Selling a flat that needs replastering. Would you buy it?!

[goteam]

We want to put our flat on the market after Christmas. We have awful wood chip in most of the rooms. It's a 3 bed flat and only one bedroom has nice smooth walls, the other two have old wood chip, as does the living room and hallway. Painted over several times and peeling with surface cracks.

Bathroom and kitchen are less than a year old, new expensive carpets but we just can't do this work on the walls but worried that it will prevent a sale. We would have to move out and move our stuff out for two weeks and we just can't with young children. I work from home and the kids are at school nearby.

Would you buy a flat that needed replastering? We would take 15-20k off the asking price, maybe more.

The flat has a lot going for it. Zone 2, a decent sized garden, big rooms, 3 bedrooms, high ceilings, a lot of light...it's just the issue with the walls.

It only really started bothering us in lockdown when we had nothing better to do than stare at the walls! It always bothered me more than DH though but the size of the job put us off doing anything about it.

As long as it was priced to reflect the work and I was prepared to do it, yes!
We've just bought, and will have to completely redecorate completely, and we negotiated the price down, because it wasn't reflective of the standard of the house.

"Completely redecorate completely", shows how much needs doing in my eyes!

It wouldn’t put me off if I lived other things about the place AND it was reflected in the price.

You may be better doing one room at a time. The cost you’re providing to reduce the price of 15 to 20 k will get it sold quickly but is not really a financially responsible decision. For a few thousand you could get it plastered and painted, a room at a time so you don’t have to move out. If you get it five soon, while weather is still good, it’ll dry quickly both the plaster and paint (or choose wall paper).

We had our front room done the week before Christmas 2 years ago. Plaster done one day, heaters over night because it was a December and couldn’t open windows, was dry and painted next day.

I’d strongly suggest you get it done so you don’t lose all that money in the selling price of your flat.

Additionally, it’ll sell better when people come to view and you’ll not only get those who would possibly take it in in poor stats but you’d get those looking to just move in

Just choose neutral colour for paint.

@sar302 it's only the walls that need doing (I know that's quite a big thing). It's not a complete renovation job. Kitchen and bathroom are new and neutral so should appeal to buyers. Carpets are new too.

@AdoreTheBeach that is a possibility but still a bit overwhelming.

One possibility is boarding and then plastering over the existing walls, woodchip and all but advice on here was not to do that. It would mean a quicker job and no dust but don't want that to put buyers off too! Only one quote we got suggested doing that.

Here is another option. 15 to 20 k drop in price is huge. Why not decamp to and Airbnb nearby (Or hotel, premier inn type thing) and gave the work done all in one go. For the size place, it’ll all be done and painted in less than a week.

Just move your things into the centre of the rooms and cover with plastic dust sheets.

This would still save you thousands by not reducing your selling price.

Have you had estate agents in? They’re usually very good at advising what work to be done, pricing etc. I just find a price reduction of 15 to 20k very difficult to swallow for a bit of plastering and painting

For the 15/20k you could have a bloody good holidAy somewhere (England because of Covid) whilst its being done then sell at the correct price

@AdoreTheBeach wevare getting estate agents in this week so will see what they say.

It's just the upheaval we could do without! We have pets too and the idea of decamping for a week is just overwhelming! It has been so stressful both working from home and home schooling etc, we are looking forward to some normality. I think if the EA suggests more than 20k drop we may do the work....

See what the agents say, but if I was buying somewhere that just needed a week or so's cosmetic work I'd be ecstatic to get it for £20k less than the market price!

Plaster done one day, heaters over night because it was a December and couldn’t open windows, was dry and painted next day.

This is massively optimistic.
We had our lounge done, one large wall and ceiling. It took a whole week to dry properly. Then you must paint the new plaster with watered down paint, 2 coats, before normal paint. So cannot imagine how it was painted in one day. It is veyr messy getting plastering done.

Why replater anyway? Why not remove the wallpaper?

Just do the living room and hall way

Take the paper off and get it skimmed

Do the hallway first as that won’t create much issues

Hire a wallpaper steamer and remove the paper and see what's underneath first. You may we'll get away with some patching which means you don't have to move out.

If the price was right then yes.

Well yes, but DH used to work as a plasterer so it wouldn't be an issue for us at all. If it was something we'd have to pay others for it would be more of a concern.

Whilst wood chip is seen as the work of the devil it can be sorted cheaply.
But it takes HOURS to get it off and fill sand the walls and paper with 2000g lining paper the stuffs like cardboard will cover most war wounds

Needs to be reflected in the price but TBH even a flat or house that you think is immaculate the new owner will want things his/her way. I recall we spent a small fortune on Valentino Ceramic Floortiles in our old hallway which the buyers ripped up and replaced with carpet (I called round to collect some post)
My wife was almost distraught but of course we had SOLD it!

With some effort you should be able to remove the wood chip, there is a tool you would need to score the paper first and then hire or buy a wall paper stripper. Still rather messy though but do-able.

No. Because I don’t want a flat. Would I buy a property that needed re-plastering, yes.

You don’t need the whole of MN’s to buy your flat, so the responses you get are largely immaterial.

The only thing I really looked at when we were moving was the number and size of the rooms and whether it had a gas supply.

Everything else is fixable.

You have typically two kinds of buyers, those that want turnkey and those that are happy with doing work (although how much work varies!). Woodchip would not put me off at all, it's all cosmetic. Our new house still has Woodchip as we haven't got round to those rooms yet.

I think you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot by not doing the work. With the kitchen, bathrooms and floor done, it could be sold as ‘done up’ if the walls are sorted too. As it is, people will still see it as a bit of a project and pay less.

Essentially depends on how much you need full done-up value to move on to where you need to go next and how far you can afford to accept a lower price for the convenience of leaving it.

Some people desperately needs every penny from their sale to move to the next place,so have to do the work as the work is cheaper than the drop in price required to shift it.

Responses here suggest lots of people are up for a project if they can save some cash. Speak to the EA about exactly how much you'd need to drop price by to make it attractive now, assuming you want to move during stamp duty holiday. Personally, if it would cost me £10k plus the inconvenience to do it up, versus a £15k drop in price, I'd accept the drop in price very quickly. However, there is the question not just of price peoole will pay but also how many will look if it's a big job....although I guess it's not really a big job. Lots of people lack imagination...but I suppose they won't be buying a project anyway.

If lowering the price to reflect the work needed, be aware you are also then likely to need to accept a lower offer anyway. Make sure you can afford to do that if choosing this route.

And when accepting an offer, I'd make clear to any buyers that the price being agreed reflects the current state of the property and you won't later be renegotiating orice based on the plastering needed. Of course other things might appear that they want to negotiate on the price over and you can't prevent that, but be clear it is priced to reflect the work needed.

I'd go away in half-term and have it done then. Your stuff piled into the centre and covered in dust cloths as someone said. With weekends that is 9 days. If not enough for it to dry and be painted, then painting the following weekend.

Another alternative might be to strip off the woodchip and get a decent lining paper and paint over. Might be an idea to talk to a decorator about it.

Taking off £15k - £20k for redecorating looks like a lot of money to me.

@steppemum we are just assuming the walls need replastering as that's usually why walls have woodchip but I guess it was fashionable for a few years in the early 90s (maybe?!) So perhaps the walls are fine. There are a few cosmetic cracks to the plaster. I guess patching it could work.

Thanks all for the advice.

@dustyparadeground nightmare! That would annoy me too. I like original Victorian features or whatever design features are in keeping with the era of the house.

Wouldn't bother me at all so long as it's priced in.

One thing to bear in mind if you consider doing it - if the walls are still in 90s chipboard, is the number of wall plugs also at 1990's levels? If so, i'd assume a buyer will want to rewire at the same time & scatter double plugs everywhere.