Wait until Jan for new bathroom or market next week?

[ChezBomb1]

We just found out we have to move to a new area in Jan for partners job. This means selling our small terraced house that isn't at all ready for sale asap. We will have to move to rented, no choice there, but need a quick sale so we are not paying rent and mortgage for too long.

Current house needs new bathroom - primarily due to very damaged tiling on walls (two large tiles are missing in bath/shower area and covered with plastic) and chipped floor tiles, though it's generally not great. Same chipping issue with the same floor tiles in the kitchen. We can't get anyone to do the bathroom until Jan at the earliest and have been told it needs taking back to the plaster so could take a few weeks to do.

Would you put on the market in a few weeks (at a discount) after some smaller jobs/declutter/tidy as a 'doer upper' or wait until Feb and spend the cash on the repairs? I can't imagine the end cost vs. sale price would be that different, but I am worried that a house that has a damaged bathroom will put people off and we won't sell for a long time. Any thoughts or experience please? This was out first buy over a decade ago, so no experience of selling! Thanks

Goodness no, just sell it! Unless it's in good order people often like to choose their own new bathroom anyway.

Put it on slightly over the price you'd be happy to accept and expect offers just under due to work required.

Save your pennies for your next project!

Agree, I wouldn't be buying a new bathroom it's not worth the hassle. Can you just do a bit of tarting up? A lick of paint and replace a couple of the broken tiles?

Don’t sell as do-er upper. Declutter, clean, paint. And put on market.

Just put on the market. People expect to do things like new bathrooms.

@ChezBomb1 As someone currently looking for a new property I’d rather buy a house where I had to rip out an old bathroom and kitchen and replace with something I loved rather than buy something with a new bathroom that someone else had picked.

We bought our first house (current one) 7 years ago and the previous owners had put in a brand new (and pretty expensive) kitchen 6 months before it went on the market. Lovely everything about the house other than the kitchen. Perfectly fine and completely inoffensive but not to our taste and not the best use of space for us personally...but we still have it and I hate it even more now 🙈🤣 I just couldn’t face spending all that money to replace something that was perfectly fine and almost brand new so we just lived with it. Definitely won’t be doing the same with our next house!

Agree with PPs, chuck it on the market ASAP with minimal work (clean, tidy, lick of paint if necessary). There's sod all on at the moment where I am and little likely to go on before Xmas so I imagine it'll get snapped up.

Do the usual, declutter, clean and do any minor repairs, coat of paint to freshen the place up. Can you replace the 2 bathroom tiles, at least because I imagine 2 broken tiles covered in plastic will stand out.

Yes to freshen and declutter.
Can you plaster over the broken tile area tile to level it off and paint it the same colour (buy some cheap acrylics), it might make it less noticeable?
As you're moving into rented anyway, you will be 'no chain' which may get you a quick sale. I wouldn't even advertise it as 'in need of modernisation' either.
You should have no trouble selling it at the moment.

Cheap and clean tidy up.
Declutter all stuff but do leave furniture.
(Empty houses don't sell!)
Dont touch the bathroom - i hate when renovated home arent to my taste ss you are stuck with it.

Try and get a tile that’s a match or nearly a match. Look on eBay and all the other selling sites. Place a wanted on freecycle, freegle and Facebook. Someone probably has a few of the same or very similar tiles spare.
Give it a really good clean until it’s spotless and it’s will be fine

Put it on the market now.

AND look to have bathroom made presentable next year ( giving it a brand new bathroom is questionable given pp’s replies here ) in case it doesn’t sell between now and Feb.

Can you not keep the property and rent it out ?

Market the house to reflect the condition of the house. We did when selling. Sold very easily. Similar house took another 6 months to sell. They got a few thousand more but we decided go for quick sale.

Agree with others. Don’t put in a brand new bathroom

Thank you everyone, really appreciate the advice. We've been working all day to declutter, tidy, paint etc. I have agents coming round on Tuesday so will see what they say. Would love to just get a move on with it all, so we don't have to pay for two houses for longer than we need to! No desire to be a landlord though, and need the equity from this place for the next.

I wouldn't bother with a new bathroom, though I would replace those 2 broken tiles, freshen up tired walls with a lick of paint, then put it on the market!

Given the time of year, a lot of people's minds will now shift to preparing for Christmas, and not on house moving. I'd be inclined to line up pictures and marketing, perhaps get your agent to put out feelers to clients they know are on the hunt for houses like yours from mid December, then hit go live on Boxing Day, with viewings to start on the first working day of 2022.

Thanks @Starseeking. The tiles are tricky to replace because in reality the whole area around them needs replacing. I am going to get a tiler in to see if they can do anything to just make it look less awful temporarily. And what I can do with the floor. I think your idea of when to market is great, but we move 150 miles away pretty much first working day in Jan. I feel stressed even thinking about it!!!

YouTube is your friend @ChezBomb1! I learnt to do so many DIY jobs myself through that medium when I my useless EXDP who refused to get stuck in. Either you or your DH could probably look up ways of how to replace a couple of tiles nicely, as I understand it's very tricky and specialised to do a whole wall of them with no experience. You have the added issue that given the present demand for tradesmen, it may be a challenge getting someone in to quote.

Regarding marketing, if you put it on in the next 2 weeks (say), you run the risk of getting no viewings until the new year anyway, then it becomes an old property which has dropped down RM/Zoopla when the people who have made a NY resolution to move start looking in January.

Having said that, you may get lucky in putting it in the market tomorrow, and finding someone (or many people) wanting to secure it now, given the sellers market we are in.

These decisions around house buying and selling can be so tricky!

I drove by my old house yesterday and saw a skip in the drive with my old en suite, fairly recently done in off white tiles and a grey patterned encaustic floor, in it. I know people have their own tastes but this was neutral yet stylish and in excellent condition.
So don't touch your bathroom. In all likelihood the new owners will change it, even a brand new one.

@maofteens omg!!! I don't know if I could cope with seeing several £1000 in a skip!! Thank you for the cautionary tale!

@maofteens

I drove by my old house yesterday and saw a skip in the drive with my old en suite, fairly recently done in off white tiles and a grey patterned encaustic floor, in it. I know people have their own tastes but this was neutral yet stylish and in excellent condition. So don't touch your bathroom. In all likelihood the new owners will change it, even a brand new one.

That's such a shame. We've just put a new ensuite into ours and the tiles and encaustic floor tiles sound v similar to that! Although the encaustic tiles are geometric stars in blue, deep maroon, and cream. So a bit more jazzy... but I'd be gutted to see it in a skip!

Depends on what area you are in - if popular, no need for the refurb at all.
If you are in the Midlands / South Yorks, OP, give me a heads up, I'm in a position to buy very quickly (and ahem, bit desperate as I've completed on my sale but lost the purchase).

@CatAndHisKit I am in the West Midlands. My house is a two bed Victorian end terrace. Feel free to message me if you want more details!

Just updating that we found a handy man to fix the issue with the tiles at short notice Had our first viewings today and everyone commented that they loved the bathroom!! Thanks for all your advice. Wish me luck for a sale soon!

Good luck!

Brilliant, that sounds great!