Selling an inherited house that needs work

Vasquez65

We will be selling my late Father’s house after probate etc. 

We’ve discovered it needs 2 new floor joists under the kitchen/diner/ under the kitchen units and all along the rear wall - looks like there was a leak under the sink that soaked the sterling board floor in the kitchen and partially rotted the joists, the one nearest the wall being the worst -   it was never noticed because the lino flooring was fitted under the kitchen units up to the walls so it must have been wet for nearly 20 years when he had a new kitchen.
We only noticed when we pulled out the washer and the lino sagged because there was no floor underneath it!
 There is no sign of damp anywhere else in the house and a builder friend who did a temporary fix said everything else under the house looks ok. 
The whole house is dated so buyers will probably want to renovate substantially so do we go through the hassle of taking out / putting back the whole kitchen to have the joists replaced plus the kitchen floor?
Will it reduce the sale price by a lot / put buyers off or even stop a potential mortgage if we don’t do the work?  

It’s a big 1960’s 3 bed semi on a main road with school fields / countryside opposite but guessing a value is tricky because houses along that street hardly ever come up for sale,  the last one was over 10 years ago.
I’ll get a couple of valuations done when we’ve had the house cleared but I just wanted peoples’ opinions on what to do (or not). 

tacpot12

I don't think it will be worth doing the repair to the floor. As you suggest, the whole house is going to need some work doing to it, so only people with some cash, time and experience are going to be able to buy it. If they need a mortgage, the mortgage company can always keep some money back until the repairs are done. 
I would just accept that you are not going to make as much as if the house was pristine, but you would spend more to make it pristine than you would make, so it's generally not worth paying others to do the work. If you have the time, and expertise to do it yourself quickly, it's worthwhile.  

Slithery

Have you looked into selling it at auction (the normal type, not the 'modern method')?

kazwookie

How much do you think the work would cost to sort out the rot joists? then deduct that price off the selling price.

dimbo61

Once you remove the kitchen the property becomes unmortgagable as you need a working kitchen and bathroom.

So either sell it via an local estate agents or sell at auction.
Don't do anything except remove all your Dad's possessions and clear everything possible out of the house and garden to make the rooms look bigger.
Cutting the grass and clearing the garden also helps

GDB2222

Suppose that the house would sell to an end user for £100,000, with all the main work done.  And suppose that work costs £10,000. Then, you'd hope to sell to an end user for around £90,000, without doing the work. But, that's only possible if it's a mortgageable property.

Once you get into the realms of an auction sale to cash buyers only, you are looking at far less. 

Apart from that, end users are usually short of cash for the deposit, let alone having something left over for major repairs needed immediately.

Consequently, I'd do the minimum needed to make the property mortgageable and liveable in immediately. I know that's somewhat objectionable, because the OP's dad lived there.

greatcrested

If you do the repairs to te joists etc, you will have to also put in a new kitchen... and retile the walls......and fit new white goods.....

and then some buyer will come along and say they don't like the colour scheme.

I would save your money and sell it as is. Price it appropriately for a renovation .

Vasquez65

dimbo61 said:

Once you remove the kitchen the property becomes unmortgagable as you need a working kitchen and bathroom.

So either sell it via an local estate agents or sell at auction.
Don't do anything except remove all your Dad's possessions and clear everything possible out of the house and garden to make the rooms look bigger.
Cutting the grass and clearing the garden also helps

Obviously we would put the kitchen back in place if we fix the joists,   It’s a good quality kitchen so should go back together ok, as the base units are standing on lino the water shouldn’t have got at them. 

The garden is ok as his next door  neighbour looked after it in return for using the greenhouse,  there is no grass,  it’s fully paved with a few brick raised beds,   It would be easy for someone to take up some slabs and lay a large lawn. 

Front garden is gravel and a steepish drive,  I think we will have the ‘council slab’ drive relaid, it is really uneven and very off putting.   

getmore4less

Don't forget council tax liability kicks in 6month after grant.

Desirable with something for the next person are often a good seller. 

Vasquez65

I’ve spoken to a neighbour ( we live in the street behind my Dad’s house)   he paid £110k 2 years ago for a house identical to mine,  so smaller than my Dad’s house and with a much smaller garden than mine. 

It needed complete renovation - rewiring, replastering,  new central heating system, kitchen, bathroom and new doors and windows. 

Dad’s house doesn’t need that level of work, the doors and windows are fine and the boiler and central heating are too.

AdrianC

By the sound of it, I'd get it in an auction - a proper one...

Get the daytime-TV-believers salivating at the thought of a quick profit, and they'll fight each other off.