Help - need to sell house quickly!

[tisinge]

Hello!

We're leaving the UK in 2 months time & we need to get our house prepared for selling asap. We've never sold a house before & are total newbies!

If anyone could help with any of the following questions, it would be greatly appreciated:

1. Is it worth replacing our carpet in our lounge/dining room which is in average but not tiptop condition but isn't a very nice colour? If so, what's the cheapest way to do so?

1. Is it expensive to get someone in to do exterior (e.g upper level window painting) & some interior painting? I don't think we can to the outside windows but, if pushed, we might be able to manage doing the lounge/dining area (if we can keep our toddler distracted & out of the way).

1. How do you choose an estate agent? Do you think it will be possible to sell our house before we leave? We live in North London & have a small 2bdrm house.

Any help, suggestions, tips on getting a house ready for the market & sold would be great!

Thanks.

[Umlellala]

1. wouldn't have thought necessary. Is worth 'dressing' everything to make it look fab.

1. Interior - worth doing everything that is lookign a bit tired.

Exterior - v expensive unless you can get someone to do it with a ladder and not scaffold- but gives a great impression if you can manage it.

It is unlikely you would be able to complete within 2months BUT not impossible. We went with Next Move in our area (Stoke Newington). Have a look at some property websites and see what agents are selling similar properties to yours. Where are you North London?

[goldenpeach]

Where are you? I'm looking to buy.

[msled]

I'd do exterior rather than interior painting - first impressions. Just shin up a ladder with some exterior paint. Get carpets cleaned or if they are totally horrible, rip them out and get the floor sanded. But you are in a hurry, so cleaning would be easier. Make it tidy and beautiful and smelling lovely. Post pictures!

[tisinge]

Thanks for the advice. We're in Barnet. Just trying to decide on a suitable colour for the lounge/dining area so we can get painting...

Msled - Lol at the 'Make it tidy and beautiful and smelling lovely' - it's been so long...I can't remember when our house was ever tidy without any children's toys, etc....

[GrendelsMum]

If you're moving abroad, get rid of everything you can now, and get lots of storage for the rest, so the house looks tidy when people come round.

Could you just pop a large cream rug on your carpet when people come round to view?

[goldenpeach]

Sorry, I'm looking elsewhere, good luck

[Cazwa]

Can you afford to hack loads off the price? How much will you lose for each month its not sold? Its not worth putting on the market at an inflated price then chopping a little bit off every few months if its not sold. Look at what similar properties are going for in your area and take 10% off, thats the price you are looking for. If anyone asks the agent why its so cheap its because you are moving abroad, priced to sell.

Thats if you can afford to do this. Good luck