Preparing for sale vs time?

[GreenGoose21]

I’m desperate for some advice about prioritising.

We are about to downsize from our family home of 20 years. We saw the perfect place and made a snap decision.

There’s just such a lot to do. Decluttering is hard enough, but we also need to do some painting, sort out the “kerb appeal”, tidy the garden and fix myriad bits and bobs to get it ready for estate agent photos…let alone viewings.

I’ve just started in a new job so I can’t take holidays to blast through things. We don’t really want to delay as we’re already buying our next home with some bridging finance help from family…and don’t want to miss the springtime buyers.

Could anyone share advice about doing stuff to maximise price vs getting on the market quickly.

Decluttering is the biggest priority in my opinion. I would set yourself a room per evening; get a big bag, and 2 boxes: 1 labelled charity, 1 labelled storage. Totally clear down the room, don’t ‘sort’ by moving things from one room to another: just make 1 of 3 decisions: rubbish, charity or keep. You will need to find somewhere to keep the storage boxes: family, friends, garage or storage unit. The key is to do 1 room per day quickly; then at weekends, clear the schedule, and do the painting (I recommend getting one colour for everywhere you are painting, no washing of brushes/ trays, no mixing colours accidentally).

Oh that’s a really good shout. I’ve got lots of paintwork (gloss) to touch up and doing it all in one go rather than doing room by room means I can use up the drying time and not have to switch brushes.

We’ve got a storage unit sorted and some stuff has gone there already, we’ve freeecycled a load of stuff and the charity shop is sick of us!

Trouble is, looking emptier means I can now see more things needing painting or fixing!!!

Agree decluttering is the priority and getting it on the market as quickly as possible whilst it’s still spring. If it’s urgent I would just get a storage unit and get everything out that isn’t needed to dress the house as decluttering can be very slow and painful! Throw some money at gardening. Paint/fix stuff if you can but more important to get the clutter out quickly and make it look as hygienic as possible. If it’s going to need a new kitchen/bathroom, painting and doing all the jobs are not going to make much difference, so I would focus on clean and decluttered. Good luck!

I do agree with the advice above, but in your case (with a bridging loan) you need to get the house on the market asap! Ask three agents, you can de-clutter alongside listing it. They can always take new photos when it’s in better shape. It’s a family home, unless it’s overly cluttered potential buyers will see past it. I’m also wary of freshly painted walls. Get someone in to knock the garden into shape. I paid a friend's son - he had three hours spare between job interviews and made quite a difference in that time!

Your house doesn't have to be perfect to be put on the market. Obviously you want the best price but tinkering with little bits of painting won't make a huge difference to that. I take it you know the state of glacial slowness with selling houses ATM due to the affects of the war? Getting your house on the market quickly is more important than getting it looking immaculate, unless you make an actual strategic decision to wait and hold it back until the market unfreezes.

If you get some EAs in to look at it they'll give you an opinion on what may or may not need doing - not that they're necessarily right but they will at least be able to advise.
Best of luck!

If the house needs redecorating reflect it in the price. Touched up paintwork looks works than chipped paintwork.

Clear the clutter.
Don't have coffee tables, etc in the middle of rooms - clear walkways.
Free standing bookcases, etc in storage - they minimise room size
Have windows professionally cleaned inside and out - it makes a remarkable difference
Replace lightbulbs with high energy 100w - ot too makes a huge difference
Professional cleaning firm to shampoo carpets and clean the kitchen within an inch of it's life.
If you paint anything, paint the front door and have the drive and patio jetwashed.
Trim bushes, remove weed and anything straggly.

Pots work - difficult to suggest what and where without seeing the frontage.

How much do you actually think you'll gain by painting vs interest on loans? Is not going to make that much difference to the price, so just get it on the market asap

I agree. Get it up for sale asap priced to reflect the work that needs doing.

I agree too, just get it own the market. If you had refurbished it very recently I might say differently.

Saying this as someone who has just spent 14 days solid on ours getting it ready to go on the market. Ours has just recently been completely gone through in the last 3 years and the kitchen wasn’t finished (ie unpainted cupboards, bare plaster no floor) so it was finishing off things not done .

I have been touching up the woodwork with same pot of paint it was last done with so you can’t tell as it hasn’t had much time to discolour but start touching up gloss now and you’ll have to repaint a fair chunk so I think so best not open that can of worms with bridging loan, especially as people are twitching with everything happening in the world right now.

Thanks all..pretty universal responses. I just worry that we’ll have terrible pictures as the front looks scruffy. But I’ll do what I can this week and the estate agents photos can be next weekend’s worry.

The bridging loan is family, so while I do need to pay it off quickly, it’s not got massive interest.

Most people will be able to picture a wall (inside or outside) garden etc as tidier and neater than it is, just as most people wouldn't reject a house purely because the walls aren't painted their preferred colour. If the house is too cluttered they simply won't be able to picture what the space is really like.

In what ways does the front look scruffy? Any thing that would be quick but effective? I think the front maybe worth spending a small amount of time on. I set myself a deadline of 2 weeks and really went for it, a deadline albeit self imposed can be really motivating!

i’ve been using Zinsser Allcoat on lots of things. Can be bought on line and mixed to any colour and doesn’t need a primer and recoatable in an hour. Just mentioning it in case it might help with the front. I’m about to take the net curtains off the bottom half of the windows this morning which makes me sad as I like the privacy but they look at bit crap from outside and I have 4 agents coming this morning.

Market it at a price that is competitive and keen to get lots of interest and potentially competing bidders anxious not to lose out. That'll normally be a lower price than you or most EA's think it's worth. Otherwise you risk losing the opening day interest and will end up sitting on RM along with everything else.

See other "No interest" threads on here.

Get a skip. Storing things when you are downsizing is adding a step you don’t need. Take clothes to those clothing banks in supermarket car parks.

Tinkering around the edges with a bit of tidying and decorating isn't going to sell a house - but it might help a bit with bringing in viewings.
The only thing that will ensure you sell a house at the moment is getting the price right, ideally from the first listing. Dont be tempted to start high and chase the market down with reductions after suitable (or even no) offers appear. The market is stalling and it looks likley it could start to fall. An offer that seems too low this month may be quite a lot higher than the best offers you get in 6 months time. You need to be super competitive with your asking price at the moment. Get ahead of the curve from the start.

Declutter and front kerb appeal. Then leave it.

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