Selling House : Things to Improve

N|cky

I need to put my house on the market in 2013 but want to maximize the amount of money I can sell it for. As I am a first time seller, I need all the tips I can get my hands on.

What are the little things that put people off buying a house? Also what money saving things can be done to boost the appearance of the house?

Helpful List :

1. De-clutter, opens up space

drummer_666

when I was looking to buy my house I wanted all the things that put other buyers off, coz I wanted to buy cheap and do up.

What put other people off generally was major work and also just clutter

Clutter makes the place look messy and smaller

I guess if I was you I would repaint tatty/bright walls, if there's a carpet in the bathroom replace this with vinyl or if the vinyl is in bad shape but the suite is ok then replace the vinyl

but it's hard to say without knowing what condition your house is actually in

N|cky

Why do people even have carpets in bathrooms? I've luckily got tiles.

krlyr

Hard to say as it will vary hugely. My OH, for example, struggles to imagine how a house could look (I think taking him for the viewing at our house we bought was a pure nightmare for him!) so stuff as minor as decor or even just generally clutter in a house would put him off (he hates nicnacs and the horror in his face at some of the houses we saw on Rightmove when browsing was hilarious). Whereas I was more concerned about the harder to change stuff, like the layout, size, any major work needing doing.
Very soon after moving in I surprised OH (he was away with work for a few days) by gutting the living room and putting laminate down, painting the (hideous) walls and getting rid of the yucky nicotine stained soft furnishings. Even just a few licks of white paint, cheap new flooring (60% off RRP on that line then a further 10% off day at Homebase) and a cheap new shade for the light, it looked like we were in a completely different house. Can be easy to do up a room on the cheap if it needs some sprucing up, but then again, sometimes you may appeal to some sellers with a more homely feel, even if it looks likely "well loved".

JimmyTheWig

I agree with the de-clutter. Probably the most important thing you can do.
Walls can be repainted when the new people move in, but if there isn't enough space to put all your stuff then there's not much you can do.

When we were buying we looked at a house where the owners had already moved out. I.e. it was empty.
We liked it, as it was pretty big compared to others we had looked at.
Saw some others that we ruled out because they were too small.
We then sat down with the room sizes and realised that the one that looked big was exactly the same size and lay-out as others we had seen which looked small. The only difference was this one was empty.
We didn't buy that one, but my point is that by being empty it did _look_ bigger.

When we were selling our last house we used to dump a load of stuff in the car before a viewing.
Was a little embarrising once when they turned up early and I was carting the hoover out to the car!


You want things looking clean, bright, light. It's all about the impression that people get. Wouldn't take 10 minutes to clean a bath when moving in to a house, but looking at a house with a dirty bath leaves bad impression. You also wonder if they don't even clean the bath, what's the state of the stuff we can't see going to be like?

Keep things simple, where possible. You want to show people what it would be like with them living there.
At our old house we had a junk room. Was a mess, with stuff stacked up in it. Didn't bother us. After being on the market for quite a while we turned it into a spare bedroom with a bed and wardrobe, etc. The house sold soon after that.

Tidy gardens help, too. Don't want people thinking they are getting themselves in to something that will be a lot of hard work to maintain.

JimmyTheWig

krlyr wrote: »

Hard to say as it will vary hugely. My OH, for example, struggles to imagine how a house could look (I think taking him for the viewing at our house we bought was a pure nightmare for him!) so stuff as minor as decor or even just generally clutter in a house would put him off (he hates nicnacs and the horror in his face at some of the houses we saw on Rightmove when browsing was hilarious).

I'm a bit like that. Find myself looking at what books / CDs they have on the shelves. Whether I like their sofas, etc.
[Likewise, when looking for a second hand bed on eBay was hard not to get distracted by duvet covers!]

Tixy

Very easy / cheap to do
-Declutter
-Clean & Tidy
-Cut grass etc in a garden
-Hide / minimise pet beds and bowls

Fairly easy / cheap
-repaint any poorly decorated / tired / hideous walls
-re-carpet any very poor carpets
-basic diy jobs (e.g fixing things like loose kitchen cupboards / airing cupboard doors / wobbly shelves etc)

Make the entrance/hall in particular as nice and welcoming as you can. Consider buying or repainting the house number on the front of the property.

When having the photos done clear out as much as you can from each room. Things that put people off in photos are stuff like used flannels in a bathroom photo, manky looking shoes under a bed, personal photos in a living room etc

googler

De-personalise.

Remove family photos, portraits from everywhere and replace with neutral pictures.

Take fridge magnets off the fridge.

Take down any notice boards that have your personal stuff and/or timetables upon them.

Clean everything. Nobody wants to buy your dirt. Particular attention to bathrooms and kitchens.

Little_Mo_70

N|cky wrote: »

I need to put my house on the market in 2013 but want to maximize the amount of money I can sell it for. As I am a first time seller, I need all the tips I can get my hands on.

What are the little things that put people off buying a house? Also what money saving things can be done to boost the appearance of the house?

Helpful List :

1. De-clutter, opens up space

Our first home took about 6 months to sell.
Painted (magnolia) and re-carpeted (inexpensive cream) the hall/stairs/and landing area as this was first thing prospective buyers see and first impressions can make or break.

Housey smells can be a bit off putting. You know, those you only notice when you have been away for a while but that all visitors notice immediately. If it's a bit whiffy then concentrate on elimination. New paint/carpeting does wonders!

Always had vases of fresh flowers on display too.
3rd bedroom - quite small - was the junk room and used the junk to create a bed shape with a nice duvet and cover on top. (This exercise was not done until last month and I think did the trick).

Buyers viewed on a really windy/rainy day, brollies up for garden viewing but they loved the garden (it was the reason we fell in love with the place many years previously).
they came back for 2nd viewing and the deal was done.

Other selling points are location - near to schools, transport, shops etc. Nice neighbours. Good water pressure. Adequate parking space.
Tidy both inside and out. Including in the price things like curtains and carpets. and any out buildings inc. greenhouses and sheds.

Our current home was beautifully furnished and that really did it for us as well as the location and bags of parking space. The kitchen was huge and shown to us last, wow, what a surprise. It's better to show the best last.

Different people have different boxes to tick. Don't be pushy when showing (if you are involved in that) and just stick to the everyday useful information.

Why you are leaving also can influence people as not everyone is honest about that. They are hardly going to tell you they hate their neighbour's dog barking all day long or any disputes etc. as being the reasons to leave.

Good luck

Better_Days

Do spend some time choosing a decent EA. Make sure you get some independents round as well as the chain ones. Have a look at RM to see how good your local EA's are at photos and descriptions. The 'have a look at this' thread is worth a browse for some of the mistakes that are made.

Do some research to find out a realistic AP for your property and don't necessarily choose the EA who suggests the highest AP (especially if their fee is based on the initial AP). An AP that is too high will put people off even viewing your house.

If you feel brave post your photos before you put the property on the market and you will get honest, but sometimes blunt, feedback.

GL with your sale.

Mr_Moo_2

Make the space you have work for your sale, with a clearly defined purpose for all of it. So out goes the dining room which also stores the kids toys and doubles up as a small study with a space for doing the ironing. It's a dining room so show it as such. And if you have spece flexibility, mention that - "oh, this used to be the kids play area but we've converted it into a <somethingelse>". Gives the buyer a chance to visualise how they might make it work for them.

Oh, and decluter )