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

In your shoes I’d move all the cars out of the way and retake the photo to take in the lawn, bush and landscape behind. It might mean standing on a ladder to get a good angle

Yes and get some day time photos looking out across the landscape. The view needs a mention

I would knock off 50k and just get it sold.

Clear out more personal belongings. Carpet out of bathrooms, lino down.
Change estate agent!

You also need better garden photos.

I would agree with that. A lot of posters seem to think the market will pick up in the Spring, my feeling is that it's going to start tanking harder 🤔. If the OP waits too long they might need to reduce more than 50k...

Ooooh, you're the poster with the fab 70s sofa set for sale! Have you managed to find a loving new home for it yet, OP?

To help the house sale, I'd remove absolutely all the personal items, ornaments, mobility aids etc, and have the photos re-done, including photos of the great views.

It's lovely. As you said in your OP, wrong time of the year and the market's flat.
The reasons someone won't be interested will be things you can't change.

As regards the rightmove listing, you could change the swirly carpets and the bathroom suite, and remove the mobility aids, but a buyer would probably see past those.

The garden is steep and Port Talbot isn't the most desirable area in that region.
The listing should show the view if there is one.

Does it actually need modernisation or does it need decoration? I'd tke modernisation to mean re-wiring, new windows, etc

Pink bathroom is great but not with the red tile.

The main thing that bothers me is the sloped garden which you can do nothing about.

The second thing is all the disability aids everywhere. Why why why did you leave the commode in the ironing room??

1. remove disability aids
2. remove as much furniture and personal belongings as possible, leave the basics beds and sofas, matching furniture
3. repaint and change carpets/flooring where not neutral, consider painting the kitchen tiles and possibly cupboard doors
4. buy modern throws to cover the sofas and modern bedding
5. don’t bother with the pink bathroom refit it is too much money to do

Basically you want to depersonalise the entire space, as at the moment it looks like it hasn’t been touched since the 70s and you’re visualising elderly people and their last days when you look at it, rather than your new home.

Take estate agent advice as to whether you are better to just drop the price and move on. If you do renovate don’t spend more than £5k to create a blank and more cheerful canvas for buyers.

Definitely remove the disability aids immediately, you can phone the hospital or the original provider to come and get them or donate to charity.

Ps you need to dress the ironing room as a bedroom.

Thanks for all your comments. Totally agree about depersonalising the house, we listed it fully furnished on the advice of the EA who said it would help to give a feel for quite how big the rooms are.
We are in the process of emptying out and I take on board the removal of the disability aids - we see past all of that and just see the house / lovely times we had there but of course others don’t have our experience of having spent time there.
Also agree on better pics of the views and vistas beyond the house. The garden is tiered and has good flat areas but it’s not really clear from the pics .
The EA needs to come back and take better pics I think. This will be the next step.

Just leave it. It's a flipper, either a developer will buy it, or someone handy looking to upside.
Messing about with bits of lino will do precisely sod all to the saleability, and in fact when you add new bits it just makes the old bits look even older.
Drop the price and sell.

@Honestandraw

Estate agent is right about the main items of furniture but all the clutter and Knick knacks need to be reduced.

And you are right all you remember is the happy times, but what you are presenting is the end of days, which is a hard thing to sell.

Good luck with it all, and so sorry for your loss too x

I wouldn’t do anything. Just drop the price. Cheap / quick renovations will be obvious and wasteful.

Furnished is good.

Clutter less so.

It is very hard, dismantling your parents’ home, 💐

I would wash all the paintwork inside and out. And I would get the carpets cleaned. Agree on taking up the carpets in the bathroom and replacing with Lino. Agree on decluttering. Make sure the windows are shiny clean. Weed the garden, mow the lawn. As people have said, pressure wash the paving. Get any big shrubs cut back. All this makes it look cared for. It’s what I did to sell in a similar position to you and it worked.

Carpets and kitchen - these would make it so much more appealing if they were new and modern. Then the bathroom.

Just drop the price till it sells, as its inherited I guess the top price is less important.

Agree add pics of the views

The flooring is horrendous, but not worth replacing as buyers will put new in. However, what is underneath - are there any carpets you could remove if something decent below?

Get rid of ad much furniture as possible to look more spacious before you ask EA to do new pics

I would leave it pretty much alone. Remove the cushions and arm protectors from the suite, remove rugs, and mats in the bathroom, carpet runners in the kitchen, bath seat, most of the ornaments, just leave one or two here and there, take away family pictures, leave some that are just art or put a few up to cover where pictures have left a mark after being removed. Make it look less cluttered, make sure it's clean and doesn't smell musty or anything. But this is a bad time to sell people are thinking of Xmas and New Year, I wouldn't expect much movement until January.

Interesting question.
There is a property in our area and we are theoretically interested in. It’s for exact the same money as yours, but in much, much worse condition. Clearly a probate.
DH is in trades and he reckons it will be at last 100K to bring it to standards. Therefore, not really affordable.
Yours isn’t too bad, it’s tired but liveable. I’d do nothing tbh

The advice I was given by Savills was to remove any clutter and emphasise the use of space with furniture. So hoick out the obviously elderly furniture, like the armchairs, hoists and elderly person disability aids, all the old bedding, the shower curtain etc, and any other personal stuff. Leave it as a spacious house being sold as a probate house. Put cheap white linens on the beds, that you can re-use when it's sold. Clean the windows and keep the garden tidy. A nice fresh tub beside the front door makes it look loved.

This

Other than the decluttering (of stuff rather than furniture) and retaking the photos of outside areas I would do nothing. I think this has pretty much been said already.

it's a renovation project, and priced s such (I assume!) It's simply not worth the time and effort to do anything to it beyond tidy.

It’s council tax band E, is that correct? It seems quite high. That would put me off