Selling father's (fairly neglected) house - advice please

princeofpounds

Tidy it up.

Make sure that there are functional facilities (cooker, shower, toilet).

At the most, put some light neutral paint around. Cost- and time- effective.

Relax.

Plenty of demand for places that need work. Always is.

Just make sure that this concern of his is not displaced concerns of another nature; i.e. that he is actually ok to leave.

laidbackgjr

Agree with others - sell as is will be fine at the right price. One thing, pick your EA carefully, I've found some only do nice / shiny houses and they'll not do a good job marketing a fixer upper. Also they will be the ones when they visit that try and talk you into doing all the work.

rosie383

Something I just wanted to add. If you get lots of interest quickly, and get a few offers, give it a couple of days before deciding rather than just going with the first offer. The one near us that sold went to the first offer on the first day. I don't know what it sold for but I wouldn't have thought it was asking price but probably 10k under. But from the way the vendor was talking, when I had said how keen we were to see it and wanted to move asap, I got the feeling she was wishing she hadn't accepted that first offer. If the property market is buoyant where his house us, and it is priced right, give people at least a few days to see it and get offers in. Every penny gained will be more for your dad in his retirement.

missprice

It will definitely sell.
The one we bought last year was ours for 35k less than other houses same street but modernized. Ours hadn't been touched since 1937 when it was built.
There was a fair amount of interest in it.

agrinnall

mchale is right, it seems an obvious candidate for sale by auction. You only have to watch an episode or two of Homes Under the Hammer to see that nearly everything sells, whatever state it's in.

penguingirl

I actually think there's hardly any 'doer uppers' on the market (in my area anyway) and if one was priced reasonably and had good potential I'd consider it. Although it doesn't sound anywhere near as bad as some houses we viewed last time round (I'm sure a bright blue cigarette-stained kitchen was cool in the 70s!).

My attitude is that lots of houses need redecorating and new kitchens/ bathrooms but sometimes the vendors don't realise it and price accordingly. The house we're buying was owned by the previous for 10 years, but tenanted for 4 of them. The vendors painted it to sell it, but tbh haven't done a great job and I think struggled to see how much the house needs a facelift.

TBagpuss

I agree with PPs - price it right and it will sell.

Getting someone in to clear the garden so that (at least) the whole of the garden can be accessed would probably be worth while.

When you get agents round, be honest with them. Tell them that you know it is in need of work, and that the porch is in need of replacing, and ask them what they think.

When I sold my house, i was well aware that the kitchen and bathroom needed replacing. None of the agents mentioned it until I did (I think they don;t want to point out any issues as not eveyone's idea of an issue is the same) Once I had broken the ice and made clear that I knew that it wasn't perfect, they were happy to discuss it, (I made clear that I was open to the possibility of getting work done if it would be cost effective)

I ended up marketing it at a price which reflected the condition, the particualars stated that it was in need of updating and we made sure that the photos showed both the kitchen and bathroom so people were aware of their age etc before they viewed.

I got an offer at full asking price within 3 weeks, and while that sale later fell through (due to the buyer being an idiot with his credit cards and getting his mortgage offer pulled!) it sold in 24 hours when I put it back on the market.

Interestingly, the identical property across the road whose owners had done it up and which was on offer for a higher price than mine was still on the market when I moved out,. The difference in asking price was very similar to the cost of the work needed.
The house I bought is very dated (it has the wallpaper the 80s forgot downstairs, and wood-chip the 70s forgot upstairs) I chose it over a similar house which had been redecorated and refitted - It may take me a while but at least when it is done, I shall have it the way I want - I prefer that than paying extra for someone else's taste in decor etc.

MysteryMe

Brentwood is a very popular and expensive location. It will sell as is without any difficulty.

martin1959

Knowing Brentwood very well, I can perhaps understand why he may be reluctant to go to Glasgow. Whilst not tropical, Brentwood would offer far better weather than Glasgow is likely to, and for someone of his age, this may be important health wise.


Have you not considered he may be happier in his 'run down' property with all its memories, than being uprooted to a 'foreign Country' LOL....He probably has his local shops, maybe friends and neighbours, and an area he is familiar with.
You say it is best for everyone.....maybe more convenient for you and your sister, but what about the old boy himself?


My mother is 85, and when she cannot cope, we will arrange carers to go in daily, but the last thing she actually wants is to move.


If you do decide to sell his home from beneath him, be wary of estate agents that have builders on their books that will buy houses in need of modernisation. The estate agent may recommend you take an offer (made by the builder) who in turn gives the agent a 'back hander', and once the builder has refurbed the property, places it back for sale with the same agent, as part of their agreement.


In our area, a few miles from Brentwood, refurbs always seem to go to builders who spend a few weeks/months doing them up and then there back on the market for 50/100k more. I appreciate builders are likely to be cash buyers, but he will probably get a better price from a buyer wanting to make it their home, than wanting to turn a quick profit.

bananz

Wow! Thanks so much for all the advice and helpful comments. A lot of them reflect what we were thinking in that there must be a market for folk who are just looking for a reasonably priced house they can make their own rather than expecting "show home" standards. Having been a FTB myself in the last couple of years, I know that that's what we were after and it would be an ideal project for a first family home.

I don't know much at all about house auctions, but I'll look into it and see with my dad if it's something he'd be interested in. Do homes need to be already vacant to be sold at auction though?

In response to martin1959, the weather is a consideration, but he has no real friends or hobbies in Brentwood as he worked in London until retirement and most of his old friends from that time have moved abroad which he doesn't want to do. He's lonely and depressed and with his nearest daughter a 4.5 hr drive away and a teacher who can only get time off during school holidays, it's just really not an ideal situation should he need more care in the future and we all feel pretty helpless when he needs support with things.

Health-wise, he often has to travel (sometimes as far as London) to see specialists, whereas in Glasgow they would all be within a 15 minute drive and we could take him for appointments where he is not allowed to drive afterwards.

We are by no means "selling his house from beneath him" - he wants to see more of his kids and grandkids and have more company too, but considering all 3 of his daughters work and have 8 kids between us between 1 and 18, there's a limit to how much we can see him at the moment. I think he's mainly just very daunted by the practical aspects of selling a house, although we have offered to take on as much of the work as necessary, hence me being on here asking advice lol!

Anyway, thanks to the great tips posted here, I'm sure I'll be back with more questions as we go on. Having chatted with him while he was visiting this weekend, I think the plan is to try and get the house on the market sometime between Easter and early summer. Would it be worth getting an initial valuation fairly soonish or is it best to wait until we've been able to clear the garden and have a de-clutter before getting an agent round? Thanks so much again :T