What would you do to enhance a sale?

[DozyDorissimo]

Looking ahead to when we might move in 2-3 years, what do you think is essential?

This is what we have already:
neutral decor throughout, new family bathroom, large en suite that was replaced 15 years ago so will do again, John Lewis kitchen (light wood rather than latest craze for white), decent neutral carpets, fairly new double glazing, tidy pretty garden.

But it 's the DCs rooms that worry me. They have left home but still store their stuff because they are each renting rooms in shared houses, so we are holding onto stuff in their rooms- books on shelves, CDs etc. Their bedroom furniture is fairly old fashioned pine (not really old and stripped.)

Looking at houses nearby for sale they all look like something from The White Company- all white furniture, tastefully done.

IYO is it worth getting rid of the pine furniture and replacing it with white from say Ikea? The bedrooms aren't huge and it would give an appearance of more space and light. We are going to replace their carpets anyway.

House is worth around £650 -£675K and I think we could get the higher figure if it looked nicer.

Or do people look beyond sellers furniture?

I wouldn't get new furniture, people aren't looking at that.
One thing that I'd advise is what we did. Self storage.
Look around for your closest and cheapest and, just before you put it on the market, de-clutter.
Just make sure that the house is clean and tidy with the beds all made up.
How old is your house? Do the DC's rooms need redecorating? How old are your windows and boiler?

The house is always clean :)

Beds are all white bedding- White Company.

House is 30 years old, double glazing was done a year ago, inc front door.
Boiler is now around 15 years same as kitchen.

DCs bedrooms have been decorated since they moved out so are clean and tidy- plain white paint.

I wouldn't go to the expense of changing the ensuite either, unless it's horrendous. If it's serviceable and neat, that is fine. A lick of paint, maybe re-do grouting if it's looking tired and possibly new flooring -- but only if it needs it.

Not sure about the ensuite. It's big- 14 ft by 6. so is a selling point. It's all white with white tiling but the bath panels have gone yellow ish. Floor is Amtico 'slate' so still in good nick. Mould along edge of bath can't be removed easily, and pop up waste stopped working on bath.New taps needed all round. We got a quote for all that almost £1K so though why not spend more and do it up?????

Chabby chic all the pine furniture to update it. Then sell it for stupid money on ebay when you move!!

How old are your windows and boiler?
If I were a buyer for a house at that price and looking at an old style of house I would not look at a house with UPVC windows to buy, if that was implied by this. I would like it if the wooden windows had been well painted.

A boiler is different and would be an asset.

Sorry to say I did not rtft and its only 30 years old.

Just de-clutter then. They might question your boiler though.

Boiler's fine- serviced annually.

Thanks.

I think getting rid of the mould and resealing the bath should be a priority -it's not as big a job as it looks.

Agree, get a storage unit and do a radical declutter.

Sort out anything which doesn't work or needs attention. Replacing bath panels and mouldy sealant can be done in a weekend.

Get your kids to go through their stuff and thoroughly declutter. If they have been living away from the family home independently, chances are they don't need or miss the things they've left in your house. What's left can go in the loft or out with them.

Declutter and deep clean. De-personalise the place and keep it clean and tidy. If you spend money on new bathrooms you are just cutting your potential profit which you could otherwise spend on the next phase of your lives because you won't get it back.

New owners prefer to put their own stamp on a place if there is something which needs an update. They don't want to think they've paid top whack for something new which isn't to their taste and that they can't justify spending the money needed to alter.

Don't get new bathrooms or furniture.
Just declutter, tidy and put out fresh flowers!

I wouldn't waste money because the buyers may have completely different taste.

Sorry dozydoris, didn't mean to offend you. Just pointing out that, in 2 or 3 years, your boiler will be about 18 years old. Annual service or not, people will look at the age of it and be thinking of the cost.

You could paint their pine furniture to make it appear more modern and fresh

Having moved recently and having had the whole process slowed by the issues raised by the survey and negotiations about who should pay for fixing stuff, I would probably get my own survey done in advance then fix the things that came up! This may not be quite so relevant in a newer house though.

A new boiler is around £2K. We had it replaced as part of the kitchen refit when we got rid of oil. So a lot of pipework was replaced too. As a % of the value of the property, a new boiler would be peanuts to a buyer and they could make an offer accordingly. (I don't see why boilers have a 'shelf life' - a lot depends on the type and how it's looked after.)

I agree about tarting up the bathroom but tbh replacing a side and end panels are not a quick job- they have to be cut to fit and the bath has to be moved off the wall to access the taps as they are on the long side next to the wall. As I said, we were quoted C£1K for the work (without parts)- bath panels fitted, taps fitted, waste pop up replaced- so wondered if we may as well got to £3K and do the whole lot as new!

Fix stuff. Get rid of mould. Leave kitchen , new owner may want different.

Forget furniture, you aren't leaving that so no one cares. But clutter shrinks places. So give 2 years notice that the kids need to take their stuff.

If you want to do the ensuite now for you so you can use it for 2-3 years that's fine, but I wouldn't do it just to sell. Could you get a local agent round for advice?

Thanks. Have had an agent (hence figures quoted above) and they said it was all fine except for moving some storage boxes from kids' rooms. (No brainer really!)
It's just that so many houses in our price range are just 'beautiful' inside with lovely contemporary furniture etc. Mine isn't awful by any means but we've got light oak and a woody look rather than the All White and Grey which seems to be the way to go these days!