Advice on what will and will not help a sale

GDB2222

Has the outside been painted before? If not, think carefully before painting over the pebble-dash, as you then create a maintenance job every 5 years that could put some buyers off. It depends how manky it looks now.

If in doubt about the carpet, you can put in something very cheap. I had a duplex flat recarpeted completely for £800 recently.

lou72

When I look at houses, I just like it to be clean and neutral, I never really worry about carpets as I would want them to be new anyway. As someone has suggested though, if your property is aimed at first time buyers, then it might be more appealing to them though to have new carpets but if it's reflected in the price then it wouldn't be a problem. Wishing you lots of luck with your selling anyway

Kynthia

Kitchens and bathrooms sell houses, so you've probably done the best thing there. Artex would definitely give a bad impression to viewers as it's a big messy job to remove so you've again made the right choice. Carpets are a judgement call as new ones would finish off the room but if rooms are nice then they won't put off a buyer. With the exterior you want kerb appeal but painting could be a massive job. Is there any way of cleaning the front, would a pressure washer work?

Good luck

motherofstudents

It's the perennial dilemma, how much to do. Sometimes it's easy to decide, you do everything in the whole house OR, you do nothing. It's the inbetween ones that cause the uncertainty.

There's a carpet place near us that advertises your whole house carpetted for £95. I'm not suggesting you do that because it's absolute rubbish but you can find decent cheap carpet if you shop around. That way you would be presenting the house the best way you can and the buyer can then decide to re-carpet at their leisure. Maybe do the downstairs but not the bedrooms. I think that's what I'd do. Hope you get a sale quickly whatever you decide !

adindas

Hi minipenny

I could tell you from the buyer side. I just make an offer and my offer has been accepted.

When knowledgeable people buy a house the first things they will do is the market research. For instance, check sold price of this property in the past, the sold price of similar properties around there, price of similar properties around there in the market. Nowadays it is very easy to find all of this information. So if you want to sell it quick than you need to consider the price carefully when you put it in the market. Do not just believe in what the EA is telling you. The EA want you to use their service and therefore pay for it. So they will tell you anything what you want to hear. For instance stating that they could sell your house 10% higher than other EAs, etc.

Have a look on Zoopla, Right move, Find a Property, you will see that there are reasonable number of properties have been in the market for years, withdrawn and then put back again in the market.

So along as the properties is still habitable and not too dirty do not invest too much money on it.
Painting the wall is probably a good idea as it is not expensive but has a great impact on look. People want to buy a house not a kitchen or bathroom. People who want to buy a house could do kitchen or bathroom themselves.

marc3

Our estate agent recommended we upgrade kitchen and bathroom to secure a quick sale (did bathroom but not kitchen as felt people are more individual there.

Also said first impressions are important-and with rising heating bills,said people knock prices down if double glazing not changed in the last 7/8 years.
This would cost us about 5k so reluctant to do it,but estate agent said we are likely to get knocked down by similatr if we don't do it.
Our indows are very well maintained-but are wooden windowsabout 16 years old-look fine as painted every 4 years but i guess est agent right that they are not energy efficient.
any views on that dilemma?

Catblue

marc3 wrote: »

Our estate agent recommended we upgrade kitchen and bathroom to secure a quick sale (did bathroom but not kitchen as felt people are more individual there.

Also said first impressions are important-and with rising heating bills,said people knock prices down if double glazing not changed in the last 7/8 years.
This would cost us about 5k so reluctant to do it,but estate agent said we are likely to get knocked down by similatr if we don't do it.
Our indows are very well maintained-but are wooden windowsabout 16 years old-look fine as painted every 4 years but i guess est agent right that they are not energy efficient.
any views on that dilemma?

Don't do it. Spend 5K to recoup perhaps 5K? Not a chance.

And then have the hassle of having a firm in to do the work, the potential for having to redecorate in some rooms where the lumbering oafs have ripped the wallpaper around the windows? Nope. And do all that just so that potential buyers can sniff that they don't like plastic windows and would prefer wooden frames anyway? And that they like the house but they'll be taking 5K off the asking price cos the plastic windows are naff? Pah.

Leave as is and just make sure that your asking price is reasonable.