Hello, after my wonderings of a new build the other week we've had a very unfortunate development. Briefly, Mr's brother died very suddenly the other morning. So we now want to be back to our village or the next one, around for his dad and for little cheese to go to school in a smaller nicer area.

So, there's a couple of possibles but we need to get my beloved house shifted first
is self-selling worth a go?
There's a few jobs still to do. How important is a flawless bathroom do you think? It's clean enough, plastered, unfortunate white shell suite that I was going to change soon, mottled grey colour tiles with border. I'm going to probably paint the tiles white - I think it's worth binning them and re-tiling in plain white, Mr. doesn't. Gold taps - don't really want to change them, are they that bad to a buyer?!
Shall I just make small changes and present a clean "alright" bathroom? The outside is not a problem at all. We've got the iron gates, do you think it'd help to finish off with the little run of railings to match as we originally planned or is that not worth the bother?

Help! What's going to be worth doing ...
re-done bathroom cheaply or just tarted up?
lounge re-papered with lining or just neaten up textured paper?
Blinds in dining room changed or just keep orange ones that came with house?
Leave bedroom window looking onto building site or put that film stuff on bottom pane?
Re-point brickwork properly or done quick and paint like originally and like next door have (v. neat)?

I feel a migraine coming on!
Any tips on getting my beloved house sold fast wihtout dropping too much?

Sorry to hear about Mr's Brother.

It's a difficult to comment without knowing the local market - i.e. how easy these properties are to shift (or not). I personally would change cheap/easy stuff like the orange blind, costs you very little and will help the overall look.

Gold taps, ooh dear. I inherited some of those in a house 15 years ago. Yes they are that bad IMO. If you know a nice plumber then change those for some cheap but smart chrome.

Re the tiles I would definitely not paint them. You can always tell and it looks like a bodge. I would tile over them with white tiles (again cheap and easy) or do nothing.

Hi,
My sympathy for your loss as well

Agree with the above comments. Would definitely change the taps but leave the rest of the bathroom then see what feedback you get from viewings. If they say 'would have bought it if the bathroom were nicer' you can think again. Wouldn't bother re-papering the lounge. It's a lot of work and most people would expect to redecorate on moving in anyway.

Ditto repointing (unless it is REALLY bad).

Sympathies to you both. I disagree with Velvet (sorry V) about the tiles in the bathroom. I have lived with both painted tiles and tiles over tiles and I certainly prefer the former. So long as you use the correct primer, painted tiles will last a few years. Gold taps though, what can I say, change them!

Sorry to hear your news.

Personally, if the house is liveable then that's fine for me. Gold taps and a frilly bath are not going to put me off a house if I like it. As long as it's neat and in good order, then anything else I can change.

So my verdict is not to worry overly. Get the place on the market, with nothing more than a quick spruce up. It wouldn't be a bad idea to film over the window with a horrible view... but again, if there's a building site next door then there just is really.

Good luck, and I hope you get the place shifted quickly.

Ary.

Yes the re-pointing is very bad! Especially as the mini cheeses pick it out randomly.

I'm all in a tizz whether I want to leave the area at all. It would be a lot better for the kids to go to a smaller school in a nicer area, with dare I say slightly more upstanding parents and children than the ones I've been around lately. And I want to be around a bit more for Mr.s dad as he's in the village on his own now and it is a trek up to Morecambe and back for him. But then he's not going to be around for ever. what to do?

What would be more important to you? An alright house in a better location, with smaller better schools or a house you love but away from all family and big, slightly rough! primary schools?

See if we moved the cheeses could go to school with their cousins. All my family are over there too, but I quite liked Morecambe.
somebody make an authorative decision for me! Spampman, you know Over Wyre and Morecambe, you decide for me!

The bathroom sounds like someone will want to start again anyway (afterall you do! ) so I would just get it clean and leave it at that. If a coat of paint means you can "pull the scheme together" go for it, but I wouldn't bother touching the tiles - your buyer may want to do a real number on it, with top to toe fired earth or something (in Morecombe? well, whatever) in which case it'd be a shame for you to bother putting white ones in just for them to be ripped off again in a couple of months.

Ditto re; the lounge. Paint it so the colour scheme looks light and bright and whatever else it's supposed to look, but I wouldn't bother re-papering. By the time you've hired a stripper (no, not the nice young man who did your kitchen fitting ) etc etc it adds quite a bit to your costs - in my view unnecessarily.

Instead, make sure those bits you have "done" - like the kitchen - are truly "finished". People need to love that, and not want to touch it. Doing the bathroom can then be their chance to put their mark on the place - which people like to feel they can do.

Pointing may well be worth doing. Surveyors aren't going to worried about bathroom tiling or lounge wall-paper, but will pick up on that. So for the prevention of nervous buyers getting cold feet when the surey comes back, or trying to knock the price down, I would try and get that in better order. It'll pay you back (easier quicker sale) whereas I'm not sure the rest will.

PS - if you wanted more precise comments, with links etc, you know where to get further advice...

I am very sorry to hear your news HC.
As you had been considering a move back to OW, you've probably made your mind up what to do.
As for selling your house - here's my 2p:
Don't change the taps unless they are grotty.
Don't paint/change the tiles unless they are grotty.
Consider changing the orange blind drops - it ain't expensive.
Don't film the windows - it's weird if it is not in the bathroom.
Do sort the pointing - it is a problem in coastal areas - bad pointing leads to cavity wall tie failure so lenders are wary of this.
You saw the potential in the house and have made some changes to realise this - a potential buyer will see this too.
Will PM you with some further thoughts.
SM

quote:

Originally posted by holy cheeses:


What would be more important to you? An alright house in a better location, with smaller better schools or a house you love but away from all family and big, slightly rough! primary schools?

In my opinion, the good schools win, hands down! As long as you have enough space and the place is not falling down around your ears, you can fix up an 'alright' house.

But you can't improve a bad school, at least, not on your own!

sorry to hear your news HC

i really wouldn't do anything for about 6 months, just stay put. talk of moving may be a knee jerk reaction. you sound a bit hesitant about selling the house you put so much work into. you BIL's death and moving house sounds like a big upheaval for all, and v stressful. even if you move after little cheese has started school, will do him no harm to move school when he's young, especially if his cousins are goig to be in same school.

A house move has been in our minds for a while, purely because of, well, the people round here and their impact on my children! The mods obv. didn't like my examples of some of the language they use to their children in my last post as it's not on here!
I'm not so sure I'm giving the cheeses the best start I can if we stay round here when we possibly have the means to be elsewhere in nicer surroundings.
It's not just the work we put in, it's that we just love the house so much. I want to pick it up and plonk it wherever I go, just so I can still live in it! But it is just a house, and there will be other houses but at the minute I can't imagine not coming home here.

But still, this past week I've realised how little everyone in both families have seen the kids this past year with us moving away, even though it wasn't so far. And now Uncle J, bless him, won't ever have the chance. And he totally adored them. His dad hasn't exactly got decades left and the kids are his little ray of sunshine. I want to be able to pop round for a brew whenever we like so he can spend time with them before he goes "up to be a star" too.

So gutted as I am about my house (which I fully intend to buy back as a holiday home when I'm rich) we're going to see two houses tomorrow - just a quick look to put the feelers out initially. Because if there's nothing suitable in our price range we can't move anyway!

quote:

Originally posted by holy cheeses:

What would be more important to you? An alright house in a better location, with smaller better schools or a house you love but away from all family and big, slightly rough! primary schools?

Hi HC, after reading your other recent post about you and your family buying houses in a development together, did you have itching feet anyway? Obviously, your sad news has added to this too!

In answer to your above question, "what would be more important to you" - i was in that position back in the mid 90s, two young kids, nice house but in not so nice area, we made the decision to move to a house, not quite as big but in a nicer area with better schools (luckily since then we've been able to move to a bigger house again since then) - but i have no regrets about making that move in between - both my children went to a much nicer primary school and would have if they had passed their 11+ (dont know if you have that where you are) given them a much better opportunity of getting into our decent grammar schools!

If you do move back to the village, as time does go so fast, will they have the opportunity for good secondary schools?

Good luck with your viewings today x

thank you dg1. There is the high school I went to and it's quite good I think. I'd probably prefer it to Morecambe high schools anyway.

We ended up late for the first as we had to go motorway, horrendous traffic and we were pushed for time as we were, erm, viewing the body aswell shortly after.
So all in all it was very quick in and out look at both. The houses are fine in themselves.
There was a mid-terrace, 3 bed, garden backing onto fields. Then there was a mid terrace (but only joined to one) but backing onto very visible gardens and houses.

First terrace I liked. Was bigger than it looked online, needs the usual LOT of work doing but all can be done as and when. TEEEENY bathroom but a quadrant shower would sort that. Nice kitchen.
But.... we've been spoiled with our neighbours here. There was tidyish houses all round at front, but they're not gardeners obviously. The back garden next door was awful and unkempt, a bit dumping ground ish (not rubbish, more like empty pots, bits of fence etc.) So that's putting us off a bit. And the house does need a lot mores doing to it than we originally thought so it would need to be a lot lower offer.

The other house was newer style, 80s? but totally uninspiring, just didn't grab me whatsoever and I can't imagine living there at all. It was just so lacking in character, and I don't think you can necessarily change that. Plus the gardens either side weren't great and it was not very private which is what we're used to. So I think that's out!

I'm thinking probably get this on the market and have another proper look at the first terrace (RM, preesall 134,950 dark windows ), after we get Friday's rather sad funeral out of the way.

Incidentally - what's a ballpark for a bog standard loft conversion?

Make sure, if and when you look at houses, that they can accommodate a loft conversion, in my old house, 1930's mid terrace, the roof was not high enough to accommodate a conversion - something i didnt know til we marketed our property, and a potential buyer bought a builder round with her, and said there was not enough clearance to do a conversion! Just a thought!