Help with getting ready to sell?!

[AnneWithAnEShirley]

Please can I access the wisdom of the mumsnet hive mind?

We need to sell our house in a hamlet because I am spending hours driving backwards and forwards to commute to work, take kids to school (kids' sn meant they needed a school a bit further away) and baby and toddler groups etc. Moving will mean we can be in the same village where all the baby groups, school and train station are, so would frantically improve our lives stress/time wise.

Dh and I have no family close by and the house is looking very tired. I really want to just get it on the market, but am scared we are doing ourselves out of hard cash on the sale by not doing more. This is my plan:

1. Get Garden done - it is a total jungle so I've agreed local company should come in, hack it back, returf, trim borders, cut hedges

1. Paint outside of house.

1. Paint anywhere obvious that needs it inside the house.

1. Declutter so the house isn't full of toys etc.

Otherwise there isn't much we can do to disguise a few seriously negative points unless we spend more e.g.

Scuffed and tired living room carpet

Stained and tired looking carpet in living room

Is it worth recarpeting to try to sell?

Sorry I meant stained carpet in bathroom - thinking about this that carpet would seriously put me off as a buyer and I think we either need to get it cleaned or just recarpet!

The fridge (American style size) is in a very elderly wooden cabinet which is getting discloloured at the bottom and the whole unit is leaning a bit! With joinery etc involved I imagine fixing that would cost a fair bit and it does look less than ideal. Would you do that work or leave it as is?

What are the most important things to do when selling?

Carpetting can be cheaper than you think if you go to a budget place. After all if you are moving you will not be looking for the same quality if you were planning on staying. Just something that looks clean and fresh. Go for a neutral.

Good thinking for doing the garden and painting exterior.

Now change the carpet in the bathroom for another floor covering definitely. Carpeted bathrooms are a complete turn off. I would leave the fridge/freezer. Whatever you do to it, unless you have a complete kitchen makeover, it won't make any difference. Good luck

Re carpet the living room - go for really cheap.

Lay cheap vinyl in the bathroom.

Don't fret about the kitchen - many buyers are delighted to have the excuse/chance to re do the kitchen as they want.

Good Luck!

Thanks very much all!

So I will change the bathroom carpet and maybe the living room one too.

I'm thinking about what to do with the bathroom. Decor and bathroom suite are old fashioned - think aubergine suite(!) so I think floor if vinyl would have to be very neutral.

Or maybe cheap carpet again would be better? I'm not sure if vinyl will look weird with the old fashioned decor? I know carpet is awful in bathrooms!!

Dear god get the carpet out of the bathroom if you do nothing else at all

Yes I agree it's awful and agree as well! But isn't there a risk that fussy 70s bathroom will look very odd indeed with vinyl floor? I haven't got time/money to put in a plain white suite which I appreciate would be much much better

No carpet in the bathroom, just get cheap vinyl in a neutral colour. Dark grey with white walls shouldn't look too bad.

Although a surveyor wont mention this as it needs effort, your 70s bathroom is more of an issue than how it looks. Overflows that go inside the property, hidden leaks that mean the bath is sitting on wet chipboard, no stopcocks in case of leaks....

While you are pulling up the carpet, take off the bath panel and do some maintenance checks. If you have any bodge fixes ( screwdriver in a diverter valve comes to mind) sort those as they make buyers run.

Tatty carpet is just cosmetic.

Yes special - it is a mess! Aubergine walls and lads trim border. Old gold taps!

Lads ? I mean lace!!! Oddly looks quite cute in a hideous retro Laura Ashley way. Hence my fear of making it look weird with vinyl. Just asked my mum and she says neutral vinyl can't make it worse!

Just go for a cheap fake marble style vinyl. Unless your bathroom is big, it'll barely run to 3 figures and people will be less likely to assume it's all disgusting in there.

Get some hardboard down, then something like this. Simple to do.
www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Vinyl-Tiles-Black-Diamond-305-x-305mm-11-Pack/p/620052

I would put in the cheapest vinyl you can get. Without a doubt the buyers will rip it out.

Cheap cream carpets throughout. Definitely declutter the toys. Decluttering is free and will help you as you have less stuff to move into your next home.

Declutter, clean everything, paint it all white.

Just thought - think I will also go over grouting with a grouting pen as it looks a bit grimy despite a deep clean.

Our garden table and chairs are rusty so could also get nice looking new ones which we could use in the new place but then where do I stop?!!

Grouting pens are goo - we've been doing that with ours (also getting ready to sell, though a slight setback today in having to remova a door that our 2 boys with SN were fighting over being open or shut!)

We're actually contemplating renting for a bit, until we sell, if we have to because our teen has decided that this house is only fit to be demolished. Probably stand a better chance of getting it sold without him living in it!

When you stop depends on your likely asking price, tbh. Our tidy up job is going to be the difference between £45k and £60K. If your house is going to be worth 5 times that, then your threshold for stuff that isn't going with you needs to be higher than some cheap tiles, a bit of polyfilla, some sealant and caulk and a few tins of emulsion!

I'd just get rid of grotty garden table and chairs .

We put cheap carpet right carpet down - was £6.99 sq m I think and made a huge difference

That's exactly the kind of thing we need to do!

We have a horde of messy little people with jammy fingers and a tendency to break stuff, so there is no point me primping the place to within a inch of its life! I've only ever sold a tiny flat before and that was easy - regrouted bathroom, expensive flowers in living room, jo malone candle in bathroom, new posh throws in bedroom and we sold in a few weeks.

We took the approach of a lick of paint, decluttering, tidying up a few messy bits, added a couple of nicer bits like bins and laundry baskets and putting new vinyl in the kitchen to replace what was VERY old and tired vinyl. Spent less than £300 doing that. We got an offer within a week of going on the market. We moved last week.

My old neighbours who have identical layout house in pristine condition took 6 weeks to get an offer.

My in laws fitted new bathroom, dressed all rooms like you see on property programmes, re-decorated almost every room and spent a huge amount of money. They have just sold after a year on the market.

My thinking was, do the bare essentials and if we hadn't sold after a few months we would take it off the market while we went all out and chucked more money at it before relisting.

That is a good point - we can always have a punt and then take off and then put it back on again!