A Semi-Detached Home That Is COMPLETELY Unsellable! 🙅‍♀️🏚 | The Unsellables | House to Home

when you're selling your house it can be really hard to know which home improvements are going to give you the best return on your investment my job is to give guidance to homeowners to turn their unsellable houses into sure fire sellers at 279 000 this modest home in a family-friendly neighborhood has two bedrooms a separate dining room a garage in the back and is 960 square feet it's been on the market for six weeks and there hasn't been a single bite that is why i'm here to convert this unsellable house from sad to sold gail works in marketing and event management feisty and independent she raises her two daughters janelle 19 and tyra 15 on her own they've been loving their home for more than five years getting this home was like a milestone in my life it was my first home the kids and i were on our own this was the perfect size for us at the time but the house doesn't suit their needs anymore i'm in the basement alone i feel like i'm part of the family if i was upstairs with them this house is very small and i need more space to move around i'm looking for a more modern home something with a lot more space two months ago gail took matters into her own hands i can sell it on my own i don't need to bring in an agent so i created my own listing i did a mass email to a lot of people that i know i also put it on an internal bulletin at my job as well as on the internet but her plan backfired i didn't get a lot of interest it was a disaster after about six weeks of selling it on my own i went and got a professional so for gail it's now or never in order for the kids and i to move forward this house has to sell yale's semi-detached house is one of many similar homes in this up-and-coming hotspot 20 minutes west of the city centre houses like hers sell in 15 days for around 300 000 and even though gail listed her house at 279 with four open houses and 10 showings she's had no offers competition for affordable homes like gales is fierce so why has it been on the market for six weeks i'm gonna go and find out look one good tug and i can literally rip this off the paint is all appealing there's a disassembled table over there this porch is hazardous unsightly and with this porch in this condition there's no way gail could talk any buyer into a sale dining room with quite a lot of eclectic furniture it's like someone sort of half-heartedly tried to make this house ready for sale hmm peeling 80s peach wallpaper and a manky old carpet runner i never understand why people put their largest pieces of furniture blocking the doorway because it makes the room feel smaller because you've got to maneuver around and they couldn't even put their blinds straight ah i was expecting a terrible kitchen moving on through this is unacceptable you cannot sell a house with a back porch in this condition i dread to think what's upstairs this might be one of the worst paint jobs i've ever seen i find it hard to believe that anyone thinks that you can show a house in this state and expect it to sell no wonder gail is feeling overwhelmed any buyer walking in off the street would feel exactly the same first gail thought she could sell her house without an agent second because of its condition buyers perceive her home as structurally unsound and finally people aren't willing to pay 279 000 and then spend even more money getting the house to the standard it should be and that my friends is what is stopping this house from getting sold if gail wants to move she needs to listen to what i have to say gail this house obviously holds good memories for you it's your first house yes where you brought up your two girls yeah when you first put your house on the market you didn't put it on with a real estate agent why was that well i was thinking with my marketing and promotion background that i can use the same skills to market and promote the house i realize now that it's it's much more than an agent does and what i was trying to do and i i appreciate what they do a lot of people make up their minds about whether they want to buy a house in 60 seconds right now they're going to spend at least 60 seconds on the porch checking out all the damage i was thinking that it was outside and it didn't really matter purple pill is very important you look at 25 houses you might drive past a few of them right because they don't look great from the outside might not even bother to go in in the first place obviously the wallpaper in the hallway is literally coming off the walls now you want buyers to think that the house is in tip-top condition not just decorative wise but structurally as well i bought it the way it was so i figured someone else could see the beauty in the house now the living room the sofa you're sitting on is is quite large and it's right in front of the doorway much too big for the room we've been here for so long we kind of got used to everything and then in our minds everything looks great your bedroom would you say painting was your forte no i thought it was but it's not the problem when you choose a very very strong color is some people are going to like it some people aren't and the thing when you're selling your house is you don't want to alienate people you want everyone to like it right so are you ready to help me get this house sold yep i'm ready because we're ready to sell and we're ready to move on this pocket of affordable homes in a close-knit uptown community is a golden ticket to first-time buyers gail's house has been on the market for six weeks initially she went down the private sales route but with little success so she decided to employ a real estate agent and i'm gonna go and have a word with the agent deb to see what she's doing to get this house sold debs now gail decided to sell her house privately what would you say the pitfalls of choosing that route are first and foremost she doesn't have access to mls which of course has is accessible by over 25 000 agents and along with that comes legal elements so i think that when people try to sell their homes privately they might become targets for somebody that might not have the purest thoughts you know this is where mortgage fraud and real estate fraud might enter into it how would you differentiate yourself from another real estate agent what do you think you bring to the table understanding the marketplace what's happening in the particular area so you're in a position to really be able to sell the house from the perspective not only of the seller but of the buyer that might be looking to move in what advice did you give to gail it's got to be extremely clean people can be very forgiving of houses that don't meet their standards of decor and design provided the house is sparkling what have you done to market the property so far there'll be an agent open house there'll be weekend open houses i have a database of over a thousand people that i send out a print piece to i also get on the phone and i call a lot of the local offices make them aware that i'm sending through something to them to create an awareness at their office meetings first-time buyer coming through the house and they see the peeling paint they see the slightly unstable porch how do you turn the situation around if you say to them walking in the door ignore the decor put your own stamp on this but consider the fact that it's priced to sell once we have sorted out the exterior given a fresh coat of paint modernized the sitting room the dining room and the master bedroom are you confident that this is going to appeal to the first time buyers i hope so gail did the right thing by hiring an agent but she still needs to see what a move-in-ready house looks like i'm taking her to one that sold in just seven days for an incredible 57 000 over asking okay gail you want to invite the buyers in right and you do that through curb appeal so come on up to the porch if it's warm it's inviting it's well maintained it bodes well for the inside yeah well come on inside freshly painted front door what is it specifically you like about this room um the color they use for the paint is very soothing they've positioned the furniture perfectly doesn't feel crowded clean decluttered come through to the dining room now what do you think of the flow between the sitting room and the dining room it's a great flow because the colors are the same i noticed versus in my place and the carpet continues from room to room you want to kind of create more of a flow so your ground floor got it anyway come up to the bedroom all right i always say to people when you're choosing paint colors for a house when you're for the purpose of sale right go for colors that increase the sense of space and light in a room right if people see peeling paint the porch stairs falling off the back they're gonna think there are serious structural problems with your house and that's gonna scare them away right this house sold in seven days for 13 over asking oh wow we're gonna make your house look as great as this i feel positive that i'm gonna have uh a good outcome from it okay well if we start stand around jabbering we're not gonna get anything done so come on our general contractor anthony says is here to get gail's house in tip-top condition now gail this house has got me a bit worried because there is a lot of remedial work to do because remember what i said about curb appeal people doing drive-bys and not necessarily coming in the house if it doesn't look in tip-top condition and this porch does not scream by me we're gonna re-sand the front porch and repaint it okay we're gonna leave the wallpaper in the family room sitting room and we're gonna make it work with the furniture we choose we're gonna have a nice retro feel to it we need to just repaint the whole stairwell and then re-carpet the stairs the next is the master bedroom we want to put a brighter more neutral color in there and they'll be able to see that it's a a good well finished paint job so are you ready to get a paintbrush out i'm ready homeowners don't notice clutter hiding the best features of a home but buyers do remove or store large items people need to focus on the house not on your furniture don't let a potential sale be ruined because of a dodgy booby trap so think safety hazardous construction should be fixed or torn down knowing what buyers want is key to selling your home this price point attracts first-time buyers who don't part with their money easily poor upkeep results in no offers even though the changes have barely begun gail knows there's a light at the end of the tunnel this whole process of making the changes to the house in order for me to sell is definitely an eye-opener and i've learned a lot from it gail's house has been on the market for six weeks with four open houses and ten showings her dream to move to a turnkey home has been put on hold we've only got three days before the open house improving the staircase will help get a sale i'm just taking the last of the tax of the carpet so i can rip it out i am so relieved for getting rid of this carpet it looks like the new runner is thin enough so anthony can use a staple gun you want to staple all the way along here make sure it's nice and secure right and then afterwards you would put the nosing back screw it down see how it covers the carpet covers it and presumably helps hold it in place yeah so i'm just using staples and i'm gonna then tuck the carpet into each corner and then staple a lot of staples again all the way along and then you repeat all the way down same thing 120 bucks later you've got yourself a brand new staircase yeah it's gonna be pretty nice to keep one step ahead of the competition gail's walls need painting and repairing in this up-and-coming area buyers want to see pride of ownership so we're fixing gail's porch i've already prepared this whole thing we've got to attach it to the wall there how do we do that we're just going to use these three inch wood screws right toe screw into uh the top rail into the piece of wood that's been attached to the wall did you say toad is it a frog toe screw it's when you angle the screw like downwards like that or sideways how are we going to make this wobbly i screw it in at the top and the bottom then i'll attach the railing coming up the stairs okay are you using tow screws though there as well again i'm learning stuff careful with my legs they're not insured there how do we neaten this up well um we'll just make sure that the screws are countersink into the wood and then i'll fill them with some wood filler uh-huh and then we prime them and paint do we have to paint it in any kind of special outdoor paint because yes exterior paint so is my job here done yeah you've been very helpful first-time buyers or young couples don't really want to have to do a lot of work themselves you know they're prepared to do a bit right but if you make the house look a bit more finished it's not going to scare anyone off right i think you could do with a bit of practice in the painting department so i might hand you the brush thank you come back and inspect in you know a little bit alrighty it's very important step caulking this baseboard it seals whatever gaps or cracks that you have so that when you're ready to paint it will finish off nicely get your caulking take the knife and just cut the tip of it a 45 degree angle and what you want to do is you want to test out a bead of caulk so that you make sure that you maintain an even bead as you're going i don't want the caulking to set up and dry so i'm just going to be working in two to three foot sections at a time you want to pull the gun towards you so you never want to push it because that will cause the bead to go uneven you don't want to go too fast because then that will leave gaps and i like to just use my finger because i find it works better so i just damp it a little bit and just spread the caulking into the joint all right see how the nice that is and then you want to just let it set up for about 24 hours before you go ahead and paint it with the dirty work almost done finishing touches are a necessity to attract the discerning buyer if you can't afford to reupholster then slip covers are a fantastic way to update your furniture and you don't have to customize them because there are plenty of colors and sizes online or in your local department store if you've got a battered old staircase a carpet runner like this one could be the answer to your prayers it's a great problem solver because it spruces up and adds character and color to what can be a bit of a dead space customized drapes can cost a bomb but i'm going to let you into a little secret you can pick up discount drapes at any home interior store and by adding some leftover material to the bottom you have created a customized chic look for next to nothing with the updates complete will buyers still treat gail's house as a drive-by [Music] when i first walked into gail's house i was horrified by the amount of work we needed to do to get this house ready for sale but now i couldn't be happier with the results no wonder gail had a rough time selling her house the first thing people saw was her run down porch maximizing curb appeal we've built a new railing as well as giving a fresh coat of paint to every surface we've brightened up the front by planting some flowers too so by renovating the outside we've added value to the inside buyers did an about face in the mismatched dining room we've created consistency by adding chic modern chairs crisp table linen and bright wall paint oh and no more las vegas chandelier either the hallway looked like a lot of work to first-time buyers with the updated walls and a new carpet people will no longer mistake this house as a diy money pit in the living room gail's oversized and badly placed sofas made this room look tiny keeping one couch and adding a few inexpensive pieces highlight focal points we've given buyers a space they can see themselves living in in the bedroom buyers had issues with the sloppy paint job and the colour of the walls new paint curtains linens and modern lighting turn this room into exactly the type of retreat people want to escape to this house has all the class of a million dollar home but at an affordable price we've changed the perception of gail's house from a structurally unsound diy project to a flexible living space that first time buyers can truly appreciate if you're thinking of selling your home yourself you should check out these numbers first only five percent of homes are sold by their owners via the internet compared to a whopping 81 sold by agents and brokers real estate agents have the experience needed to price your home effectively so it can sell for up to 16 more than through private sale build a strong relationship with your agent get them to work for you it's your house and you have the right to approve any marketing strategies including the information and photographs on your listing with gail's house looking the way she's always wanted will she feel like leaving it's not shaking i love the color it's so bright in here i love it this is really super duper nice i'm so impressed with the changes that were done and now i'm thinking i really have to get on it and find a place to live gail is convinced now will debs her agent be able to sell this house with this curb appeal this invitation to come in you have no idea how much easier it is going to be to sell this home do you think this is what first time buyers are looking for absolutely this is what's going to emotionally pull them in that light fixture is is heavenly and people will look at that and they'll know they'll want to write that into the offer they'll look at the the draperies and they'll want to write that into the offer now i can say this is worth every penny that it's priced to hooray gail's new agent approves one last hurdle the buyers this house is priced at 279 000 that's amazing because most of the houses i've looked at are considerably more money yeah and uh not nearly as nice first-time buyer home for sure a street appeal to a house is important to me so you've seen the house before very quickly i had a quick breeze in breezed out as fast as i breathed in i can imagine living here do you think this has got what it takes as an investment property for you i think so we have converted gail's modest semi-detached house into a home that i think any first-time bar would be proud of gail and her girls are one step closer to getting their unsellable house sold sure enough just after the unsellables left gail accepted an offer of just under the asking price we've turned this house from unsellable to sold [Music]

Channel: House to Home

Views: 48,490

Keywords: House to Home, House to Home YouTube Channel, house to home interiors, interior design youtube channels, interior design programmes, interior design ideas, real estate videos, antiques roadshow youtube, common home safety hazards, home makeovers, home makeover shows, real home makeovers, the unsellables, the unsellables season 2 episode 8, the unsellables DIY disaster, What happened to The Unsellables?, Where can I watch The Unsellables?, sofie allsopp the unsellables

Id: q7oI2UNRQo0

Length: 21min 26sec (1286 seconds)

Published: Wed May 18 2022