Quick and cost effective bathroom makeover

bex2012

Thing is, whatever you do its never going to be to peoples personal taste. Some people love grey, streaky marble and diamante, but to thats my idea of hell. Likewise they would probably hate my choices. As long as its clean, functional, and in decent repair, thats all that matters.

Have you considered changing agents?

Bailey1980

moneysaver1978 said:

Is this the same estate agent If so, I would change - I cannot see anything wrong with the bathroom in the photo. Mould or rust around the mirror etc. are big red flags but if they are not there....

It is the same estate agent and we are looking to change but before doing so we want to make sure that this time around everything is 110% perfect. 

There is some rust around the mirror - initially when we handed everything over to the agent we didn't notice it and as we aren't living in the property we didn't notice it/realise it was an issue. 

When it was first picked out by a friend who we asked for an opinion on the photos/marketing we mentioned it to the estate agent but they told us not to change the mirror because people might want a different one/style/mirrored cabinet and/or to redo the bathroom as whole so leave it as is, it's only now some 4-5months after this conversation that they have told us to replace it. 

They also in the same conversation (2-3 weeks) ago told us that the bathroom is full of mould in the sealant and grout but when I pointed out this wasn't the case in the photos I got told that they had to heavily edit the photos so they weren't a true representation of the state of the house which we are annoyed at as it's likely wasted people's time viewing it. However, I got a set of keys back from the agent and went back to the house a week after having that conversation and I could not see any mould in the sealant/grout as alleged, perhaps it just needs brightening, but I am questioning my sanity and whether I'm seeing what I want to see. 

gwynlas said:

Better presentation usually means that you need to tidy things up rather than redecorate. Just leave the absolute essentials out, matching hand and bath towel on rail, handwash on sink and shower gel or shampoo, maybe invest in showy bottles and toilet brush holder not diamante.. Throw wverything else in lidded storage basket or  cheap washing up bowl and hide under a towel in airing cupboard for viewings. Similarly for every other room. No everyday detritus matching bedding clear surfaces move in with a suitcase presentation. Storage boxes in garage or car boot hide a multitude of sins

Thanks - the property is completely empty, we have moved out so there is no furniture or surfaces covered in everything (the first picture is the current state of the bathroom, the second picture is from when we moved in about 9 years ago) 

The whole house was painted white/off white inside before it went on the market so has been redecorated but the estate agent has said that's not enough but that equally if we redecorate again it won't be to people's personal taste. 

The estate agent has told us we need to rip up and replace all the carpets, replace all the internal doors and install a new shower unit . Over the last week they have also told us if we want to sell we need to replace the bathroom suite, all the door frames and all the skirting boards. Then once we have done all that to drop the price by £10K 

GDB2222 said:

Some of the grout looks discoloured, so touch it up with a grout pen.

The mirror looks naff, so get a local glass shop to make you one the same size. Either get screw holes put in it to line up with the existing holes, or just glue the mirror onto the tiles. 

I’m not sure that I would spend money on a little cupboard under the pedestal basin, but they are pretty cheap. 

I would not do any more than that.

The plan was to go over the grout again with grout pen and replace the mirror

Was only thinking of an under sink cupboard to show what storage options would be possible but as ive said in other posts I'm questioning my judgment and sanity. 

Ganga

You say the agent thinks it is over priced by £10k ,who priced it for sale ,does the price you are asking reflect the price of similar property in your road or near by.

moneysaver1978

Bailey1980 said:

moneysaver1978 said:

Is this the same estate agent If so, I would change - I cannot see anything wrong with the bathroom in the photo. Mould or rust around the mirror etc. are big red flags but if they are not there....

It is the same estate agent and we are looking to change but before doing so we want to make sure that this time around everything is 110% perfect. 

There is some rust around the mirror - initially when we handed everything over to the agent we didn't notice it and as we aren't living in the property we didn't notice it/realise it was an issue. 

When it was first picked out by a friend who we asked for an opinion on the photos/marketing we mentioned it to the estate agent but they told us not to change the mirror because people might want a different one/style/mirrored cabinet and/or to redo the bathroom as whole so leave it as is, it's only now some 4-5months after this conversation that they have told us to replace it. 

They also in the same conversation (2-3 weeks) ago told us that the bathroom is full of mould in the sealant and grout but when I pointed out this wasn't the case in the photos I got told that they had to heavily edit the photos so they weren't a true representation of the state of the house which we are annoyed at as it's likely wasted people's time viewing it. However, I got a set of keys back from the agent and went back to the house a week after having that conversation and I could not see any mould in the sealant/grout as alleged, perhaps it just needs brightening, but I am questioning my sanity and whether I'm seeing what I want to see. 

In that case, I would get the mirror replaced, and use a pen like https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unibond-Bathroom-Whitener-Restoring-Discoloured/dp/B00LRAA86I to bring some shine to the bathroom.

These are a lot cheaper than replacing carpets or putting in vanity units.

Bailey1980

Ganga said:

You say the agent thinks it is over priced by £10k ,who priced it for sale ,does the price you are asking reflect the price of similar property in your road or near by.

The agent we are with valued it at £195K but we put it on for £179k/£180K but they are now telling us to spend a lot of money we don't have on the property and if we don't we have to drop it down to £170K and be willing to accept offers of  £160-£165K, yet for five months they'd told us nothing needs doing to the house to sell it. 

Zoopla estimates the house to be worth  £176K and we'd be willing to accept £175K but the estate agents have told us that dropping to £175k will make no difference and it has to be £170K with accepting offers of £160k-£165K 

It is in keeping with properties in the area - the EA sold one on a nearby street for £183K, another on a nearby street for £195K (these properties were slightly bigger and perhaps had a tidier frontage but I'm going to be working on this) and they have this week listed a property on a street that runs parallel to where our property is for £187,500 even though our property has bigger rooms (upstairs & downstairs) and a bigger garden, planning permission and external wall insulation and closer to the transport links 

Another estate agent has recently put a house up on another parallel street for £200K. 

We have got opinions from other estate agents and they are of the view that the current price and even £175k is correct. 

Ganga

Bailey1980 said:

Ganga said:

You say the agent thinks it is over priced by £10k ,who priced it for sale ,does the price you are asking reflect the price of similar property in your road or near by.

The agent we are with valued it at £195K but we put it on for £179k/£180K but they are now telling us to spend a lot of money we don't have on the property and if we don't we have to drop it down to £170K and be willing to accept offers of  £160-£165K, yet for five months they'd told us nothing needs doing to the house to sell it. 

Zoopla estimates the house to be worth  £176K and we'd be willing to accept £175K but the estate agents have told us that dropping to £175k will make no difference and it has to be £170K with accepting offers of £160k-£165K 

It is in keeping with properties in the area - the EA sold one on a nearby street for £183K, another on a nearby street for £195K (these properties were slightly bigger and perhaps had a tidier frontage but I'm going to be working on this) and they have this week listed a property on a street that runs parallel to where our property is for £187,500 even though our property has bigger rooms (upstairs & downstairs) and a bigger garden, planning permission and external wall insulation and closer to the transport links 

Another estate agent has recently put a house up on another parallel street for £200K. 

We have got opinions from other estate agents and they are of the view that the current price and even £175k is correct. 

Are you desperate to sell ? if not hang on a bit longer for the asking price ,i thought that at the moment there is a housing shortage and property was still selling ,i  know it is TV but we watched programs like Location ,Location ,Location and the number of couples who have been gasumped on houses is frightening.
If you feel that the price you are asking is a fair value i would hang on as prices are still rising .

mexican_dave

Yes, there's a housing shortage don't spend money on "improving" your bathroom. By all means use colour co-ordiated towels, a laundry basket, etc as suggested. Yes, work on the "kerb appeal", obviously no idea what your frontage is like: fix any wobbly slabs; trim the lawn edges; if you have no planting beds consider a large pot with something growing/flowering near the front door. All minimal cost. I am sure it will sell. Check-out the EA description, is it waffle or punchy? I hate them listing "...a radiator in this room" again and again, they should just say "full central heating". I don't think anyone else has mentioned it, the properties you have compared your own to, have you compared EPCs. We have had times of high energy use, are people more aware of energy and hence aware of EPCs? What do other Forumites think?

CapricornLass

To be honest, the ocean of white is quite off-putting to me. 

White can be very cold and clinical, so I think you need to warm the room up a bit visually.  Do you live near an IKEA?  They sell plastic plants in pots for about £5-8 each,  My son got a couple for his bathroom - he's in rented accommodation so can't really make any changes, but the difference to the bathroom those three plastic plants made was amazing.    Likewise, use warm shades for the towels and bath mat.  I take it there isn't a blind or anything across the window, but if there is, than needs to be a warm shade too

I think also changing estate agents is a good idea. An estate agent who demands all sorts of quite major changes in order to sell the house sounds like an estate agent you could do without, especially when they weren't being open about it right from the beginning

Bailey1980

Ganga said:

Bailey1980 said:

Ganga said:

You say the agent thinks it is over priced by £10k ,who priced it for sale ,does the price you are asking reflect the price of similar property in your road or near by.

The agent we are with valued it at £195K but we put it on for £179k/£180K but they are now telling us to spend a lot of money we don't have on the property and if we don't we have to drop it down to £170K and be willing to accept offers of  £160-£165K, yet for five months they'd told us nothing needs doing to the house to sell it. 

Zoopla estimates the house to be worth  £176K and we'd be willing to accept £175K but the estate agents have told us that dropping to £175k will make no difference and it has to be £170K with accepting offers of £160k-£165K 

It is in keeping with properties in the area - the EA sold one on a nearby street for £183K, another on a nearby street for £195K (these properties were slightly bigger and perhaps had a tidier frontage but I'm going to be working on this) and they have this week listed a property on a street that runs parallel to where our property is for £187,500 even though our property has bigger rooms (upstairs & downstairs) and a bigger garden, planning permission and external wall insulation and closer to the transport links 

Another estate agent has recently put a house up on another parallel street for £200K. 

We have got opinions from other estate agents and they are of the view that the current price and even £175k is correct. 

Are you desperate to sell ? if not hang on a bit longer for the asking price ,i thought that at the moment there is a housing shortage and property was still selling ,i  know it is TV but we watched programs like Location ,Location ,Location and the number of couples who have been gasumped on houses is frightening.
If you feel that the price you are asking is a fair value i would hang on as prices are still rising .

I guess we are somewhat desperate as it's been on the market for some time and it is a drain on finances as we are still having to pay council tax, gas/electricity and mortgage on it whilst paying the other two items on the house we have had to move into (the previous family home as parents have passed, but sister needs a lot of care due to disabilities) 

mexican_dave said:

Yes, there's a housing shortage don't spend money on "improving" your bathroom. By all means use colour co-ordiated towels, a laundry basket, etc as suggested. Yes, work on the "kerb appeal", obviously no idea what your frontage is like: fix any wobbly slabs; trim the lawn edges; if you have no planting beds consider a large pot with something growing/flowering near the front door. All minimal cost. I am sure it will sell. Check-out the EA description, is it waffle or punchy? I hate them listing "...a radiator in this room" again and again, they should just say "full central heating". I don't think anyone else has mentioned it, the properties you have compared your own to, have you compared EPCs. We have had times of high energy use, are people more aware of energy and hence aware of EPCs? What do other Forumites think?

I guess we hadn't left towels etc there as we weren't intending to ever go back and had handed all the keys to the estate agent but we are going to put a few things in the house - bathmat towels, maybe some plants - likely to be artificial ones as we won't be able to water them. 

The frontage is gravel, but there are some weeds that have popped up and leaves that have fallen over the the gravel so needs clearing and was thinking of putting some window boxes on the external windowsills - perhaps with artifical flowers so little chance of wilting and some artificial boxwood trees. 

The EPC on the house compared to other houses that are for sale in the area is better but it doesn't seem that the estate agent has mentioned anywhere that the house has external wall insulation. 

CapricornLass said:

To be honest, the ocean of white is quite off-putting to me. 

White can be very cold and clinical, so I think you need to warm the room up a bit visually.  Do you live near an IKEA?  They sell plastic plants in pots for about £5-8 each,  My son got a couple for his bathroom - he's in rented accommodation so can't really make any changes, but the difference to the bathroom those three plastic plants made was amazing.    Likewise, use warm shades for the towels and bath mat.  I take it there isn't a blind or anything across the window, but if there is, than needs to be a warm shade too

I think also changing estate agents is a good idea. An estate agent who demands all sorts of quite major changes in order to sell the house sounds like an estate agent you could do without, especially when they weren't being open about it right from the beginning

Thanks - most of the walls hadn't been decorated for a number of years so they were marked /discoloured and we initially had three estate agents come out for valuations we mentioned that we were thinking of re-painting before putting on the market and they all told us that a white/off white would be best. 

We don't leave near an Ikea but there is a Range, B&M, Home Bargains, TK Maxx; failing which it might be Amazon! 

No blind in the bathroom as it's  frosted glass and so never been a need one. 

What warm shade would you recommend? (I don't trust my judgment anymore) 

FreeBear

I'd agree with others - Nothing inherently wrong with the bathroom apart from the mirror & the tap. Both of those are (relatively) cheap fixes.

Airing the property on a regular basis will help alleviate any musty smells that develop in an unused property. Perhaps place a few air fresheners around the place might help. Then there is the estate agent - Sounds like a right knob if he/she is suggesting replacing doors & carpets. Still got the original period doors in *this place, and I'd give any EA a boot up the backside if one suggested replacements.

As a side note, Christmas is often a quiet time for house sales, and the slight recession hasn't helped. The market should start to pick up as the weather improves.