Selling family home, should we renovate first?

[Honestandraw]

We have our grandparents home up for sale, it’s been up a month or two and we’ve dropped the price 10k but there’s little interest.

We know it needs renovation but are now unsure whether to do some of the work ourselves to make it more appealing or try and sell as it is. It will make a beautiful family home once done.

We aren’t sure if the market is just flat / wrong time of year or it’s the need for modernisation that is off putting. We feel the price should be about right. Any thoughts?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/86508258#/?channel=RES_BUY

I would do some, yes. there are some things that really date it and both make it look expensive to change, and can put off people who can’t visualise what an updated decor would be like.

Change the carpet in the living room and hallway, just for something cheap and neutral. Remove the carpet from bathroom and put lino down. Replace the doors on the kitchen units.

Not sure what you could do with main bathroom, but something cheap to make it look less dated. Could just be how you dress it.

I'm in the other camp. I would happily buy the house just as it is. The market is a bit dead at the moment. We sold my Mum's house which was much worse than that without doing anything to it. Maybe we would have got more if we had, I don't know but we honestly didn't want the hassle.

It's a good house with really good room sizes. I would replace all flooring with something plain, same with curtains - bright and breezy; replace brown internal doors with white, jet wash the front concrete and remove the hand rail, remove some excess furniture and belongings (anything faffy) but keep enough furniture in to look lived in. I wouldn't go as far as to replace the bathroom and kitchen as those are very personal choices, but starting off knowing you don't have to replace carpets whilst also living in a house is a big psychological lift.

It's a lovely house. I wouldn't renovate it as it may not be to new owner's taste.

I guess it depends on target market, a family will replace bathroom, kitchen, plaster & redecorate so new flooring would be pointless.

Will the property be cleared out as I think that will help them neutralise it

We are about to put DM's house on the market. It needs modernising but the estate agent said to leave it. E.g. It has a tiny, outdated but usable kitchen and the agent said we could go to the expense of having it refitted only for the new owners to rip it all out and extend. He said people like to put their own stamp on a place and the money you would spend on a refurb isn't worth it.
The market is dead now. Will hopefully pick up in the new year.

Don't spend too much money. Agree,a lot of refurbished properties we looked at just weren't our taste. I would clear out a lot of the furniture. Put neutral colour carpet, again, not expensive. Possibly change the pink bathroom suite for a cheap white version. Amazed at the property, I live in the SE UK corner,and you would just about get a tiny park home for that price.

The EA is listing Artex ceilings for all the rooms that have it. Do they know they are supposed to be mentioning the positives? Very odd.

At that price range you probably wouldn't recoup the cost of a full modernisation so I'd concentrate on cheap dressing fixes like removing any elderly aids and carpets in bathrooms. Hopefully someone could be charmed by it's retro feel if you make it more neutral and stripped back closer to its bones.

Presumably it's 1970s. If the plumbing or electrics have been updated since, it would be important to mention that as the cost for a full rewire and replumb could be hefty.

I would do nothing apart from replacing the bathroom and cloakroom flooring with neutral Lino. Carpets in those areas are a bit eugh!

I’d do the minimum to sell it. To me that would be change the carpets for cheap, neutral flooring. I’d maybe remove some furniture too, and have the front slabs jet washed.

Agree. Had to push the EA to include in the write up the fabulous views over the whole of Swansea bay from the upstairs. I don’t feel they are pointing out the good points

I absolutely wouldn't do a half arsed job on window dressing (e.g new carpets). Unless you happen to find a buyer that wants to live in it as it is, it is without question a full renovation project and I would want to buy it as such. Any money spent now would actually put me off, because I'd be aware that the seller would be expecting it to add value and I absolutely wouldn't want to pay for something that is not to my exact taste and is likely to have to be ripped straight out again.

The issue will be price. The cost of refurbing a house like this is now so high that, when you add in the hassle factor, the numbers just don't stack up. We did a full refurb on a 70s house around 12 years ago, and it was great, but I wouldn't do it again now unless the purchase price was very low because you can't come close to making your money back.

Apart from decluttering the stuff, which costs nothing and is what a new buyer would do anyway I don't think I'd do much.

Putting in carpets and buying new stuff for the kitchen costs money and would be effective only if the new owner likes it, so it is a gamble because mentally you would then seek to add that cost on to the asking price, which decreases appeal.

A lot of people think that buyers are stupid and cannot see a thing, I don't believe that is the case.

As a blank canvas I still think assume this would cost a fair bit to get to taste, ie new kitchen, bathroom, carpets, assume electrics. The cost of stuff isnt cheap nowadays though.

Comparables as not easy to find but there is a much bigger one at £300k which is modernised already and at 1720 sqft might be close to double the internal size. That's been reduced from £350k and still not sold, so I think that offers way better value considering that no work needs to be done.

I’d drop the price and just get it sold. A similar property then needs much less work sold 6 months ago for only £5K more than you have it listed for.

It’s just the state of the market.

It is obviously a ‘modernise / refurb’ project which is presumably reflected in the price. If you start spending money on a facelift it will still be a modernise and refurb project.

I would ask to redo some of the pics: take the bath seat out of the bathroom, remove clutter and mobility Sid’s from the small room shit and get a pic of the whole room, not it’s clutter, and surely they can get a better garden pic? One of them is especially depressing: weeds in a yard!

I have bought and sold 6 family homes in my time including an elderly relatives.

I would also do nothing to it. No minor changes will make it anything other than a total reno job and if not to the new buyer’s taste would still need replacing anyway. I think just being realistic about the price is best. Wait till after Christmas to see what happens when the market wakes up a bit and then consider the price.

It's a lovely size properly

What are similar going for in the area as to me living in the south seems so cheap 😂

It's all looks very dated

The carpets could be replaced /removed in bathroom

Our new neighbours next door moved out just after buying the property and are now changing everything - it was nice before so moral is I would leave and the buyer can put their own stamp on it looks a nice home for someone

But the bathroom would probably be replaced so any new flooring would be ripped up straight away. It’s really not worth any fiddling like this. Anyone buying the house will do it intending to change most of it and will want to do it to their own taste.

Had to push the EA to include in the write up the fabulous views over the whole of Swansea bay from the upstairs.
If there's a great view, there needs to be a picture as well.

It will make a lovely home but needs everything and also making the living room smaller and larger family room along the kitchen at the back. No point doing tiny things like carpets etc when someone needs to fit the whole thing. When we were looking we had the rule either it was outdated and needed replacing like the kitchen/bathroom but if it was new but not to our taste we wouldn’t replace it and it would be included in the price.

I'd start with things that don't cost money - there's a lot of dated or unnecessary furnishings & accessories could be removed e.g. rugs in bedrooms, v-pillows, gate-leg table in lounge, plates on walls, net curtains / Venetian blinds. Pic 18 - remove the mobility aids / suitcase / ironing board - and show it as the room it maybe should be e.g. desk or single bed?
You'd be removing most (all) of that once you sell anyway.

The lounge, I'd re-jig the furniture - the orange sofas look unused as the TV is angled for the grey loungers. Either remove some of the sofas (and put the table up in that area to show it's a living / dining room), or move the TV round to face the larger part of the lounge (and perhaps face the seats to a window to show the multi-purpose of the room).

After all that, I'd seriously thinking about reducing the price before spending money on it. Works out the same in the end - £20k reduction in price is pretty much the same as £20k on bathroom / kitchen / carpets. You're unlikely to be selling to anyone who wants to walk in & live in as it is - so any minor tweaks you do are still likely to be changed by a buyer thus a cost they will consider against their ideal purchase price.

Do you absolutely have to sell now? I would consider replacing the bathroom and carpets and renting it out for a few years until the market picks up again.

I don't think the agent is doing you any favours - the video is terrible. It starts off grey and then goes into colour - it's gloomy and foreboding. It kind of hints at the view at the end but then does a weird speedy up thing that gives you motion sickness and takes you down the back alley.

If you are able to get new photos I would - remove any extra stuff - everything not fixed in the bathroom can go for eg (air freshners, loo carpet, bath aids, net curtain). The two big armchairs in the living room can go (you could leave the sofas). Everything in that spare room. Some more pots outside. If you can't move the beds, cover them in neutral, non patterned bedspreads, no sitting aids visible. Maybe you could put one of the twin beds in the spare room to show it can be a bedroom?

And lots of pics of the aspect and the view!

Don't do anything. It clearly needs a full renovations and so anything you do will be ripped out by the next owners. Of they can't see past the current decor then they don't want a project house.

Also renovations are really expensive at the moment and so developers won't buy something which needs renovating unless it is extremely well priced. Renovation of this house could be £100,000-£200,000 so that needs to be taken into account when pricing it based on local houses which are already modernised.