Do I need to redecorate to sell my house?

[namechangechanger]

How much does how the house is decorated really affect it selling? We have quite a lot of bright colours and loud prints in most rooms of the house. We are looking to sell quite quickly but don't really have the time or money to redecorate. It's not a very modern house we bought it cheap as it needed modernising but we didn't really have the money to do it although we have had a new kitchen and bathroom, so it will be selling cheap again so someone buying it would most likely be looking to do it up anyway. Is there any point in us spending more money and time on decorating?

It depends on the housing market in your area. And how much money you want for it.

If you have a new kitchen and bathroom , why would it sell to someone wanting to do it up ? Does it need other work done?

How much better would it look if you stripped off all the bright paper , put up wall rock paper and emulsioned everywhere in neutrals ?

Can you do some or all of this yourself ?

How much extra will it sell for ?

Probably around £90,000 which is at the cheaper end for our area. I'd say someone would buy it to do up because of the price and there is work that needs doing other than decorating which we don't want to do if we're not staying here. For example most of the fences and gates front and back need replacing. The garden needs work doing to it, the patio slabs have all come up and loose etc. Inside needs general modernisation door frames are all old fashioned, lots of wood chip wallpaper. Kitchen is tiny that could be extended. I'm wondering with all that (and probably more I've forgotten about) wether there is any point in spending time and money decorating it to look more neutral.

If you're looking to sell get a few estate agents in to value it and ask them what they think. I sold my house last year, it really needed more modern doors installing, the carpet on the stairs and landing desperately needed a clean and my bedroom was a lovely (I thought) bright raspberry colour.

I was advised not to bother doing anything and I sold it to the first person who viewed it. A lot of it will depend on other factors, location, style of house etc but I would hazard it probably isn't worth the time or effort for the price you're looking to sell at.

I second what smurfmonkey said. Your estate agent should know the market.
You said you want a quick sale so I'd declutter to show the amount of space to its best potential, and price accordingly. The new kitchen and bathroom should help a bit as it'll open it up to people who want to move straight in but who don't mind doing more cosmetic work, as well as people looking for a project.

Check out the competition online and see how your house compares. What could be a few thousand pounds more for you as a seller could make very little difference to an estate agent's commission at a percentage of the, say, 1% fee their company charges you. They may well tell you not to bother doing anything because they want to start marketing your home asap. A couple of weekends tidying, cleaning and neutralising things could be very worthwhile.

Do repair noticeable things though - if you don't prospective buyers may think you haven't looked after the place.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Do you have to pay the estate agents to come and look at the house or do they do it for free in the hope you go with them and make them money? I'm not going to do anything major I don't think, I think I will have to finish decorating the hall though because at the moment the wallpaper is half stripped off and it's the first room you walk into so won't make a very good impression

It's free for the valuation. Get three.

def do hall - but I would suggest giving kitchen & living room a paint & getting someone round to steam clean carpets & decluttering - they are the first rooms that are noticed - if a place smells stale or damp it puts people of so making it smell fresh -its about not putting people off,

It depends on your style. Our last house was decorated in a very bold style and the estate agent valued it higher and we got lots of offers, very quickly. The need to completely neutral out your house is definitely passing but being replaced with houses that are out of a design magazine...