Selling a house

[Flouts1]

I have to sell my parents house ( not in London) in the southwest

I’ve never sold before only bought so is the process massively different
I’ve applied for probate
Got 3 quotes from Estate Agents which have all came in around the same price and they all said the same stuff .

It’s a project - think elderly persons house not modern but solid
Had a new roof 15 - 20 years ago
New Gas central heating 4 years ago
Double glazing & electrics are ok according to the estate agents
I’ve had it completely cleared out and despite the estate agents saying not to bother I had the garden completely cut back as you literally couldn’t get into due to it being overgrown so at least now you can see the garden and I think that would put people off if they could access the garden to see why it’s like .
Bathroom is a wet room / type disabled bathroom but was only put in 4 years ago so toilet shower sink is all fairly new
So far I’ve spent £1500 on house clearance and garden clearance
Is there anything else I should do before it goes on the market

It would need replastering and painting but I’m not doing that 😂

I’m going to get a cleaner in to give it a good deep clean as it’s very dusty from the house clearance and there are no carpets in the bedrooms .
But essentially it’s a project dooer upper with a lot of potential in a very popular area as it’s 10 mins to main station which can get you to London in 90 mins

2 -3 excellent primary schools that are sought after a lovely huge popular park and houses generally only come up when someone dies 😂

If you were buying a project / dooer upper type house is there anything you would expect to see or expect to be done before you put in an offer
Is there anything I can tell the estate agent to tell the potential viewers or what they might need to know
My parents lived there for 50 years
next door neighbour around 20 years
Neighbours on the other side is a council owned house but you wouldn’t know it and they are very quiet couple lived there about 22 years

There is rear access which is great if you are doing building work as it’s huge but there is a communal gate and you buy a key for £50 to access the back

I just keep thinking I’m missing something

Just have it clean. You don’t need to do any more. This type of property is very popular if priced realistically. Good luck.

Sorry , what do you mean, 'next door is council owned , but you wouldn't know ' ? What a strange thing to say.

Don't be disingenuous JSL

We’ve recently sold my parents probate property, it took 6 months to get probate through.
The house was basically cleared of everything personal/clutter/rubbish and sold quickly . So long as it’s basically clean and tidy you’ll be fine. We didn’t do any decorating (it’s very dated decor) and it wasn’t a problem.

@JSL52 I mean exactly what I wrote
You would think it’s a privately owned house not owned by the council as it’s been extremely well kept by the council over for years .
The council in my area do actually keep the council houses looking pretty good and get things fixed quickly
Unlike in some city’s where they will let the houses get in a really bad state by not updating stuff
In fact the two council houses are in much better condition looks wise than my parents house😂
Opposite side of the rd are all ex council houses but pretty much 90 percent of them have been bought under the RTB but because of the way they were built & designed you can always tell it’s ex council
Whereas on my parents side it’s just a row of typical Victorian 1890 terrace houses

@RaisedByPangolins I know what you are saying but I just think it looks better if it’s been cleaned - bit of OCD in me 😂 and it won’t cost much

@YanTanTetheraPetheraPimp
Thanks I’ve had my DH there today just brushing and vacuuming the dust and mess left from the clearance guys
It’s actually looking ok

Is it digitally registered with the Land Registry? I'd have your solicitor VERY THOROUGHLY look at the deeds if it isn't. I've had an enormous problem with an unregistered probate property

@Svalberg
Yes it is registered with the land registry
I have a copy of the deeds
When my mum passed away a few years ago her will was set up so that her half went my sister and my son and my dad had a lifetime interest possession .

So the deeds were changed then to reflect this, as my sister & I were trustees of my mums half of the house so we were put on the deeds with my dad in accordance to my mums will
Hope that makes sense 😂
I have a copy of the deeds and this was only changed in 2019 so all up to date

Phew! I had no idea of the importance of everything being digitally registered until I had the problem

@Svalberg it was the first thing one of the estate agent ask me

It's not being digitally registered that's the issue, it's being registered versus unregistered. The Land Registry has been digitising it's records for a long time. In some areas it has only been mandatory to register a property when a sale took place in the mid to late 1990s. Prior to then it was optional.

Well I thought I would update
House went on the market on Mon
Had 9 viewings on Tuesday
5 offers
Two at the asking price
One at 5k over
One at 9k over
And one at 14k over the asking price
I took the advice on here and did nothing apart from a good clean
Getting the house emptied and the garden cleared was worth the 1500 as people could see what it was like properly especially in the garden as it’s got a really unique back access that you couldn’t see
From what the estate agent said they were let down on a house halfway through process of a chain

They themselves have no house to sell and are happy with it being probate property
The only thing I’m slightly a bit WTF is that they don’t want to do a survey
But one of them is a builder so maybe that’s why
But anyway I will wait and see as it’s not sold till the money is in the bank 😂

Well that's great news! Good luck with the sale

That's great!

Glad you got a good result, and if I was a builder I wouldn't get a survey either (I flip houses and have taken a builder around in lieu of a survey). I've seen many a probate sale and it is so depressing the family generally leaves all the stuff there.
Amazed estate agents told you to leave the garden - bad advice!
You did the best you could it's paid off. Hope it all proceeds smoothly.

@maofteens I had the house professionally and the garden completely cut back expensive but we had plenty of cash from a few life insurance payouts so it was worth spending the money to get it all done
Otherwise you couldn’t even get out in the garden as it was to Overgrown and high
But the garden has great potential because of its access so I wanted any potential buyers to see it properly
Only thing that Is there atm is a huge bloody juke box - I’m talking the type you get in a pub 😂 fuck knows how I’m going to get that out
It’s my father way of having the bloody last laugh I think

Sell the jukebox on eBay - payment on collection.

@WeAreTheHeroes

I would have never thought of that

You can see what others sell for before you list it so you have an idea how much it's worth. Alternatively, send it to an auction house.

We bought a probate house this year, at a lot less than the original asking price. We think a lot of people were put off by some significant cracks but after having checked with a structural engineer and we've got quotes to sort it out at around 5k we got ourselves a bargain. So don't make the same mistake and leave anything weird or worrying there. No damp, no cracks, etc that might indicate an expensive structural problem to solve. Don't do any work on it but clear it, clean it, clean and open the windows and you should get a lot of interest. We wanted a space to make our own and I'd have been very put off if any new things had been put in for the sale as it needed a total overhaul. Good luck, I think you're thinking along the right lines.

Oh I've just realised you've accepted an offer already, well done!

@MrsJamin thank you I’m hoping this all goes smoothly