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.

Following...

[quote Seychelles98]@StopSearching the thing is if you change the front door you wood need to go for a coloured wooden door (which would be an expensive purchase) as the coloured pvc doors aren't nice at all as they look a bit tacky...

For a wooden front door with maybe stained glass you'd be spending a minimum of £5,000 and also then you would maybe have to paint the garage door... I personally wouldn't spend that money when you're planning to move.

The mildew / green mould on the roof of your house could do with being hosed off as well as the mildew on the loft conversion roof as that can be seen from the aerial pictures again.[/quote]
5K for a front door? I'd want the fucker to made of platinum for that. Do people really spend this? Where in fuck do they get the money?

@Myhousemyhome

Name changed. My house is on the market.

I agree with Bluntness that I would set a budget op. However, I would put cheap carpets down rather than clean your ones. And do any remedial work / painting. No changing doors, boilers etc. It costs around £50 to clean carpets so you’d be far better to change yours. It would obviously cost a lot more to carpet your house. But new carpets would add a lot more value. The most I would do to your kitchen is the worktops as they’re dark. You can get stick on fablon. I haven’t tried it though.

What the house really needs is soul. I get it’s so hard to start. It took a long time to get the stuff to stage my house. Before I started, I had a lot of vases but practically no nice ornaments, no pictures and two mirrors on the wall. Now there are pictures aplenty and mirrors everywhere. DBut everything I’ve bought to try to enhance the house will come with us.

So room by room.
Kitchen - herbs in pots - these are tea / coffee / sugar I bought from eBay then decided not to use - new. We already had a nice fruit bowl, new cooksmart tea / coffee / sugar and matching cake tins, chopping board next sale, new. Sofas and throws from next. Bought sofas 18 months ago to replace tired ones. Throws are 2 sided so I can just flip to the white side for viewings. Cushions from IKEA. Side table new, from Next - new. Wash stand used as a tv stand - have had for years. Picture Next sale - new. Kettle and toaster matching - have had some time. Treats tin from Laura Ashley - new.

Living room with coloured sofas - new
Sofas and foot stool Next sale velvet. Half price or less. Side table x 2 and small coffee table next - mostly sale, new. Dresser we’ve had for years. Black wedding chest we’ve had for years. Everything else is new. Tall Lamp - next sale. Ornaments on dresser - 2 x candles from a local shop, Laura Ashley peacock, next sale flowers in vase. On wedding chest - Cheetah (LA) - new and next catalogues, tray and tea service on coffee table we’ve had years.

Dining Table - we’ve had this for over a decade. Cutlery and crockery are our day to day sets. Vase and runner new, next sale. Sun Mirror - sorry can’t remember but bought recently. Console - wayfair. Tray - Laura Ashley and our own glassware - decanters and glasses.

White sofas - we’ve had these a few years and they’re from ScS. Mostly new cushions from next with the navy ones / navy throw from the range a couple of years ago. Mirror - brand alley a few years ago. On top of the stereo stack - Murano glass fish from eBay, lamp next sale, on mantel piece - vases we had for several years from IKEA, Laura Ashley mirror box and candle in glass from the range, sun mirror on stand from next sale.

H/S/L
Large mirror on stairs new - can’t remember where, pictures on the landing area - new Laura Ashley and next, office area murano glass eBay vase, LA sale lamp, office furniture we reclaimed from a place dh used to work, mirror Next sale.

Bedroom with ensuite / blue covers - bought new bed covers
LA sale all new, next sale lamp new, vase new from the range, swans murano glass eBay, next sale mirror above bed - eBay, lamp next sale. Ensuite - vase I bought years ago, new towels Sainsburys. Furniture in bedroom we have had for over 10 years, lighting also had some time.

Bathroom - new towels Tesco and Next bath mat, LA mirror pot, new soap dispenser Next. Swan loo brushes from eBay. Yes, I have loo brushes. This is why I name changed

Bedroom with white duvet cover - new bed cover
Lighting have had some time, bed side lamps ditto. Furniture we have had some time. Next duvet cover new. Cushions were bought for downstairs but repurposed, next (18 months ago) and 2 large I bought some time ago. Vases I had already. On chest drawers - Next swan new, LA mirror pots new. Painting BandQ (Dd chose that), above bed pictures next sale, new. Ensuite - already had glass jars tooth brush holders etc, bought soap dispenser new from next and fake flowers the range, new towels.

Pink bedroom - Catherine lansfield bedding new
Dds furniture relatively new. Wayfair dressing table, bensons for beds wardrobe and chest drawers, wowcher bed, brand alley bedding but can get from wayfair etc also, next cushions, next gold shelving unit with dd’s bits and bobs, sofa bed from Made with next cushions, next curtains and matching lampshade. All bought 12/ 18 months ago.

Blue bedroom - angel strawberry bedding and curtains - new.
Bedding bought at next. Tie backs already had. Furniture existing. Lighting existing. Cushion next. Ornaments existing. Lamp existing. Vase M&S. Mirror Next sale.

I obviously added flowers. And I’m aware the outside could have done with a bit of tlc. But that’s my house. It’s a lot of work to get it to this standard and tbh my house looked a lot more like yours before I started. I had it decorated recently as well. This all to our taste. But still relatively neutral.

I’m not saying my house is perfect and I appreciate I was able to spend a fair amount of money. If I add it up, I’m probably talking about But if you can find things you love and can afford them, your house will look loved back. I just had a quick spend on everything I bought new to dress the house and I spent just over 4.4k but I can take all of that with me bar a curtain track and as most of that was sale so I got a lot for my money. That doesn’t include anything for dd’s room (which would have been around 2k) but does include the new bedding as well as including the downstairs sofas, cushions side tables, pictures, mirrors, ornaments, lamps (Mood lighting) and bits for the kitchen etc. The fresh flowers cost another £30. Then the decorating was on top plus we paid someone to put up

Thanks for that detailed post. Are you happy to share the link so we can see it in action, so to speak?

5K for a front door? I'd want the fucker to made of platinum for that

That's about 1.5% of the value of the whole house

Are there plans for houses to be built on that massive field?

Following also. Great thread. Thanks OP for opening up your house to us all, literally. Will be interesting to see any updates you make, regardless of what they are. Good Luck selling your home. x

I posted on the last thread. I live here and there are only 3 four beds left for sale in the whole town and all 3 are similar style in same part of town - 2 are £350k and one is £325k. The others sold because they are the right price, these three are not the right price! Houses are selling in days round here so you have to ask yourself why people are choosing 4 beds in Yeovil over your home in the “popular” Sherborne? Honestly, I’m helping my newly divorced friend find a 4 bed so I’m very aware of the market and people are fighting over them because there’s nothing on the market. People have a level of expectation for that price and your home, while a nice enough home, doesn’t meet that expectation.

SlothMama did you do the video tour? Have you seen the damp ceilings and peeling paint? The office style fluorescent lights? The artex ceilings? The downstairs loo?

@Bluntness100

Again I’d personally not be replacing the toilet suite or getting a new boiler, these are all hugely expensive items.

The op isn’t undertaking a full renovation here, she’s doing it up to sell.

So cleaning, repairing the concerning issues like the ceiling in the living room, painting the shower room and that floor with a tub of white paint, matt, power washing outside, will make it look much more sellable.

But she certainly shouldn’t be undertaking a full renovation of new doors, new boiler, new toilet suite etc.

Honestly some folks must be rolling in cash. At no point has she said she’s a spare thirty grand rolling around to do the place up to sell it.

But the potential buyer will need to do all of this. It’s totally reasonable for OP not to spend the money doing it, but the price needs to reflect the thousands that someone is going to have to spend to make it decent. £350k is clearly outrageous, even if she paints, and cleans the carpets.

Make life simple, repair the ceilings and damp patches, give it a good clean, put in back on the market as a refurbishment project and reduce the price! Don’t faff about with anything else, either do virtually nothing or do a full refurb, a half hearted cover up attempt will fool no one and you still will not get you the price you want, don’t waste your money and time.

Stain block paint is great for water marks on ceilings. We've had a couple of shower leaks and it's covered over the stains well. Good luck OP!

My neighbours across the road put in a new basic kitchen and bathroom, new carpets, repainted and got the lawn returfed prior to putting their house on the market. It was a huge improvement.

The new people promptly got both the kitchen and bathroom replaced within a few weeks of moving in, they then repainted and put in different carpets. They've recently had the lawn removed and made into extra parking.

It seems such a waste of money and I wonder if my old neighbours would have sold without doing it all.

I was struck by your explanation (in the previous thread) of what attracted you to the house and what you love about it. It's so enthusiastic and joyful, even down to the ironing board cupboard! As a potential buyer, those things would be useful/interesting to me...We've previously sold a house where the estate agent asked us to put in writing what we loved about our house and the surrounding area, which they then tweaked and edited and put into the particulars under a "what the owner says" heading

Totally agree, your enthusiasm for the home and area really shone through. That your EA hasn't thought to do that (plus the poorly written blurb, shite photos, and lack of guidance) shows how rubbish they are. To be honest, if it were me I'd sack them and get ones who make more of an effort and behave as though they want to sell your home. These ones don't deserve the commission. You shouldn't have to be advising them, suggesting things to improve the listing, they should be doing these things as standard.

OP, is there a reason why you haven't stopped the price in two years and are ignoring those suggestions now?

It just seems by far the simplest solution!

@StopSearching

If you paid £240k in 2007, and seemingly haven't made any improvements since, what makes you think it's worth £350 now?

The first thing I do when looking at houses is see what the current owner paid. I don't know your area at all so have no idea if house prices there have risen much since the mid 2000's peak? Even if they have can you really justify a £110k rise on a dated looking house which needs just about everything doing?

@PandemicAtTheDisco

My neighbours across the road put in a new basic kitchen and bathroom, new carpets, repainted and got the lawn returfed prior to putting their house on the market. It was a huge improvement.

The new people promptly got both the kitchen and bathroom replaced within a few weeks of moving in, they then repainted and put in different carpets. They've recently had the lawn removed and made into extra parking.

It seems such a waste of money and I wonder if my old neighbours would have sold without doing it all.

Never mind the waste of money - what a hideous waste of the earth's resources.

If you have a tapi carpets nearby you could try their silver carpets on the stairs. The estate agent told me it sold my house and it was fairly cheap.

But the potential buyer will need to do all of this. It’s totally reasonable for OP not to spend the money doing it, but the price needs to reflect the thousands that someone is going to have to spend to make it decent. £350k is clearly outrageous, even if she paints, and cleans the carpets

Totally agree, she just needs to make it look in liveable condition, but the price needs to drop, there’s no way round it, which is why she shouldn’t spend too much.

Just enough to entice people in and not make it look like there is significant damp and structural issues. But it won’t sell unless rhe price is right. It is still what it is, and the new build estate is still going up.

I reckon the op can get 300 for it If she does some minor work, and I’d market it at 315 Ie if she fixes the living room ceiling, the top floor and that shower room, cleans it all up, inside and out and replaces that green carpet. Spend maybe a grand on it. It’s not worth spending much more.

Doing nothing will result in marketing for about 300 and selling it for about 275 or just taking it off the market.

Things like the boiler, the front door, really are the least of the issues here and are not a priority.

@Wondermule

Are there plans for houses to be built on that massive field?

Yes, several hundred.

@Bluntness100

The link above says the house is no longer on the market. Have you taken it off op?

@Mummyoflittledragon

The link above says the house is no longer on the market. Have you taken it off op?

Same when I look too