How much work should we do on the house before putting it on the market?

[barleycorn]

We are due to put our house on the market this week. I have been frantically decluttering and cleaning, but the more stuff we get out of the house, the worse it looks.

In a perfect world, we would paint the kitchen and replace some / all of the cupboard doors, redecorate the hall and have the outside painted (we already have a quote for the latter for £600, but the painter can’t do it for another couple of weeks).

The EA thinks if we put it on the market as it is now, we will get the asking price or possibly more in the current market.

If we don’t receive such an offer in the initial flurry, we are thinking of putting off viewings for a couple of weeks and doing what we can then.

The reason for the rush is that we want to move within the area to a larger house, but they are going so quickly atm, within a week, and just this week we lost out on an amazing house that would have been so perfect for us, because we were not seen as serious potential buyers as our house was not even on the market yet.

What do you think?

Just put it up for sale. If you do £600 worth of work on the kitchen the new buyers will most likely want to put in a new one anyway so it’ll be a waste of time and money. As long as it’s clean, not too cluttered and the building is sound the state of the decor shouldn’t make a huge difference unless cupboards are hanging off/unsafe/mouldy!

The 3 agents who valued ours all said those programmes where you have to put all your stuff in storage and paint everything white are not really the case in most sales. I’d be more inclined to do stuff like make sure garden is weeded and tidy and if there’s anything at all that looks structural sort that as buyers will expect to put in carpets/paint but could shy away from fixing ceiling cracks for example.

Well, our agent told us not to bother retouching paintwork etc. We had viewings but no offers. I decided to do some small jobs anyway: I decluttered everywhere, had a v cheap new living room carpet as the old one was beige originally but had suffered kids and animals, and repainted any grubby walls and trims. Tidied the garden and painted external windowsills. Two more viewings later we had an offer (although I had also threatened to sack the agent so there is that!)

I would invest in freshening up your place to give it kerb appeal. The market isn't amazing at the mo and buyers tend to upscale estimated costs of works.

Hmmm, mixed responses. I have maybe downplayed some of the problems - half the kitchen cupboard doors are actually missing, we had a long discussion with the EA regarding this, he thought it wouldn’t make any difference to a potential buyer as they’d like a new kitchen anyway.

The thing that’s worrying me more, especially when you mention structural jobs, is the area on the landing where a small child has peeled a large chunk of wallpaper away to reveal bare plaster beneath, with large chunks missing.

To get that sorted properly, we would need to replanted and redecorate the entire hall, stairs and landing. Hang on, I’ll post a pic.

Repaint, not replanted!

Nope, I definitely meant replaster

Here it is.

As long as you are priced realistically your house will sell. I'd expect your house to be quite a lot cheaper than other similar houses in the area due to the amount of work it needs.

I'd be a bit put off by missing cupboard and holes in the wallpaper that show the house hasn't been looked after very well. I'd wonder what else needs doing that I can't see. But some people want or need a project so they can afford more house for their money.

RNBrie, I think it is. The bedrooms and bathroom have been done and are lovely, it’s also had an extension. It’s on for slightly cheaper than a similar house on the road which has recently sold for more than our asking price, that has had nothing done to it in 30-40 years.

Thanks for your input everyone. You have reassured me that we are not completely crazy to put it on the market as it is.

It sounds like we’re in a really similar situation.

We finished off the random bit of hall that was raw plaster and no skirtings and replaced the hall carpet that was held together with duct tape. I took the view that the house feeling finished would help persuade people to offer, but we’ll see!

We had a patch of wall like that (thanks small children!) & it was the only thing the EA said we should sort before going on market (rest of house was in pretty good condition though). Luckily(!) it was painted woodchip so we were able to patch it & paint over top which made it a small job & easy fix.

Our house was v much ready to move in to with no work though, yours sounds like more of a project so probably not so important to do as our ea felt it was with ours.

When DH and I sold our first house the viewers came round so soon that we were not ready

• the place was a mess
• there was an acquantance out cold on the sofa (we threw a blanket over him)
• we were pissed

...... they bought the house

Second house we sold

• buyers never set foot inside

then again we'd bought it without ever going indoors nine years earlier

TalkinPeace, I am intrigued with the second house, was it in an amazing location, did it have a fabulous garden to make it so desirable that you would buy it without looking inside?

As an update, dh has filled the cracks and will paint over that bit of wall, so it’ll still look a mess, but a bit more cared for.

Agree that sorting the plaster sounds worth it!
You can style it out in the kitchen with your doorless cupboards open cubbies artfully displaying lovely crockery (ie, not split packets of cuppa soup...). Look at jungalow- can you put a load of plants in??

barleycorn
Nope, its a standard Victorian Terrace with a concrete yard.
We knew the exact layout because friends lived in the same road.
We could not get in because the previous owner was in the middle of evicting the tenants.
It was MUCH cheaper than others in the road

When we came to sell, the road had become student city so I stuck a piece of paper in the front window and a passer by bought it for my asking price

It’s nice to get the plaster patched up but the house sounds like a place that buyers would want to gut and start again so probably no point spending money on different jobs.

Doing little jobs only makes sense in a done up/looked after house that has a couple of jobs outstanding.

Some people expect or even enjoy a bit of work when they move into a new home so aren't fazed when looking around. But some people are really funny about it, I think it's more of a visual comfort thing. A well maintained and updated home often gives the illusion that the whole house is well cared for in all aspects (regardless of whether that's the case or not!)

Have a look at Sarah Beeny's Top Tips if you want a simple 5 step checklist. Kirsty Allsop and Phill Spencer also have some good suggestions if you give them a google.

My house ....
blood on the walls
blood on the doors
knife marks through doors
poo in carpets
bottles of piss in cupboards
bailiffs appearing for years

still a good deal and do not regret it for an instant

So as an update, we patched and painted that bit of plaster, painted one wall in the kitchen (where the same small child had scribbled on it with permanent marker) and had the outside painted.

We had 15+ viewings, but the feedback from most people was that it was too much work for them.

However we just accepted an offer that is 5% under the asking price, which we are very pleased with!

Thanks v much to you all for your comments .