What’s worth doing before selling?

[OneDayIWillLearn]

Hi

We’ll be selling our house in the late summer/ early autumn. It’s a Victorian terrace with lots of original features which we did a lot to in 2021-22 (kitchen extension/ new kitchen/ loft conversion/ new roof/ two new bathrooms/ refurbished the windows etc - all pretty high spec). However we have two young children and pets plus usual passage of time/ older house stuff and not everything is as shiny as it was back in early 2022!

what is worth doing before selling do you think and what would you just go ‘sold as seen’?

1. Master bedroom carpet - we replaced all the others (though I regret my choice as they haven’t worn that well…but they look better after a clean) but one we left as the room was too full of furniture at the time - it’s a neutral colour but now pretty threadbare and probably 30 years old
2. repainting wooden sash windows - all done three years ago but some starting to peel a bit
3. walls - all painted white 3 years ago but some areas are now looking a bit grubby especially from hand marks on the stairs
4. minor damp in front bay window on ground floor - this is an old issue due to (my husband says) the damp proof course being bridged by the concrete poured in the front garden. It means the paint goes a little mouldy in winter.
5. terrace: we had a brick terrace laid three years ago but now some of the bricks are a bit chipped

If we did all that I’m thinking there wouldn’t be much change from £10K which we don’t have sitting around but would it make a big difference to the likelihood of getting a buyer and what they would pay?

The estate agent told me not to bother changing the carpet in the bedroom last year because he thought people ‘liked to see something they can do’ but at what point does that tip over into off-putting shabby/ grubbiness?

I would freshen up the paint, but leave the rest, I think. Brick terrace will cost a lot to replace, and a carpet is an easy thing for the new owners to sort while it's empty. Coat of paint over the damp, and leave the windows (painting sashes is the devil's work).

2 and 4

Why did it not sell last year, or did you not market it ?
Price is the most important thing to get right, the decoration people can see past. I'd say the damp issue needs resolving before you have viewings though.

No 4 for me. The rest would be expected unless buying a new build.

I would sort out the damp and clean the walls and carpet.

Buyers may want money off regardless so you can't pay out alot up front.

Just address numbers 2 and 4. We have just sold our house and I was ready to put down new carpets and flooring and paint throughout. When the estate agent came to value it he said not to bother. People come in and put their own stamp on a property so as long as it's presentable for viewings, I wouldn't go to any expense that will eat in to your funds going forward. The damp will need addressing though as it will come up on a survey should a prospective buyer choose to have one. Good luck! :)

@DrySherry we had it on for about 3 weeks in October while we were trying to get a particular house. But it didn’t work out and by then there was nothing new coming on which we were interested in so we thought best to pull the plug. We have since found somewhere but we needed (well, still need!) to wait for probate to come through and then do some things to it before we move so are holding off starting to sell….

we got about a dozen viewings in October, apparently someone was about to come back for a second viewing when we took it off but that was the only second viewing. The agents didn’t have much feedback apart from it being a slow market, I suspect we were priced a bit high and I also suspect maybe the agents photos were a bit too good!! In that perhaps it raised expectations it was all ‘just done’ and the rooms maybe looked bigger than they are?? I don’t have any evidence for that though.

indeed, they usually do don’t they!

Thanks everyone, I will try and get a quote for the damp and the windows. It can be hard to get builders to quote for smaller jobs round here but I can but try! It must have come up in our survey and we weren’t fussed so maybe someone else will feel the same. It’s very minor (we painted that room last in 2020 and there are only small slightly mouldy patches now though I get no one is a fan of mould!)