Selling a house that needs work

[GenderApostate19]

My FiL died last week and we will be selling his house, it will be a few months away as we have to get probate and register the house with the land registery, assuming we can track down the deeds 😱
His house needs a lot of updating, he was there for 50 years, but we don’t know how much to do to make it ‘saleable’, having never sold a property before.
It’s a big 1960’s 3 bed semi with a drive and large garden.
We plan to get a neutral downstairs carpet laid, plus new kitchen and bathroom flooring.
We have to take the kitchen fully out to have a couple of floor joists replaced so dont know whether to refit it but have new worksurface/sink or put in a more modern kitchen, the current units are good quality but a bit dated.
Downstairs will also have to painted and the whole house deep cleaned.
The drive is fairly steep and over half the ‘council slabs’ needs relaying, I’m convinced the condition it’s in now - very wobbly slabs, will put people off.

Houses on his street rarely come up for sale, the last sale was 15 years ago, it’s a section of main road out of our village, with views of old school fields and countryside.
It’s a ‘cheap’ area and the house is probably worth £150k on a good day,.
We just want to make it appealing without spending a fortune, I’m thinking £3 - 5k will do it. There will be £12k left in his bank when the funeral is paid and he also has 2 cars to be sold so the money is there for renovation, it’s just knowing how much to do, or not do.
Any tips/ advice would be welcome 🙂

Just remember to leave a kitchen sink in etc. Most mortgages need a recognizable kitchen to be in place. But I would sell as is. We bought a total wreck last year but wouldn't have offered more really if it had been painted / carpeted as we have redone it with an extension so I would only have ripped it out.

I agree with others who have said do nothing. I spent a fortune doing up my house to sell, including having a weekly gardener to keep the grass/hedges trimmed. New owner is cutting down the trees, and I can see he's now starting cutting down the hedges. Sell as a renovation project.

Do you actually need to register the house for probate? My DH was the sole beneficiary when his mum died. She’d also lived in her house for 50 years and although we had the deed it wasn’t registered with land registry. He registered them in his name and it took a couple of months. He is renting the house out rather than selling at the moment.

A sale is likely to take a good couple of months anyway so as long as you get the process started now you should be ok.

I’d also just clean and clear. For the joists, can’t you just make sure that the buyers know and the leave them to it.

Make it clean and clear the garden if needed so any buyer can see the space.

Your new kitchen and toilet may just be ripped out by any buyer.
Well it as it is. You can put it in the market once you apply for probate. This is roughly 8 to 10 weeks as we have a house ready to go online.
The price reflects the state of it now. The buyer may want XYZ done later to sweeten the sale. You can reduce the price or do the work instead perhaps. But only do any essential work now like addressing any leaks or pests.

I agree with PPs. Don't do anything. It will probably be a waste of your money.
If it needs renovating, let the new owner do it all and choose what they do.

No we don’t need to register the house in order to apply for probate , luckily there is a will and I’ve filled in the Inheritance tax forms and application for grant of probate, I’m just waiting for the death certificate because the GP didn’t bother to send the medical form to the Registrar for 4 days 😡 so his death isn’t even registered yet.
We’d happily accept £120k for it, zoopla estimates £145-160k but as I said, houses rarely come up for sale so there is no real benchmark for a timeframe.
It would be great if Estate agents say it will be snapped up without us doing anything at all 🤞

It needs a kitchen to be mortgageable op. Past that it’s deemed uninhabitable so you need to put something back

Past that I’d have it valued as is and just sell it. If it’s in as bad shape as you say any money you spend won’t be recouped.

Our EA's advice was either do everything or do nothing so would speak to an EA and see what they think but you maybe best to leave as is. A good clean may help though. I've no issue with renovating but I have seen houses where the hygiene aspect has put me off - it depends on how bad it is though.

I wouldn't fix the joists or remove the current kitchen at all. It's going to be sold as a "fixer upper". The new owner will repair them as part of a larger renovation.
Repairing the joists is not important for obtaining a mortgage offer but if you remove the kitchen you may have to sell the house to mortgage-free buyers only because no lender will mortgage it.
Like PPs have said, do nothing and leave it as a project. If houses rarely come up in this street, you may well have a lot of interest and end up selling it well in its current condition.
Good luck!

We just emptied DMs and put up for sale, we didn’t even take up the carpets just put on the sellers form we were leaving them, a buy to let person bought it and got planning permission to extend it and they done it all up so glad we didn’t bother with it as it would have been changed anyway

You will likely get a cash buyer, we did so the state of it won’t matter so much

Just sell as is and tell anyone interested that the joists need replacing.

I sold my house regardless of the work - estate agent just lowered the value accordingly. Might be best to get a valuation first - if it’s a well regarded area people will want to snap it up

We sold FIL’s house a few years ago. It was really shabby with no central heating. Agree with others re not doing work. The only thing we did was repair a leak under the driveway, which was covered by the buildings insurance. We sold the house to a developer who brought it up to date and sold it on.

Another point to consider is the temporary zero stamp duty rate. It gives the buyer a good effective discount.

If houses don't come up very often, it will probably be very desirable for someone and should sell quickly.

Agree don't do anything

Just mention the joists - people will just include that in their doing up estimates

Don't touch the kitchen, leave in situ so it's easily mortgageable

Hopefully all estate agents will agree!

Empty it, give it a clean, keep the grass cut. Splash some cheap magnolia about if you think it will make it more saleable.

Don’t waste money on things like carpets - I’ve never been able to live with carpets downstairs and the first thing I’d be doing would be ripping ground floor carpets up, no matter if they were new or not.

We had to sell Mum's house 4 years ago. Estate agent suggested we sort electrics because of a noticeable lighting problem, and I decided to renew the bath and toilet at the same time as they looked a little .... neglected and wouldn't photograph well.
The house sold for 6% less than asking. A week after the new owners took possession there was a skip on the drive with the new bath sitting proudly on top. We are now selling a relatives house doing nothing but a clean through!

Our house had been owned by the same family for many years and gone through probate. They kept the garden tidy and cleaned it and that was it to sell. We could never have afforded a ‘done’ house on this street, so we were thrilled this came up and was priced fairly for its condition. We’ve been here a few years now and are just coming to the end of renovating it. I’m glad they didn’t bother changing it as the odds on it being renovated exactly to my taste are slim anyway. So I agree with the majority. Make sure it’s clean and smells fresh, then hopefully it’ll appeal to someone that fancies a project.
Sorry for your loss and I hope it all works out ok for you.

As others have said empty it, clean it and make sure there are no smells. Just tell people about the joists.
I bought a house without ownership being registered at the land registry and it all came through about 6 months after I'd moved in. So it shouldn't cause an issue for selling.

We sold a probate sale house in appalling condition...even had a tree growing through a window as our aunt only lived downstairs !..we cleared and cleaned it up..no more..went to sealed bids...got 20 k over the highest offer eventually !!

We’re getting a couple of valuations next week, so we’ll take it from there.
Everyone who’s been to the house in the last couple of month, nurses, carers , hospice at home people etc. have all commented what a lovely house it is and what lovely views it has from the huge bay window.

A house 2 doors away had an extension not too long ago so someone getting planning permission would be straightforward enough. There is a huge cantilivered carport along the full length of the house currently.
To be honest I hoped SiL would want to move in and buy our share.

Good luck OP!

You seem to be suggesting the options are either fix the joists or not tell the buyers about them needing fixing.

Why not just make sure the buyers are told the joists need doing and leave it at that? That way the buyer can sort out the floor and install their own choice of kitchen at the same time. If they want to do anything inventive (underfloor heating, running new pipes / wires maybe) they can do it at the same time.

Of course, if the estate agents disagree, they probably know the area best.

Def don’t worry about all the things you mentioned. Freshen and clean the inside. Make sure cupboards are clean and lights work and air it for a couple of days. Keep the garden tidy and mown. Weeds and long grass are a killer. I am about to buy my 3rd probate. I love probates because they have so much potential. I would hate it if you put in a cheap carpet and cheap kitchen to sell. It would put me and most people who love these projects off. Def get an agent round ASAP. Good luck, am sure it will sell quickly sounds great.