Which things would put you off a house most?

[blinkowl]

If you were a family looking to buy?

• kitchen needing redoing pretty much immediately
• no shower
• drive not very attractive (OLD!)
• carpets rather than floorboards
• woodchip in kitchen & front room (but not the dining room or anywhere else)

Trying to decide where to spend a bit of money before selling!

The house will attract families - it's a solidly build 1930s ex-council 3 bed semi, near decent state primaries & secondary. Possibly those with not a lot of spare cash as it's in the cheaper part of town!

Sounds like you're kind of aiming at our price bracket if the MN essentials like a non-overlooked garden with room for a pony aren't your buyers' factors.

Lack of a shower would be a no-go for us completely. Even shower over bath with a screen would do us, but no shower at all wouldn't.
Woodchip - just because it's an utter fucking bastard to get off and I bet Satan has the walls of hell covered in woodchip covered in about 57 layers of paint to add to the adhesive properties. Yes, I'm currently trying to get the bastard stuff off our bedroom walls.
Grotty looking drive I could live with - a drive would be a bonus compared to where we are.
Kitchen that's usable but needs doing - we'd use and save for assuming the house was priced to reflect the kitchen needed doing.

We bought a house very like yours. The only thing that would put me off is lack of shower. That would be a deal breaker unless I was planning to renovate before moving in. It does sound like yours might appeal to people who do want to completely renovate and therefore would be planning to live somewhere else and gut the whole place. You’d need to be priced for it though and market it as a renovation job.

It sounds like your house needs a bit of work so I would leave it as it is, keep your money and let the buyers do it up as they wish.

No shower would put me off a bit, but as long as it's possible to install one over the bath I'd see it as fixable. The rest wouldn't bother me.

Two toilets would be non-negotiable, ideally including hand-basins.

Sounds like you're kind of aiming at our price bracket if the MN essentials like a non-overlooked garden with room for a pony aren't your buyers' factors.

Even shower over bath with a screen would do us

Oh! Maybe i've misunderstood what shower-lovers mean by "a shower"!

If we put a shower in, I only mean above the bath. If we can sort the hot water pressure issue (possibly by installing an electric shower) then I was planning to put a decent shower over the bath, with a screen.

There's no space for an actual separate shower unit.

Does this not count as a shower to everyone, then?

A shower over the bath counts as a proper shower to me. What I would count as not a proper shower is what we have on our bath now, which is a hose attachment off the bath. We put in a separate shower but I still wanted something for rinsing in the bath. Or the plastic stick on hose my parents had when we were young that would go shooting off the tap unexpectedly,

Shower and woodchip would be a deal breaker for me.

I literally couldnt move into a house without a shower. I hate baths and like to shower everyday but a shower over bath would do. I do think baths are essential in a family home.

You need to put a shower in.

£50,000 is not steep for a kitchen, bathroom, drive and all the other things listed, unless you DIY of course. Will a young family want to do this? The OP didn't.

As the OP does not want to do the rest of the work as there is now a baby in the family it seems an odd selling strategy to expect to sell to young family! Why would any other young family have more time and money to put this house right? You might get an enthusiastic young couple with loads of time on their hands and a handy retired Dad or two, but you might struggle if the price does not reflect the unfinished nature of the house and the fact that its ex Council.There are so many threads about being unable to sell at the moment, I think you will be another one if you do not reduce the price to match the work costs, and effort, a new owner will have to put in. It defeated you as owners.

Many young people like to enjoy what spare time they have, and increasingly, do not want a money pit. It is not true to say that all 1930's homes are solid and well built. No house that is over 80 years old will be perfect. There will be defects the OP is not aware of. There always are. There is a reason why builders can usually sell new homes to young couples. No effort required. No visualisation required. No endless money and almost certainly a new house is more eco friendly. That counts these days.

Also, around me, ex Council is not always desirable. It wholly depends on value for money and where the house is. Wild horses will not drag some people to buy in the worst areas, good schools or not. Yes, you need only one person but as threads show on MN, getting one offer is sometimes very difficult. It is usually down to price and defects or a combination of both.

none of those
They are all 'doable'.

what would put me off would be

1 location
2 road noise
3 near a pub or other noisy places ( takeaways and shops)
4 problem parking
5 serious issues with previous subsidence
6 disputes with neighbours
7 overlooked garden

Anything else- new kitchen, bathrooms, wallcoverings, floor coverings, drives can be sorted if it's at the right price.

There's always someone who wants to have a go, isn't there!

OK, here goes:

As the OP does not want to do the rest of the work as there is now a baby in the family it seems an odd selling strategy to expect to sell to young family!

No, that's not what I said. We did a significant amount of work when we first moved into the house, with a pre-schooler in the house. Much more than this list. Then the baby came and my OH lost his job. So we had less money than we thought.

Those are circumstances personal to us. We managed to get more work than listed above.

but you might struggle if the price does not reflect the unfinished nature of the house and the fact that its ex Council

Erm ... the price does reflect this. It's within a massive estate of 1930s council houses, considered one of the more desirable parts of town, incidentally. It's not going to lose value for being ex-council, it's priced as what it is already.

It is not true to say that all 1930's homes are solid and well built. No, but this one is. That's what the full structural survey said anyway, borne out by our experience of living in it.

Wild horses will not drag some people to buy in the worst areas Do I detect a whiff of snobbery, perhaps? Because it's ex-council, it must be one of the worst areas, you think? As I said, it's one of the more desirable areas in this town.

Why would a young couple do this? Because houses are fucking expensive, and this house gives them a chance to get on the ladder, in an area that is desirable (not just because of good schools, but that's a huge motivator for families of course), that they might not be able to afford otherwise. Not all young people want to move into a home that's out of a sales catalogue.

Many want to put their own stamp on, add value - or, simply, be able to afford it.

£50,000 is not steep for a kitchen, bathroom, drive and all the other things listed, unless you DIY of course. Will a young family want to do this? The OP didn't.

Yeah, but no one moving in here is going to spend £50,000 on all that if they're short of cash, unless they're an idiot.

Spoken by someone who hasn't got a clue what it's like to have to live with not much money.

I put a kitchen in my last flat for £1K. New units, oven, real slate floor (got that for free), tiles, decoration. It looked great. I reckon I can do this one for £3K.

No one's putting in a new bathroom - we're talking about adding a shower to an EXISTING bathroom.

Oh, and I had a Smeg fridge in my last kitchen too included in that £1K! (£125 off eBay).

Um - I detect a whiff of defensiveness! Are their towns where the most desirable place is actually ex council. I was going to say put a shower over the bath and a screen and that would do me too.

However - you need to brace yourself for selling. if you are this sensitive just wait until you get potential buyers through the door picking and choosing!

I do notice some people mentioning not being overlooked. We are not overlooked because we have a view of rolling hills and a detached house. However all previous houses were overlooked to a certain extent.

My DM in London is definitely overlooked as she is in a small terrace. There are houses next to her and also overlooking into her back garden. No rolling hills there!

MN hates showers over baths IME but in the real world it's quite unusual for a family bathroom to be big enough for a separate bath and shower. In your position, OP, I would put an electric power shower over the bath with a screen.

Um - I detect a whiff of defensiveness! yeah, probably .
But the tone of the post annoyed me tbh!

Are their towns where the most desirable place is actually ex council

Not the most desirable but certainly in one of the more sought after parts of town. The larger Victorian houses locally are certainly significantly more desirable than these and are priced accordingly.

But the area I live in has a good reputation, nice houses, great schools and amenities, easy access to beautiful countryside and good views. People, especially families, want to live here. They don't want to live in the soulless 1960s estates so much, or the flats in town, or the area with nice houses but terrible schools, once they have kids.

The Victorian houses in the same price range as these have really tiny, pokey, box-room bedrooms (we saw loads when buying this!) and tiny gardens. If you want something with decent sized rooms, you'll pick one of these (as we did).

No off street parking
No garden
No extension potential sideways and backwards (do not want loft extension)
Steps to front door

I sold 2 years ago. Very large 4 bed. Someone said it was too big. Someone didn't like the quietness and wanted to hear road noise, someone else complained they wanted to see neighbours from a security point of view. The House was cleverly designed NOT to see other houses.

Yet.... you are listing all the things good about the house but you are planning to move yourself! I would take a deep breath. Put that shower and screen in and get a good local EA. We had a fab one. Listen very carefully to feedback. There might be something you can change for minimal costs. Don't whatever you do take it personally.

Be realistic about the price and don't take offence if it doesn't sell and you need to reduce. Realistically it was never worth what you asked for it in the first place. House is only worth what someone else will pay for it etc.

My SIL had to reduce and reduce her house, it really annoyed her yet it was never worth the £x m and if it was that great and such good value for money why was she wanting to move!

To the person who actually said they wouldn't want a ground floor bathroom. We had one in a very large 4 bed. We nearly sold to a lady who wanted exactly that as long as there was an upstairs bathroom too (there was!) She had trouble walking and didn't want a bungalow as her kids said they were for old people.

You can just never tell who will buy.

you are listing all the things good about the house but you are planning to move yourself!

We're relocating 500 miles. Nothing to do with the house!

Good luck then! Keep us all updated on the sale of your desirable house!

Be realistic about the price and don't take offence if it doesn't sell and you need to reduce.

I am cautiously pricing it in my head at 40K less than practically identical houses locally, in similar state of repair. Will get several quotes.

Last property I sold, on 4 agents the price varies by £40k, on a place worth only £250K (in the end). That was the bottom valuation and, yes, we had to drop our price to sell. That was a totally different market though (London) with lots of competition.

But, honestly, I don't see how it can fail to sell. There is zero competition at this price. Nada. Nothing in the whole postcode to buy with 3 beds that's under £265K. I've mentally priced it (after quite a bit of research) at £220K, taking into account the small garden and decor.

A practically identical house that's been redone to look very swanky indeed, locally is £295k.

BubblesBuddy I will

But you'll have to wait a while, need to put in new shower and kitchen first!

In two minds about the woodchip, might leave it. I'll see how much the kitchen costs first I think.