Help me sell my house

[StopSearching]

I've made a new thread so that I can post updates for those that are interested.

Previous thread here

Brief outline is my house needs improvement and re-marketing so I've been asking for advice and going to start implementing it.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

OP have you said why you want to move?

We want to move nearer to family in another county.

Thank you for starting a new thread. Some people were very scathing on the last one. That must have been very hard to read.

The way I see it though is that you could spend £25k doing it up or drop the price by £25k....

OP what do you think might happen to house prices in the country you want to move to over the coming months/ years? If you have any ideas about that it might help you choose whether your best off reducing substantially and selling now or improving substantially to try and get near asking price (which might take a while). If house prices are likely to rise a lot in the other country then you might be better off long term taking the former option.

We want to move nearer to family in another county.

Would you need the full asking price of £350k to make the move? If not then please consider reducing the asking price to £300k - £315k and enjoy being closer to family. I know reducing the price is daunting but it's already been 2 years. Personally I know how hard being apart from family has been after the year we've just had. Sometimes it's worth taking the leap to achieve the end result.

I'll go through them a pic at a time...
1: The first photo needs to be a full screen shot of the front of the house. Needs to be SUPER clear which house the buyers are looking at. And I'd draw less focus to that field at the back. Buyers will immediately think its for re-development.
2: Scruffy hedges, scruffy field. Not clear which house it is.
3: Should have this pic first.
4: Or this one.
5: The garden needs the same staging as the house. At the moment it looks scruffy and unkempt. Get some pots with flowers. Fake if needs be. Have some garden furniture set out for staging photos. Borrow from friends and neighbours if required. Mow the grass, trim the hedge.
6: Empty, scruffy field. So what?
7- 12: All fine.
13: I'd get that brick wall plastered over. Make the utility more of a "room" than a "lean-to".
14-18: Fine also.
19-20: Just delete. That field isn't the selling point you/your agent thinks it is.

One other thought... It's expensively priced for what is a very average family home. It's crammed in with neighbours - its detached, but might as well not be, literally a shared driveway, and the back garden is pretty tiny and uninspired. No front garden.
Take it down to 290K and someone will have it for that. A house is only worth what someone will pay.

One of the things I thought when I came back earlier was about the garden office room. Why isn't there a photo of that inside? And why is there an office in the house when there's one supposedly outside?

In case you have multiple people working from home? Or want to convert the inside office into a nursery?

I really love threads like these (although OP, you need a hard hat, very brave of you

Has anybody else any houses they need to sell?

@StopSearching

One of the things I thought when I came back earlier was about the garden office room. Why isn't there a photo of that inside? And why is there an office in the house when there's one supposedly outside?

You can see inside on the walk through but I'm not sure it needs a photo as it's just a computer, bookcase table and chairs. We use them both, sometimes for work, sometimes for gaming.

Ah! I struggled to find it on the walk through first time. What are all those brown marks on the walls? It's a really lovely space and yes, absolutely have a picture of it! It's so open and welcoming as an office, I'd love to work in it. It's a real selling point! It's definitely something I'd want pics of in the main slideshow. And to big it up more in the blurb.

Along with the bathroom (also no pic!) it's one of the nicest spaces of the property. It just needs a lick of paint to freshen it up.

Ooh I will have to go back and have a look. I didn't realise you could see inside

OP I think you have been very gracious and taken on a lot of good suggestions. I'm looking forward to seeing how things work out (placemarks)

I can’t seem to get in the outside office on the walk through!

I was in rented accomodation and we had a grotty carpet and walls.

I used stain removers and a carpet cleaner to get the carpets in a much better state and then a steamer to get the carpet pile less flattened. It looked so much better afterwards and most of the stains were gone or hardly visible.

With the walls I used a magic erasure - they were great. I cut them up to use them though. Some of the walls needed repainting in areas so I used sponges and sponged them rather than repaint all over. It looked better but in the right light it was very obvious in some places.

You have to go to the floor plan and you can click on it from there.

It's lovely with lots of light. Perfect office space (and so much nicer than the office in the house).

Good luck with the magic erasers, I find them really good when I get marks on the wall or tiled floors, rub gently it literally th marks just come off, when other materials/agents haven’t made an iota of difference.

We recently had the bathroom done and there were some little grout splatters on some tiles and magic erasers took them off easily.

Also I think you’ll be astonished at the difference getting the carpets professionally cleaned will make. Plus also the house will smell so much better (not saying it smells bad but you know what I mean) . The carpets will look like new. Yes still not great but it will be a huge difference.

I also agree with the person who said replacing all the doors would be a good idea. Even if these were painted, they are very obviously really cheap old fashioned doors.

@MrBullinaChinaShop

I can’t seem to get in the outside office on the walk through!

When you're in the garden, click the 360 button by the hedge/fence.

I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like once it's painted (inc. skimmed), new carpets, furniture update and dressed.

You've taken all the comments so well OP.
A lot to do but you could end up with a lovely looking, appealing and sellable home!

Btw - I just got new carpets (and wooden flooring for DC room) from Tapi Carpets and it didn't work out too expensive and has transformed my upstairs!! It made more of a difference than I had expected.

Thank you @sunflowersandbuttercups.

OP I’d give the walls a lick of paint in there.

Thanks for the new thread Op. Looking forward to hearing / seeing your updates.
Defo get a new estate agent.

@MrBullinaChinaShop

Thank you *@sunflowersandbuttercups*.

OP I’d give the walls a lick of paint in there.

Yes, those are just knots in the wood but we could paint over them.

I don’t know, I think some folks are asking the op to spend a lot. I think she needs to set a budget and work out how much to sell it for.

Not everyone has the kind of money to throw at things being suggested here, I’d not replace all the doors, that’s really expensive, I’d potentially paint them, but that’s all I’d do. I think some folks have oodles of cash to spare.

I’d defo clean all the carpets, and the walls, and power wash outside . Front and back,

There’s some money in the ceiling repairs to be spent. I’d consider replacing the green carpet depending on budget available, if not a good professional clean,

I’d then buy some white paint and some polyfilla and paint the top floor and the shower there.

Honestly I’m not sure I’d go further than that. I’d put some nice pots she can take with her outside at the front, and tidy up the back.

Honestly I don’t think I’d do more than that.

I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like once it's painted (inc. skimmed), new carpets, furniture update and dressed

Gosh that reads quite badly. I think that would cost a lot of money I don’t think it’s right to be writing this sort of stuff. She wants to sell it, she’s not looking to spend thousands on a full renovation.

I think @StopSearching you should consider what you need to do to get viewings, i.e. great description, better photos, brochure, video. do more research on pricing.

repair anything that needs to be repaired, paint, possibly new carpet/laminate, staging, garden fence, kerb appeal.

consider getting quotes for toilet and sink in the master 'suite' and for a new combi boiler in place of the water tank.

look up on council planning site plans for the field behind the house. if there is no plans for development then put it in the blurb.

for viewings itself the house 'just' needs to be clean and tidy.

Get a better photographer, some vases of flowers, a stunt bowl of fruit, and some plants in tubs outside. The house looks seriously unloved and like it has been empty for months.

What is that large round flat area in the garden, and why is it in the middle of the garden photo? See what I mean?

I have the same pink tea towel as you by the way but choose a more complementary colour next time!