely to please a potential buyer, just ensure its clean and maybe paint the tiles to freshen it up.

I think if people can see that they can move in and replace the bathroom and kitchen when they can afford what they want they will put in an offer, but if they need to do everything they want the price to be cheaper than everything else on the market and there is another house in your area which is magnolia with a white bathroom suite for £97k.

A small note that the only sizes for the property are on the floor plan, can these be added to the details?

superbabe612

Good points mlz1413 about the sizes on the floor plan, and harrup re: the photos (and the plastic bench!).

The kettle and breadbin, etc have now gone from the kitchen, as has the plant from the front door. It might be a Sheffield thing, but people generally enter their houses through the back door (to the kitchen) and don't use the front door - usually to create more space or keep out the draft!

As I said, we've had plenty of viewings, so I don't think it's the floor plan or photos that are putting people off!

I think the £97k house might only have 2 bedrooms, but it's a good example of how basic and neutral can really make a difference!

xantian15

Go for a simple white bathroom is your best bet. Keep neutral colours i.e. purchase a new white toilet, sink and bath.