jazzing up house to sell

pathtofreedom

I'm thinking about trying to sell my house this year. I'm trying to figure out a budget of what jobs to do, and what won't really add much value to the house.

I know I need a new living room carpet as the one I have is from the 90's and is threadbare. I don't know if a new cheap carpet or laminate or Vinyl flooring would be better.

The kitchen / dining room is half laminate, which has seen better days, and half vinyl which as a mark on it where someone put something hot and has marked it. It was like this when I moved in but might bother some people. So would it be better to replace it all with new vinyl or just leave it. The kitchen worktops are fake granit stuff, but I think still look ok but I don't know if that is dated now or not.

The stair carpet needs doing as it is a bit frayed in a couple of places, and the bathrooms need something putting down as they are just bare boards but not varnished. Again they were like that when I moved in but just haven't got round to putting something down.

The walls in the house are quite nuteral decorated, but they aren't smooth. They must have not stripped some old wallpaper properly, and have just painted over it so you can see lumps and bumps and other bits have badly filled holes. I can't decide if this would bother anyone else to try and ask for a price drop, compared tojust trying to fix it depending how much it would cost to fix and redecorate.

The lofts just have hatches but no ladder and aren't boarded so would that extra storage space add any extra money.

The main bathroom has a whirlpool bath and shower which are ok. It has these plastic pannel boards rather than tiles, and is decorated more as a childrens bathroom. I don't know if I could just get away with painting it, or would people insist on tiles these days. I have a grab bar in the bath as well, due to a disability I need that to be able to get in and out to shower.

The master bedroom has a built in wardrobe with mirrored sliding doors, are these "in" and if not is it worth replacing them or trying those frosted stencils or something.

There are a lot of other houses for sale where I am, so it is weighing up just selling at a loss just to get it sold, or put extra money in and hope that I get more back than the costs to do the changes. Any jobs that did need doing I'd probably have to pay for people to do for me, as I wouldn't physically be able to do them myself which would obviously add to the costs.

So if you were viewing houses would any of those things bother you, and if so which if any of those changes would make you like it more.

System

We sold a while ago and like you were trying to get it ready ,we got 3 estate agents around who all agreed it wasn't worth completing the tidy up.
We put it on the market in the August and it was completed in the December.

gingernut352000

Sounds like you have a lot to do. Loft hatches and boarding definately not worth doing. I would get a couple of estate agents in and ask their opinion.

Also it depends where in the scale of property you are if first time buyer market then I woukdnt worry doing it the buyer will be over joyed at getting onto the market and they will generaaly like to do work.

Old saying if you are going to be doing work is that kitchens and bathrooms sell houses.

Just make sure house is spotlessly clean and tidy. Beds made etc. Washing up done sofa cushions plumped up etc. If you smoke then windows open and only smoke out side. The smell of nicotine can be really off putting to buyers.
Watch a couple of the phil spencer secret agent progs on telly and see if your house fits what he says.
Hope this helps.

Gastines3

We have bought and sold 16 houses and when buying always look for a property requiring work.Everyone's taste is different so you might be spending a lot of money time and effort which won't be financially rewarded.We work to a very tight budget and can do most jobs but rely on a electrician/plumber-gas fitter to do any work needed a safety certificate. We re-furb by putting in new kitchen/bathroom,tiling where possible and decorating in light tones of emulsion.Definately no bright colours or wallpaper features. mostly lay reasonable quality carpet on good quality underlay,this give a feeling of warmth and cuts down noise.Tiling kitchen and bathroom floors and only wood floor in separate dining room. I think many older buyers are going away from laminate floors due to noise etc.So basically unless you want to go the whole hog with the job you may be wiser to price the house to sell as it is, bearing in mind that a property price drop is forecast and mortgages are not that easy to come by.

trailingspouse

I wouldn't bother doing much at all.

I've never really understood why people have this urge to 'do it up to sell it' - if it's that bad, why not do it up to live in it?

As a previous poster said - make sure everything is clean and tidy. Fresh flowers are good. Keep pets (and evidence of pets) discreet. De-clutter.

Save your money for doing up your new house, that way you get the benefit.

pathtofreedom

Thanks for the comments. I did get an estate agent round last summer just to get an idea of valuations when I was trying to remorgage, and wanted to see how bad the negative equity was at that point. They had said about doing the carpet in the living room, but it never really bothered me, and I had thought the same that wouldn't people rather pick something they like than me make it worse somehow.

I had been watching Phil's program which was making me think maybe I should do some tarting up, but I think as this location is just sinking deeper into negative equity each year, it is better to cut and run than spend more money and then begrudge being out that as well. I can't try and complete with 4 empty houses as well as others for sale just in my road and the next let alone the rest of the estate. I think it is just going to be better to drop the price for quick sale, and keep my savings as you've said.

It would be a good house for a family as it is a 3 bed detached on a safe estate, but the rescession is closing all the factories etc and more redunancies all the time, including the tesco closures aren't helping the area. One in four shops in the town centre are empty, and the rest are all pound shops or charity shops so I can't see the house prices getting back to 2007 for at least another 10-15 years.

Phil does know his stuff but I think doing too much work on it at this point might be just putting lipstick on a pig of an area.

DavidJonas

Seriously, the carpets are probably not worth messing with.

You might want to clean them. Hire a rug doctor if they are stained or dirty. If they are truly terrible a cheap rug or two can cover a variety of sins. But it is much more important that they are clean.

Here is the reason. Picture the people coming through your door. Now picture them choosing a carpet, wallpaper, flooring.. how likely is it that will make exactly the same choices as you? Not very. So you may as well accept that almost everyone looking to buy your house is going to dislike everything there is in it. They will dislike your taste. Simply because people have different tastes. You could get new carpet but they will probably dislike that too.

So work on the basis that new buyers will replace the carpets, repaint/repaper the walls, change the lights... if not right away then it is certainly on their agenda. So people are not expsting to love the carpet. They just expect to have to live with it for a bit.

But everyone likes clean. The same goes for everything else. The fewer mucky marks, the less mould in the shower, etc etc the better.

There are other things but they are on the same theme. Reduce the clutter. It will make the house feel bigger. Make sure all the lightbulbs work. It will make the rooms seem suitably bright.