What would you do?

[Fedupwithmyhouse]

We have £4500 credit card debt that I had been planning to blitz in the first half of this year because we want to move and I don’t want this to affect our chances of getting a mortgage or how much we’re able to borrow.

BUT our house needs extensive improvement before it can even be marketed (take my word for it, we’d be majorly shooting ourselves in the foot if we advertised it as it is). About £3-4000 worth of work I’d estimate. We want to get as much as we can for it to put towards our next property.

So obviously if we pay this debt off then do the improvements we could be talking very end of this year before we can even market it.

Should we just do the improvements first then worry about the debt? It’s not costing us anything just now but I feel strongly I want to be starting in a new house with a clean slate and no debt.

I don’t even trust myself to make decisions about the house anymore and my OH just goes along with whatever I want.

What would you do? Basing your decision on the fact the work HAS to be done?

I guess it comes down to how unbearable it is staying put for the rest of the year?

Honestly? Have you had an estate agent round to check what they would advise doing? We had the most awful stained carpets and the estate agent said do not bother to change them, a new owner might have a messy dog or not want carpet at all, let them decide. What you spend on (unless say preventing the roof leaking) may not be what you get back!

It really depends on what needs doing and how much it will affect a sale. We did work to our last house and then ended up part ex because we couldn't move quickly enough to secure a new build we fell for if we didn't. Sold it for a song and really the work we'd done didn't add as much value as it cost.
We were desperate to move in a really specific area, we completed 6 months ago and nothing suitable has come on the market since so we don't regret accepting the part ex.

The house is half done - so it’s not a Doerupper or Recently Renovated. It’s Someone Started This Then Got Bored Or Ran Out Of Money - as in some rooms have no wallpaper, some rooms have some wallpaper, some rooms have holes in the walls, some rooms have some paint stripped off the woodwork. It doesn’t just need a lick of paint or new carpets to freshen it up before going on the market - there’s no way it could be photographed or viewed in this state

We want it finished in a way that if we had to stay (because it didn’t sell) it would be ok - not quite to the standard we’d originally originally planned but ok and much better than it is currently.

So would you pay off the CC first or do the house?

I would do up the house and get it on the market. It may take months to sell in which case debt will also be paid by the time you actually sell.

It sounds like you need to do the work. If you marketed it as it is, you would rule out a segment of the market segment who do not want to take in a project, not matter how small.
How much mortgage would you be looking for to enable the next purchase and what are your incomes? That determines if the debt is good or bad.

Ok, so still get an agent to do a valuation. It will be useful - they're happy to do this in the hope you use them when you do market.
Are you thinking of doing it yourself or getting people in? Because paying decorators is veeeerrry expensive - as it's time-consuming work.
Could you tackle a room at a time, as a challenge, while you work on the debt? Start on a less visible room as practice is my tip, go neutrals on the walls (personally I love white all the way through a house, but it's personal taste), use water-based satin for woodwork.

The other option is do half and half? Say £500 left at the end of the month put £250 towards credit card and £250 towards the house. Is that ridiculous?

That’s my worry - alienating a whole load of potential buyers who are going to see that it needs so much before it’s even pleasant to live in.

We’d originally planned to get people in - we definitely will for joinery and plastering. I suppose decorating is the one thing we could do but the thought of that with work etc - I honestly don’t know how we’d do it.

Room at a time is something to think about - id always thought a trade at a time made more sense and would work out cheaper but maybe not?

I suppose things like plastering and joinery will be cost-effective to get done in one go. Get quotes from 3 people etc. Decorating is not a joy but it can be done yourself with some speed if you look on it as a challenge especially if you work together - or agree that one of you will do it while the other one cooks or childcares. Chunk it into jobs to tick off (one coat on skirtings in x room, one wall of emulsion etc) and then bits can be done in an evening when you are feeling energetic, or a weekend. The other trick is to keep it all really tidy just like you are the professional tidying up ready to go home, then you're ready to pick up and start fresh (otherwise it gets absolutely overwhelming and feels never-ending - can you tell I speak from experience lol!)

Also getting one room done feels better psychologically as you can see progress better.

I agree with a pp to get an estate agent's opinion. You don't say where you live, but the saleability of your house in its present state will vary massively dependent on area.

Unless advised otherwise I think I'd get the house to the minimum marketable state, put it on the market and start paying off the debt at that point (since you say debt is interest free). If I were paying interest on the debt, though, I would clear it before doing anything else.

Yes I totally get what you’re saying - it is manageable if it has to be!

Kitchen ... it’s not dissimilar to this but unfortunately not as nice and much smaller! I’m torn between trying to tart it up with tile paint etc or just owning the fact that it needs a new kitchen and obviously the price is going to reflect that. I think chances are I’d make it even worse if I started on it!

Thanks Memory ... minimum marketable state is definitely what we’re aiming for. I’m embarrassed to even get an estate agent round right now but if I call one I wonder if they’d be able to give me any advice over the phone.

I'd leave the kitchen. It's an expensive job and unless you're going to make it much better I'd sell it as is. Chances are if you just tart it up a little it will still be seen as a job to be done, so you're not actually adding anything.

Agree, don't waste your energy on the kitchen. Let someone else make that decision at their cost!! They may want a doer-upper, plan an extension, not give a damn, who knows? Just get everywhere clean and fresh with no holes in the walls - are you really needing plasterers or is it nail hole type of thing?

Stop being embarrassed about the estate agent - they literally see all sorts of houses in all sorts of conditions as part of their job.

You need to sort holes in walls, plastering, joinery etc. Then just paint it all white. Leave the kitchen and bathroom if functional.

Cost that up, save hard, then just pay down as much debt as possible when you’ve done the work and it’s on the market. Don’t forget you’ll need removal costs, solicitors fees etc.

Most mortgage lenders will say debt should be paid off when the mortgage goes through, allowing you to do it when the sale of your property goes through. You don’t have a massive amount of debt, so I’d not worry too much.

Really, no need to be embarrassed, though I get where you're coming from. We were helping a relative sell a house that was, shall we say, past its best - the estate agent amazed me by pointing out all the pluses while we'd been so focused on the negatives. And advised just to declutter a little but not to do any work, even changing the really grotty carpets.