To render or not to render

[itstheyearzero]

Need some advice please! I've currently got my Mum and Dad's old house on the market - my Mum and Dad both passed away over the last few years, I tried to sell the house but couldn't, so I rented it out for 18 months. The tenants left it in a shocking state, they pulled up all the new carpets downstairs, broke windows and doors, and generally left the house a squalid tip. Anyway, a few months on, I have managed to clean it up the best I can without spending any money on it (I haven't got any). It's priced fairly I think, other houses in the same price range in the same area are nicer and more modern, but a lot smaller.

The house is quite old fashioned inside, needs new kitchen/bathroom etc, but it's generally in a good state of repair. However, the front of the house is in a bit of a state. All of the pointing around the front door has gone, the bricks are blown and the rendering above the front door and above the bay window is cracked. I 've had a quote to render the lot and it's £450, which I think is a good price. My questions then...do you think it's worth doing? Would a potential buyer try to knock a significant sum off the asking price to get it all repaired? Do you think I will benefit in the long run if I get it done, given the state of the rest of the property (i.e it's a doer-upper)?

Advice gratefully received because this is a lot of money that I simply haven't got at the moment...but I will find a way if the consensus is that it's the right thing to do.

Do you want to post a link to see if we can impart any wisdom on the house?

As a rule, if the house needs lots of work I would say leave it, but without seeing it I don't want to commit!

I would say that £450 sounds very cheap to render a house and would be wary that it won't be a very good job. Will they be repairing the damaged brickwork etc or just covering it up? If its the latter then you might come unstuck (possibly literally if it falls off), at the survey.

So I think I'm going to say leave it.

Thanks Oreo. The guy who gave us the quote is a neighbour and he would be doing it at mates rates, plus it's only the front that needs doing, not the whole hosue. I'm a bit nervous about posting a link because the house is not looking great, but as I said, I did my best with it. OK, here goes. You can't tell how bad the render/bricks are on the photos unfortunately, but they are in a very poor state. And yes, I know I need to take the curtains down, I didn't realise how awful they looked until I saw the photos!

Hope this works

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-23424777.html

Before looking at the link, I was expecting a real "doer-upper" - that is perfectly liveable in.. don't do it down . Nowt wrong with that kitchen or bathroom.

I was going to say I think it would be worth it to get the rendering done too - I think looking up at brickwork in need of work is off putting for non DIYers, but, from the photo (I know it's at a distance) it doesn't look off putting to me.

Thanks, yes you can't really tell from the photo how bad it is. I just think if it was me, and I turned up to view the house, and the first thing I saw was cracked render and blown bricks, it would put me off, or make me wonder what's wrong with the rest of the house...maybe £450 well spent then?

How long has it been on the market? I had a look at the sold prices on that street and not much comes up for sale so its hard to get a fair picture, but the most a house has sold for was 112k in 2007 - right at the peak of the market.

If you haven't had any viewings then you might need to have a think about knocking it down a bit.

The house itself looks nice enough. It does need work but we know that, and the front looks lovely!

The people who would view the house are already going to know it needs work so I think that leaving the render is for the best.

It looks like a very nice house with lots of scope to be changed, that you could also live in and do it as you go. I don't think you could do anything else to show it better without getting into doing work and spending money.

I would get a test pot of paint for the wall in picture 4 (doesn't have to match 100% just near enough!) and take the curtains down and straighten the blinds. Ask the agent to re take those pictures.

Other than that you have done a good job of putting it back together. I'm a LL and can take an educated guess from bitter experience at the damage. You have done well if you haven't spent any money on it!

Thanks oreo. It's only been on the market for a few days, so I guess I'm just testing the water really. I'm quite realistic about having to take less money for it, I have a figure in my head that I would accept, so I just need to see how it goes. The wall in pic 4 is just a bit of the damage the tenants did, I'll see if I can patch that up somehow. It took a lot of hard labour to get it looking clean and bright, it was really filthy . Ok, it seems the jury is still out on the rendering, anybody else got a view? Thanks for the positive comments by the way...I just keep thinking it looks a mess, but then I remember what it was like when my Mum and Dad lived in it.