Would cosmetic wear and tear put buyers off our cottage?

[FuzzyBumbleeBee]

We've decided to move but I'm worried about the state of the house
I don't want to and can't afford to spend a few hundred in painting and filling holes plus the house we want is already on the market and pretty perfect so will be snapped up quick as other houses in the area have been, it's only been up a week so we have the estate agents coming Friday to value and do photos on ours so we should be good to go by next weekend

Our house is good and solid no structural issues, we had the roof fixed in the last 6months the chimney was redone because of damp

The house has a lot of work needed in terms of sprucing it up eg lots of areas paint needs re doing or touching up, marks from stair gates on the walls, rough patches on the wall due to being rather lazy when we filled a hole and not sanding it properly before painting
The kitchen cabinet paint is starting to chip ect
The garden has the kids rather large paddling pool which I won't move as it then uncovers the large patch of mud underneath were the grass died things like that

Would this put you off?

I'm hoping the fact we are close to the beach, pretty old cottage, in town centre, good sized garden, working fireplace and while we are a 2 bed on paper it's actually used as a 3 bed easily with dining room and living room will sway someone to ignore the chips ect

I've already spent out in paint for my kids rooms as they need re doing due to the damp damage before it was fixed and that's cost a couple hundred, and I have emergency dental work due next week as well as the dog getting castrated which I can't delay so really can't waste money on even more paint for the downstairs this month and don't want to delay for fear if missing out in this property

I don’t think it will put people off, but they will put in lower offers to reflect the work that needs to be done.

Would depend on the price. Cosmetic stuff like that wouldn't put me off making an offer if I liked everything else but it would probably be a lower offer as I'd be factoring in the cost and time of doing it myself.

I think it will put off people who want a "ready to move into" house who don't want to go through the cost and stress of having to do work.

Some people won't mind, especially those who are planning to do major work anyway, i.e. new kitchens, reconfigurations, redecorating throughout etc.

Ultimately I think you're reducing the "Pool" of people who'd want to buy it at or near full asking price. You may also find fewer viewings/offers, so on the market for longer than a "ready to move into" home.

I guess it depends what you're more willing to accept, either spend a few hundred doing the place up or having to accept a lower price when selling that may be in the thousands and you might find it not as easy to sell as some buyers are wanting a ready to move in home, they don't want to do work, obviously theres plenty who will be happy to do it but they will want to pay less for the property.

The cosmetics themselves would make me wary - if the house looks unloved and uncared for , what other problems have been neglected

but fresh pain is equally suspect

That would be how I'd think. But some people will definitely be put off by things like the state of the door frame for example. A tin of own brand satinwood paint and sand paper won't cost much and will almost certainly increase interest. Uncared for decor will make people think that the homeowners haven't stayed on top of other necessary maintenance.

Yeah I think you need to fix all that. If you can't afford to decorate, how can you afford to move because that is going to add up to way more than some paint and filler!

The overall impression is not good. I would wonder if there are more bodge jobs done in the house.

Honestly this. That paintwork around the door frame is very tatty. I’d worry that there were general maintenance issues

It will put some people off, people like me for example. I am dyspraxic and could no more paint a room than fly to the moon, so any work would need to be paid for.

So I would factor in that cost when considering your house.

We’ve had our house freshly painted. It’s cost £2k but worth it as it looks loads better now. Made a huge difference. Obviously if we had done it ourselves it would have been £150 for the paint

What it will cost in paint will be significantly less then what people will knock of asking price due to it. I would have no issue buying a house like this but my offer would be lower.

It depends. Either they’re put off or they’re not.

My parents are currently putting in an offer on a farmhouse with cottage attached in the Kent area. They want one as a holiday home and the other to rent as an air b n b. It seems a rare set of properties because they’re not totally run down but do need cosmetic work at the very least doing to it (wife is selling as farmer husband died and their kids don’t farm and not interested in the properties). It looks to me like they’ve decorated in past few years but not to standards that some people would expect these days. My parents didn’t offer lower only because the price was mid to low range anyway.

No - wouldn’t bother me but DH a surveyor and would be able to get a good idea if there were more structural issues. Realistically all housed other than new builds and new renovations need cosmetic work throughout once you’ve taken off pictures and moved furniture.

It would definitely put me off and make me wonder about stuff I cannot see. I would probably over estimate how much it would cost to put it right and place an offer which reflected that.

I would concentrate on the first impressions ie front door/ porch.Wash everything really well.Clean windows.Front garden cared for.Front gate that looks welcoming.Declutter and clean everywhere.Dont do DIY if you can’t do it properly a bodge job looks terrible.The outside photos are so important and ask the agent to state that the property has has roof and chimney work.but inside needs updating.Goodluck

I agree with this. Also with other posters that I would think your general maintenance of the house was lacking. For the sake of a couple of hundred pounds on paint you could be losing thousands on low offers.

I don’t think it will put people off but I do think that they will make lower offers and you will probably lose more than a lick of paint would cost.

It will sell quicker if you touch up all that paint. No need to hire expensive decorators, painting is easy.

When we were selling our house I did a full house audit of each scruffy paint or issue and took a week to touch it all up so it looked nice and clean. We had 4 offers after 1 day of viewings

Wouldn’t put me off, but I would expect the cost of fully redecorating to be reflected in the price. Do the bathroom and kitchen need doing? And the exterior of the house?

This. If the house looks uncared for then I wonder what else you have let slide.

Your house is probably your most expensive asset and you are going to try to sell why would you not want it presented at its best? It will probably result in lower offers because even if you don't like the decor when you buy a house you don't want it to look that scruffy.

Would this put you off? No, but it would put others off.
It makes the house look uncared for.

It would put me off - I'd assume that if you hadn't bothered to do the basics, there'd likely be many more issues too.

If the house is structurally OK and I loved it, I wouldn't care, but I might offer under the asking price unless it was very reasonable.

We could afford to decorate but just not right now, we would need to wait till next month after payday or even the month after depending on how much my dentist is going to charge as I have significant work needing doing on my teeth especially after having spent out so much to fix the roof recently and waiting till we can do those things is what I'm worried about as houses are selling quickly here

I'm hoping that putting it on the market might get the interest going and by the time we get viewings we have managed to get the paint and do the work
Several houses in the area are in a much worse state for more than we would sell for which I hope is to our advantage

Ours was valued a few weeks back by a different agent as we were looking at an auction property which we have decided against and put our price at 225k
A house almost identical down the road but without a large conservatory is valued at 240k, agent said it's overpriced, it's been on the market for months but is painted nicely with a newer kitchen so fingers crossed our price generates interest

So the general consensus is it needs sorting
The rest of the house isn't too bad those are the two worst spots in the house

The garden is putting on a great show and looks amazing apart from the kids pool but it's almost summer holidays so Im just going to suck it up and keep it there

The house is generally spotless which is probably why my kitchen cupboards are chipped as I scrub the fronts regularly so hopefully this also goes in our favor
I hoover daily due to the dogs so fingers crossed if it's viewed before we get it all done it's just seen as well loved