Presenting a house for sale; are these deal breakers?

[KatyMac]

We have a bog standard 3 bed terrace

If we were to out it on the market would these be a deal breaker for the average purchaser?

1. currently using the through lounge as a bedroom (disability)
2. there for the kitchen diner is a little full of sofa and table & chairs
3. the conservatory is a workroom
4. caravan on one half of the drive

I could move upstairs short-term & turn the rooms back to 'normal' use, it would be annoying/somewhat painful but doable

I could rent a space for the caravan

I could put the workroom back upstairs

And I could also pay for storage to make everything more streamlined

How do I prioritise? And which would be worth doing?

Packed 22 bags box fabric estimatevthere are another 35ish to go

DH deep cleaned the bathroom

Feeling a bit tired and hungry

Sounds like you’re doing a great job @KatyMac Be kind to yourself, it’s hard work as well as emotionally draining!

I’m in a similar boat. Getting the house ready to sell, but we’ve already half moved into our new one. I am clearing and cleaning the life out of the old one at the moment, trying to make it look nice for photos. I’ve cleaned more thoroughly than I ever have and in places I haven’t cleaned in the 13 years I’ve been living here. Oh wait, that explains a lot…😁

@HappyCrochetHooker do you want to join in listing stuff and being a bit accountable?

We have friends of DD's coming on Thursday to move the bed

This afternoon, DH cleaned the bathroom then we sorted out all our toiletries and returned a large bag to DD!!

I made better choices for storage in our soon to be bedroom

& I think that's it for the day

Good luck today folks and keep your energy up with food, hydration and rests when you need them!

Ive also been doing snagging jobs that I’ve lived with for years and wondering why I didn’t do them ages ago.

Thanks @Sortis you too xx i have a nap booked

Today I did homework in my new bedroom cleared paths for moving furniture and emptied a huge bookcase

Now I'm having lunch x

Nap Achieved
Under stairs cupboard emptied decluttered (bags to DD, Friends, tip, recycling, rubbish & car boot)

Now i need another nap

Well done, we have started proper deep declutterring,. We have lived here for 26 years this year and stuff got chucked up in the loft and in cupboards. We don’t intend to even put our house on the market for at least another year. I have some health issues now so I have some days when I’m tired.

I have really enjoyed chucking stuff out. When we do sell I want the house to look as good as possible and I agree many people can’t visualise.

We have given away most stuff and have only made about £100 selling books and CD. Selling stuff seems a massive hassle.

Im sitting in the middle of piles of empty boxes as we have to carry a sofa & a dresser through where they were stored when I say we i mean DH, DD, Son in law and friend while I babysit

The bed moves too

I wonder how long it will take me after that

How are you doing @ViciousCurrentBun ?
26 years is ages we moved here 7/8 years ago & tbh I havent unpacked someone those boxes yet

we were in that house for 16 years

I just realised I may have bought too many bags but I guess we might use them

Apparently most buyers are unable to imagine their own stuff in a house, or to comprehend that what someone is using as eg a bedroom can be used for something else. We struggled to sell our empty house and were amazed that potential buyers did not appreciate being able to see the bones of the house, no hiding mould/rot/stains/damp/problems behind stuff. Anyhow next time we sold we 'staged' the house so that it was extremely clear what the intended use of each room was, and it sold quickly with a great offer. Go figure. I would have loved it if the houses I have bought had all been empty.

It depends on the person. Some people see those things and others can look beyond them. Personally I’d be more concerned about a caravan in the neighbours drive than one on yours 😂

None of this would put me off.

Presumably the downstairs bedroom can easily be made back into a lounge? And you'll remove the caravan? Assuming someone doesn't actually want one included with the house.

But clutter ideally should be kept to a minimum. Try and remove any nick necks or furniture that are cramping the place up. Or anything that might be too strongly to someone's tastes but not neutral.

For the exterior photos I would move the caravan off the drive. We were asked to move the cars off the drive

@KatyMac Im ok though I was in a lot of pain late afternoon and it wiped me out and I fell asleep for an hour.

DH is ploughing through all the Ladybird books cataloguing them, there are over a thousand. Selling probably half of them. There is a set of dining chairs in the loft DS is having when he moves out. There are also 2 beautiful antique carver chairs in the loft that were my Grandmothers but the cat loves wicker, they have wicker backs, art nouveau period so they will remain away till she has slipped off this mortal coil.

I would do all those things. Smoother sale if you have fewer obstacles and reasons for byer to reject your home.

Thanks everyone - validation for when talking to DH

So collected more boxes

Bought some more bags from Facebook marketplace a few days ago and they just told me they gave me the wrong account details that account is closed apparently - or maybe ive been scammed

The bed is moved asbisvtgebsofa andbthe dresser

So many things are moving

2 wardrobes have been dismantled and there are still 3 more to go but that'll have to wait until DD's partner has time off work they are 2.34m tall

I am exhausted sorry you did too much @ViciousCurrentBun me too - do be careful

I am lying in my new room about to nap

It sounds as though you're doing loads. Hopefully it will be worth it!

Oh god me too

On the upside we are downsizing quite a bit so the decluttering is long term useful

I also now realise exactly how much furniture I own (also usefull)

Moving the furniture has no individual gain for me but long term I might benefit (selling more easily)

& doing the decluttering/considering what is useful to move with us jow is good I think as we will only take furniture we love/is useful

I've done virtually nothing today - completely wiped out my yesterday

Take care of yourself @KatyMac I felt massively pressured to get everything done by a completely arbitrary deadline and now I’m completely broken. By the end of some days this week I haven’t been able to lift my arms. Makes me feel wonder how I’d do this again in future, given that I’m ‘only’ mid-forties now and found it hard going!

But the house looks presentable! The photographer came today and it was all done in ten minutes. It’ll need a bit more cleaning before any viewings, but I’m going to have the weekend off.

The house looks like a bomb hit it

I may do a bit tomorrow - there is only the bathroom and 2 bedroom that is finished - still so much to do

@HappyCrochetHooker you need to be careful, I don't recover as fast as I used to & I'm only 57!

Mid-forties here too. I've not even been doing much with the house this week and I've spent most of the day overwhelmed and crying. Think I might need my HRT reviewing, but none of my GPs will do it, and last time I waited about 18 months for a referral to the menopause clinic.

Sorry, that's a bit much for a house-moving thread, but I really haven't felt this low in years.

It's totally not too much - what are you on? I have 2x evoral conti twice a week plus a pessary and testosterone

The conti is prescribed (2× twice a week - so 4 a week) but I actually use 1/2 a patch a day (so 3.5 a week) - my body couldn't cope with the fluctuating doses

I also supplement with magnesium, zinc, potassium, selenium, ubiquinol, methyl folate, D and B12

Thank you for your kindness. I’m on the skin gel, provera and blissel gel. I’d asked about testosterone but with other health concerns/ disability arising last year I just couldn’t pick another battle.
I’ll be ok. Nothing can be as bad as yesterday!

@KatyMac I think you are doing an amazing job. I really need to take inspiration from you to tackle my own house (I'm also around your age, health problems and generally exhausted). We aren't moving but between all of us we've acquired so much stuff it's unmanageable, and there's so much clutter. Anyway, I just popped back in to cheerlead! So thank you for all your updates, it's given me the motivation to try and do something. I'm starting slow, so I'm just going to pick one thing today and sort/bin it.

@Sortis don't worry, I’m glad you’ve brought that up actually. How are you today? Do you mind me asking when you started on HRT? I broached the subject with my GP just before Christmas who said that because I’m still having periods then there’s nothing they can do, but from googling this seems like bullshit. But I seem to have aged horrendously in the last six months and I don’t know if it’s entirely the stress of the house stuff or something else.

Anyway, like I said, glad you’ve brought that up. I hope you’re okay. This whole process is just horrible and it’s really good to be able to talk to people on here about it.