Advice needed on staging inherited house 😮

[Whatmesurelynot]

So I inherted my dads house.
The house is the house of an old person nothing has been replaced for years and would need complete redecorating. Windows doors etc are sound heating is old school storage heaters and big coal fire not open.
I dont know how much furniture to leave in for instance the dining room currently has a 8 seater dining table and chairs and dresser with a old coal aga (this is in the dining room and hasnt been used for 20 years) , whilst the kitchen is small. Do I leave those in there or do I clear them out so people can imagine converting to a kitchen diner? And the existing kithen area becoming a utility room?
I will clear all rubbish obvs but how much stuff ornaments etc do I leave bits of furniture?
I'm not planning on repainting or anything as that seems pointless and the price will reflect that it needs redoing.
The garden is large and im just planning on kerping the lawn mowed again seems to be no point filling pots on patios.
Whats making me wonder though is advice I read on here seems to suggest people cant imagine stuff and understand how rooms and furniture work and need it shown to them 😂.
Any advice, I have never sold a house before 😲 so am in the dark, I know the estate agent will advise but I would like some idea before I start the process.

I’d remove the clutter but leave the furniture.

Sorry for your loss.

Remove all the ornaments which will just clutter it up. Keep basic furniture so you can see what the room is - dining table, chairs, sofas, bed etc.
make sure it’s all clean and dusted, curtains open etc.

Don't "stage" it. Just have a clear out and clean it up.

Just get rid of rubbish and leave the bare minimum of furniture there. Sounds like it will be a full renovation job for the next buyers so anyone taking this on should be able to see what they can do.

A lot of people start redecorating and ripping things out as soon as they live in so I would prefer no furniture so I can could see the state of the floors and walls too.

I just removed clutter and small ornaments, and put one larger nice ornament in certain places e.g. 3 in the bay window. Staged the bed a bit with cushions so it looked more like a hotel bed than an old person's bed, plumped up the settee cushions etc. Made sure there were nice pots of plants around the front door. The woman who bought it actually hasn't redecorated it at all, and loves it. It just takes one, she was the only person to view! Opened the curtains nicely, put all the lights on for the photos etc.

Thank you, ❤️ I think the sheer amount of stuff to sort out has helped.
Its so difficult because its not my childhood homecor anything I feel no great affection or love for it, I would never live there. So I strughle to see the positives it all just looks old tatty and too much work. So staging etc is hard as I dont really like it. 😢 However my dad loved it so nedd to do him proud.

If it's going to be a complete refurb and it sounds like it does. I'd take everything out - it'll need cleared anyway at some point. it's a difficult job so having a house clearance firm do it can be less emotionally draining.

I agree

Thanks all sound advice 😊

Don't worry. Lots of people want a doer upper.
It'll be ok. I'd just clear it all out, someone will want it at the right price.

I cleared out my mums house. Totally empty. We had a bidding war!!
DD bought a private house that needed gutting. It was empty.

The same happened with my Dad's house. Completely empty, needed a lot doing - sold quickly.
I think some people want to have a house from scratch, as it were.

I'm so sorry for your loss, I agree that you should remove ornaments and just leave furniture and make sure its completely cleaned, tidied and aired out. Maybe remove some furniture if it makes a room look cluttered like too many side tables or random chests of drawers. You could maybe get some clean ironed white bedding (or whatever bedding suits the room) if you want to stage a little. (Although if furniture is tatty I agree to just clear it out and leave empty)

Also make sure the agent puts proper measurements on the floor plan and labels the rooms on the photographs not just 001.jpeg 002.jpeg etc etc I hate having to guess which room I'm looking at in a rightmove picture in relation to the floorplan. Xx

If you plan on selling through an agent, ask them for advice. Or ask one anyway. The advice used to be to furnish it basically as a room so people can see it will take a double bed or the that a three seater sofa will fit along that wall etc.

I've always been stunned by how little imagination some people have in that they cannot imagine the room they are standing in being transformed. I guess some brains work differently to others. You can use AI now to take a photo of the existing thing and see what it would look like after modifications, bolder colour on the walls etc - I wonder if estate agents do this or push this?

Though it might be an idea to loosen the edges of any fitted carpets so viewers can see the floorboards? Just a thought.

Just bill it as 'untouched by time'.

We completely emptied my in laws house. Also did a little bit of repair/decorating ... any damp patches or cracks. But didn't go too far ... it was tricky getting DH to stop once he started. You're either doing it up properly to sell or selling it as a 'doer upper'.

We cleared all the clutter from my parents’s house. Estate Agents said not to do much else. It sold pretty quickly to a youngish couple and we ended up leaving some furniture for them. Leather sofas and wall units. They were happy and we were happy not to have to remove them.

MIL’s house has just sold too and again most clutter removed but furniture left.

If the house needs work (whether that be decorating or updating) I would clear it completely so people can see what it is like.

Some people have no vision and need to be shown how a house will work (I have a family member like that, cannot visualise something sime like a chair of bookshelf being in a different position and dismissed several houses when moving as they didn't like the sellers furniture layout).
Someone who is taking on more of a project however is likely to be much more adaptable and able to visualise how rooms can work. If the property is dated, chances are they may make more significant changes and having access to all the space will be a great help.

Ask the agent for advice - it may depend on the area and type of property.

I have had to get several houses ready for sale in the past few years, two of them probate, and with those I cleared out as much junk as possible but left a normal sort of amount of furniture in place, plus a few pictures on the walls and some ornaments and so on, then added some healthy potted plants and made up the beds and tried to make the place look at least a little bit lived in.

Removing all the furniture would have made both houses look very bleak and depressing, and would have shown up every stain on the carpets and fade mark on the walls.

I have seen a lot of properties on Rightmove which are clearly probate and still have all the clutter and disability aids in situ, which really does look offputting. The first thing I did with my parents' house was return all the rollators and shower stools and grab handles etc to the local health service provider.

This is all brilliant advise thank you all so much.
I think I am going to do a really good clear out of all clutter, leave the big bits of furniture, get advice from estate agents at that point and decide.
I think I may get a professional cleaning company in to do a deep clean once it cleared.

(t is absolutely true that some people can't imagine. but that's not your target market anyway as you are being very open about th efact that the house needs updating and modernising. So I'd remove clutter and leave basic furniture.

I'm not sure I totally agree re the painting - I'd consider painting the main areas downstairs in white. Simply because it gives a clean look. But I don't think it's essential.

The key is that the work that's needed IS reflected in the price. If it is, no problem. Also, the layout and measurements are more important - I always look at those to see how big a room really is b ecuase photos etc are misleading.

The dining room is terracotta lol so may paint that 😉

Absolutely this, though I’d limit painting to anything that looks particularly scuffed or forlorn in key areas. And also, what I did would be entirely dependent on the local market for this type of house, whether it’s in basically good nick structurally etc. If it’s a straightforwardly sound house in a reasonably sought-after area that just needs complete updating/rewiring etc, I’d do very little.

And I would only leave furniture with a purpose, ie to show a room will fit a double bed etc.

On valuation point I had a proper chartered surveyor value possible iht issue so played it safe. How accurate are their valuations it seems so high to me for the house. Am also aware that estate agents often over value.
Basically I want to price to sell but not give it away. If I say this to the estare agents are they likely to be sensible?

No rewiring or new windows needed all done within last 20 years, its an old house 1850 stone cottage, it needs new heating and water tank, and i personally would reconfigure the downstairs and the whole house needs new carpets new upstairs bathroom (its maroon) and painting. Its got a newish double garage. Its 20 mins from Bath.