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Original poster

Help me get ready to sell my house (Photos included and brutal honesty welcome)

77 replies

UHWINFO · 13/10/2020 13:18

We were on the market last year and got 1 viewing. Naturally this year has been a write off so I'm trying to use this time to improve it and make sure it appeals to people.

It's in South Wales and we bought for 90k in 2014. Last year it was valued at 110k and I'd be happy to sell at that. It's a 3 bed, end terrace with an attached garage and small courtyard garden. We also have an upstairs bathroom plus downstairs loo/utility room which is unusual for terraces in the area.

Help me get ready to sell my house (Photos included and brutal honesty welcome)
OP posts:
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7
Pereie · 14/10/2020 14:18

You need to inject some aspirational lifestyle into your property. Lolz. No seriously it really helps.

Agree with cutting the hedge and planting bulbs. A nice couple of bay trees by the front door will work wonders too. Make sure your car is out the way in the pic too.

Tidy away ALL clutter. Bag it and shove it up the loft for pics and viewings. Buy some nice big green plants, IKEA is cheap. Put one in the bathroom and dot them around the house.

Tasteful art on the walls adds a nice cultural feel. Frame a couple of your kids pics and put them in the little bedroom to break up the blue wall.

Buy a BIG Mirror from the glazier and glue it to the wall above the sink in the bathroom.

If you can rearrange your sofa so it doesn't cut the lounge in two. You want to make it look like a big open plan living space. Dress the dining table as though you are having a dinner party for the pics. Dress the beds in plain sheets too and maybe get rid of the striped curtains.

When you have viewings make sure you have lots of nice fresh air fresheners dotted around, but not overpowering.

You want to sell the person viewing the property a lifestyle, so you know, pretend you are the kind of person who has time to keep plants alive, hangs their kids artwork and throws dinner parties WinkConfused

Onekidnoclue · 14/10/2020 14:30

In the second bedroom you should centre the bed under the window and have bedside tables each side (can be borrowed for photo from another room or friend if you only have one).
Pull the curtains open properly and make sure bed linen is pulled tight so looks symmetrical and wrinkle free.

Onekidnoclue · 14/10/2020 14:32

Bathroom looks good but to look better take everything no nailed down out and shove a plant in. Nobody wants a photo of a bin.

Onekidnoclue · 14/10/2020 14:36

Think about how the furniture is positioned. In a few cases it looks like it’s positioned to block you getting into the room. The sofa in the living room looks too big and like you’d need to squeeze round awkwardly. The side of what I assume is a wardrobe in the baby room takes up a lot of the photo and makes it look like a difficult shape. In the first bedroom there’s a set of shelves in the way, could it go into the alcove in the far corner?

dancemom · 14/10/2020 14:37

Definitely get rid of the guitars, if you have that much space put in a desk or a dressing table and chair to show the space off.

Your living room looks cramped, can part of the sofa be removed? Although it may just be the photo, they really arent great.

Definitely get rid of the play table in the kitchen and put a small dining table in if possible.

SunshineCake · 14/10/2020 14:39

Paint the outside
Paint the maroon wall in a lighter colour
Your lounge is nice but I'd move the furniture a bit
Change the direction of the bed with the blue bedding
Move the bin from the kitchen

HoxtonBonnet · 14/10/2020 14:41

The outside of the house needs painting/freshening.
Plants in pots outside?
You need some pictures and or mirrors on the walls - they look very bare!

orangenasturtium · 14/10/2020 14:41

No need to get rid of the guitars, just get them off the floor so they don't take up floor space. Wall hangers only cost a few pounds and, on the wall, they would actually make a decorative focal point to the room.

orangenasturtium · 14/10/2020 14:47

Do you have a photo of the back courtyard garden? I would assume the worst if there aren't any photos in the details. Back garden space is an important deciding factor for most people, whether they want a big garden, small space or none at all, so they will want to know about it.

Venicelover · 14/10/2020 15:07

Definitely paint the outside, lots of people do 'drive-by viewings' first and that grey colour is quite depressing.

perfumeistooexpensive · 14/10/2020 15:12

The first photo of the outside put me off. It's so dreary looking. The house next door is a much better colour. Lots of people paint over pebble dash. Cut the hedge so it's neat and put some pots of winter flowering pansies. Get a new photo taken without the car there.

paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking · 14/10/2020 15:19

I would paint the render, paint the door (there's some threads on here about successfully painting pvc). Some nice brightly flowering tubs either side of the door which you can take with you. I wouldn't worry too much about inside.

A pretty looking house makes so much difference. If people like the outside I find they start thinking of ways to make the inside right for them but it doesn't work the other way round.

IKEA888 · 14/10/2020 15:32

I like it. really nice interior.

malloo · 14/10/2020 17:09

I think your biggest problem is the photographer! Can't believe those are professional photos. Agree with plants etc for front garden. Is there a higher bit across the street so you can take a photo more at the same level? Houses always look grim and looming when you look up at them. Agree you need to get rid of all toys in kitchen and bin , put a small table and chairs in there, nice photo of that looking out to the garden. Pic of back garden essential. I wouldn't paint anything, your buyer will just want to change it anyway. The downstairs looks light and bright so that's a good selling point. Turn round the blue bed. Bathroom looks nice. Wouldn't bother with utility room photo, its too small to photograph properly, just make sure its mentioned in the description. Good luck!

sbplanet · 14/10/2020 17:38

I agree with the 'what awful photographs'! They don't seem to show the rooms off at all.
But first thing I'd do is cut the hedge.
Looks a nice enough house, try and make it bit more 'aspirational'. Make sure your next lot of details mention the points you say about what makes your place have 'added value'/stand out. If you don't like what they say, make them rewrite it! Same for the photos.

Porridgeoat · 15/10/2020 00:16

Lounge shot as the first photo.

Lacks curb appeal

CatAndHisKit · 15/10/2020 01:56

Ooh OP I aways like to see a guitar on show on house photos - not many, but one or two adds a bit of a cool factor.

Original poster
UHWINFO · 16/10/2020 10:35

Right then.

Got a man coming next week to paint my sills and trim my bush Grin

I am decluttering today. It's not going very well but i shall persist.

OP posts:
wishywashywoowoo70 · 16/10/2020 19:54

@UHWINFO

Right then.

Got a man coming next week to paint my sills and trim my bush Grin

I am decluttering today. It's not going very well but i shall persist.

You'll feel so much better once you've had your bush trimmed Grin
Ted27 · 16/10/2020 20:00

I don’t mind the guitars or the kids toys in the kitchen - otherwise to me it looks cold, unloved and unlived in, not a plant, photo, piece of art mirror,

AllDayHappyHour · 16/10/2020 22:58

Definitely paint the house...also is that fake grass at the front? Looks very fake if it is. If it’s not then I’ll blame bad photography!

ivykaty44 · 16/10/2020 23:22

Op

Do you think the photographs make you want to live in that house?

the guitars are great props fro setting a scene - but not as they are...

make the bed clothes smooths, places them in the middle of the room rather than at the edge, put beds tables alongside with nice things on them.

put bath towels in the bathroom with nice bottles of shower stuff, pick blue towels and blue bottles, make it look like a great place to have a soak in the bath with a couple of great green plants - bays is good for plants, or Sainsbury

your house is great it just needs some staging to look really inviting

user1471538283 · 17/10/2020 06:55

I think it's really nice for the price. I think you need more and better photographs. I didn't see the dining set and I was wondering where you eat. Maybe a little table in the kitchen? A nice indoor plant or flowers? Plants for outside? I'd like to see the courtyard as well

Darkestseasonofall · 17/10/2020 07:15

What's your street like? Looks to me like you're in the valleys on a bastard of a road hence the one way system. Have you a garden and if so is it use able or is carved into the mountain?
If you are in the valleys someone will either buy your house or they won't, tidying the guitars away etc won't make an iota of difference.

Caspianberg · 17/10/2020 07:41

The inside looks fine tbh. Most things to change will be personal so I wouldn’t invest much.
The outside is dreary unfortunately

Do you have any nice pictures of the courtyard garden? I would want to see it set out with somewhere to sit etc

And do you have a floor plan? Makes it far easier for buyers to compare room sizes and see layout.

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