..to not sell my house now?

[househorror]

So, got the going price for my house, about £10k under, but it has taken a long time to sell and I'm very happy with the price. So my AIBU is here...

I have spent the last 3 years all - through Covid, doing my house up. It looks fabulous, really nice. All the carpets follow through in the same colour to the upstairs, all the hard floors match in Karndean. The whole house is a neutral pallette etc etc. The bathroom was cheap but white and well put in.
So, I have just found out from the EA (a friend vaguely knows her) that the prospective buyers intend to rip stuff out and put their signature on it. I mean, I have literally spent thousands on doing the house up, and I do not want to sell it to someone who is going to gut it.

AIBU in pulling out of the sale. Its very early doors, they have only just put in for a survey

I can’t get excited about a Magnet kitchen. It’s a high street kitchen. its not exactly poggenpohl

equally you shouldn’t have been laying karndean yourself, it’s meant to be laid by their fitters to validate the guarantee.

Well do that then. But if it goes on/off the market regularly because you're controlling on who buys it, you'll start looking insane.

I think OP has been swigging her mid range sherry tonight.
I'll offer 50k less for it, I won't change a thing and I'll send you pictures bi-yearly letting you know how the house is, what it did in the holidays etc.

I hope you don’t have any issues with your Karndean, as you won’t have any warranty if a tiles needs replacing given you installed it yourself.

I’d take the sale OP. You may not ‘need’ the money, but with interest rates rising and cost of living increasing, house prices will go down. Your hill may be much more expensive than you think.

But if the money paid is the same, what does it matter? It won’t be your house anymore? I think it’s odd to wait around until someone offers who’s going to promise to keep the house as is. Very controlling!

Oh grow up
kitchen prices have gone up dramatically in the past 24 months
unless it is a galley kitchen then £10k is lower end. Appliances and fittings have also increased

I can understand it: whenever I've viewed houses (I've moved a LOT) I've never told a seller or the EA that I'm planning to do anything to it. I've only ever commented that any fixture is "nice". I do get a little miffed when I've got wind of someone changing my old house, so keep my own renovation plans to myself!
That said, I'd not let it ruin a sale of I did find out, so I do think YABU, OP.

It does sound like it has been decorated to look like a barratt home, same carpet throughout etc, cheap bathroom, neutral (so soulless) colours throughout. Not many people apart from landlords would choose to decorate their home like that surely.

So you care about the environment, yet you’re buying a new build…

Yabu, once you sell it then it’s not yours so it’s not your business what they do to it

Just because it’s your taste, it doesn’t mean it’s theirs. If you’re happy with the price and it hadn’t sold before then just take the money and move on. It won’t even be your house anymore so they can do whatever they want with it 🤷‍♀️

Sell or don't sell.

I put my hard work in and you cannot buy that

anyone can get a floor laid, or a kitchen fitted and normally its paid for

Don't be jealous love.

Sorry, why do you think I'm jealous?! I have a lovely house which is decorated exactly how I like it. You said yourself the bathroom is cheap and I consider "neutral" to be boring. You really struggle with people having different tastes to you don't you?!

I was trying to be helpful by explaining your ea will still charge you their fees, if you can throw that money away then by all means don't sell. Doesn't impact me at all

You'd be crazy to pull out of a sale on the basis of hearsay. You don't even know if it's true what the buyers propose doing.

Suppose they do take out your £10K kitchen, they'll probably sell the cabinets on because they're relatively new. Just like you did. They might sell on the flooring, just like you did. It might be to reclaim some money back from it, it might be for environmental reasons, it might be because they know John and Betty are looking for new flooring but can't afford brand new Karndean laid by a qualified fitter, so the second hand stuff from their new house will help both couples out. And you'll be in your new build with a fresh set of swatches and colour cards and can look forward to putting your stamp on your new gaff. Everyone's a winner!

You sound like someone I know, same attitude and everything. Long story short, they had plenty of money, mortgage free house. They were like this and in the end it cost them dear. They struggled to get an EA to list them in the end, spent ££££ s they missed completion on their off plan house as theirs didn’t sell. It caused such a mess and they were so precious who their old house went to. It wiped a lot of money from their pot as the house struggled to sell.

Now, we are heading into a recession, mortgage availability and approval is falling. Chances of you getting another proceedable buyer are slimming every single day.There is no guarantee if job losses hit that even proceedable buyers will be able to complete.

Anyway, she ended up in sheltered housing with no property as she never financially recovered from the car crash of decisions she made. You literally could be her and if you weren’t writing in present tense, I would think you were.

OP do you really want to sell the house, deep down?

If so, you need to let go. People are very different in their tastes and in what works for them.

The house I bought was in an absolute state (still is, in many ways) and I don't understand how someone can neglect a property to the extent this one has clearly been neglected, or make such a bodge job out of what little DIY has been attempted over the years. But I did not care about decor or fixable problems, because I could see the potential of the house as such.

The previous owner has painted white and magnolia over all of the walls, which I can see behind the radiators were previously a typical 1970s decor. Having lived in many a rental over the years - all of which were white or magnolia - I have re-painted every available wall in different colours. Every room has a "theme" - a creative outlet I was never allowed in all of my time renting. I am pouring my heart into this property.

But, should I ever sell it on, I will have to accept that the next prospective owners will want to do the same, perhaps even for similar reasons. Who am I to tell them what to do with their property, once it's sold?

If you really do want to sell, that is the mindset you need.

When I was buying in London an EA told me that for houses, buyers expected the house to have new kitchen and bathroom and if not they would start asking for a hefty discount as if it was a doer-upper. Some wouldn’t look at anything that wasn’t newly refurbed.

He’d ask them what their plans were and they invariably said they wanted to rip everything out and start again (and often straight away so it wasn’t a case of wanting something nice but not your taste while saving up).

I would imagine that by "new" they mean relatively new, not just put it. The reason is that there is considerable financial difference between changing 5 year old bathroom and changing 25 year old bathroom

These were central London houses costing a couple of million quid and I got the impression he meant new as in no more than a couple of years old and looking newly fitted. I was 👀

We by contrast bought the only doer-upper on his books and lived for several years with a kitchen that was 40 years old while we saved up to do it up. It looked like a set from the Good Life!

You’ve created your perfect environment at the time you are leaving. You didn’t do it up to sell. You did it up to live in.
DH does some property development and doing up a property for sale or rent is a very different thing to creating a home. The former is a clean liveable blank canvas in good condition and the latter is an expression of your personality.

Do you really want to move?

What do you do for a living OP? Have you thought about setting up a side business as a design advisor or home advisor (the declutter and glam up type). I think you should sell this house, if you have achieved a good price and move on.

worth noting that sometimes buyers use the fact they will have to do loads of work and need to change lots as a negotiation tactic to make the estate agents think that there is no more money available. These people might actually love it!!!

Even £2 million properties in London with brand new kitchens and bathrooms get ripped out so the buyer gets exactly what they want. Typically the properties may be extended and may have basements dug and end up as a £4 million properties.