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AIBU?

to think you can only have a couple of brain cells if you would not go to view a house for sale based on the current owner's furniture?

29 replies

Mintyy · 22/11/2014 20:40

Similarly, if a picture of an open bottle of wine and a couple of glasses on a patio table would be the thing to persuade you to view it?

Surely, surely it's just an old cliche that buyers have to be babied through the viewing process?

OP posts:
ClawHandsIfYouBelieveInFreaks · 22/11/2014 20:42

You'd hope so but it's amazing how little imagination people have.

AgentProvocateur · 22/11/2014 20:43

One brain cell, I'd say. And no imagination.

BaffledSomeMore · 22/11/2014 20:47

People are surprisingly unimaginative. Worked well for us buying an empty house though :)

lunar1 · 22/11/2014 20:50

I viewed a house that the owners wouldn't let me turn the lights on. They had dim lamps on and told me it showed the house of better. Some people are just not that bright.

ILoveSimonCowell · 22/11/2014 20:50

I can see through crap. Sadly DH can't. I look at location/house/layout. Pay little attention to decor/furniture. Even if I like the decoration (rare) I know it'll need re-decorating - as once pictures etc taken down it always leaves a mark on the wall. But YES can see through other peoples stuff.

Tiredemma · 22/11/2014 20:53

The house we live in now- I completely discounted because of the old mans furniture in it.
Completely refused to even come and look.

DP's friend drove past the house and came and told me that I was mental if I didnt come and look.

I walked in and fell in love (cliche) but honestly I did.

MaryWestmacott · 22/11/2014 20:55

My old flatmate looked at various places when looking to buy with his dad, but his parents had only ever bought empty properties or bought off plan new builds. His dad just couldn't see past other people's furniture and decoration - he was shocked how big the front room of the flat my friend finally bought was when he helped him move in - seeing it empty he saw the room properly for the first time.

Mintyy · 22/11/2014 20:57

We have bought two bargains because we bought houses that had been on the market for a long time but looked awful in the photos.

The first one was filthy as well. But it took precisely one day to have the carpets taken up and thrown in a skip and for a specialist company to come and do a deep clean. Cost about £250.00.

One day.

And then we owned a house that was on the market for £20,000 less than the identical house next door (in 1998).

OP posts:
CrispyFern · 22/11/2014 21:03

I'd say most people can't see past bad decor and furniture. If everyone could, you would never have got your bargains Mintyy!

Laquitar · 22/11/2014 21:06

I totally agree!
It is funny how people put a vase on the table or 'lifestyle magazines'! But i guess it does work??

I remember viewing a house which was very over-priced and nothing special. They were burning oils in the tiny kitchen when we went.
Then there was more aromatherapy session upstairs waiting for us. I was wondering what they were trying to camuflage? And several vases carefully placed around. Yes, i 'll pay 30K extra for that!!

Anyway the house we bought - we met the agent there. The sink was full of last night's dishes, they were clothes on bedroom floor, toys everywhere. We made an offer.

What i dont understand is that when you view a house you know how many sq m is , yes? Clutter or no
clutter doesnt make difference to me. If it is 100sq m, it is 100 sq m.

CaptainAnkles · 22/11/2014 21:09

I hated my house the first time I viewed it because of the hideous carpet in the living room. I am shallow and daft.

Sparklingbrook · 22/11/2014 21:16

Little bit off topic but I do choose self catering properties by the furniture. Blush

But houses, no. Baking bread does not disguise doggy odour, but you do have to envisage the house empty however hideous the furniture/decor.

meandjulio · 22/11/2014 21:19

The opposite really. DH and I went to see a house once which was just gorgeous - everything in it was beautiful and tastefully arranged. We went round, oohing and aahing, and at the end looked at each other and said 'Well as soon as we move in it will look like shit' and walked away.

MrsMcColl · 22/11/2014 21:21

Exactly my thoughts, Mintyy! How can people not see past bad/tatty decor? I don't get it. I always imagine what I'll do with a place. Sometimes you know it'll just be too much work. But mentally removing crappy furniture etc and repainting the walls - how hard is it?

TheWhispersOfTheGods · 22/11/2014 21:22

DH is terrible for that. 'oh, this one us really nice'. yes dear, because it has lovely furniture and pretty cushions. And is 30k over budget. Hmm

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 22/11/2014 21:23

I have been seduced by a floor plan many a time.

I have rejected places with acres of hideous stripy wallpaper, 70s fireplace and artex ceilings but that's because all those things are a bugger to change.

Some people are daft about furniture but that's fine, because I'm not :)

Mintyy · 22/11/2014 21:24

Grin

Infact, I'd go so far as to say that EA's "lifestyle" pictures (you know the ones - where the dining table is set for dinner and there's a brand new shop-bought hanging basket by the front door) give me the rage and I just always think they are trying to dupe me into paying a premium. Or that they have been done up by a professional developer. So I tend to avoid those overly- immaculate houses.

I want to imagine us, the Mintyy household living there, with all our mess and paraphernalia.

OP posts:
theressomethingaboutmarie · 22/11/2014 21:25

Christ, my house was a complete hovel when we viewed it. Probate job that had been untouched for 6 months. Original 60's kitchen, filthy toilets and bathroom, stank, carpets filthy etc BUT the location is amazing and the house is a dooer-upper. We very quickly realised that we got ourselves a relative bargain and as we're doing it all up, we're going to do very nicely out of it.

Laquitar · 22/11/2014 21:25

Grin meantjulio

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 22/11/2014 21:26

My house was fine when we viewed it. It's a hovel now bloody children

Hissy · 22/11/2014 21:33

welcome to my day job... I see the stuff agents put out there... I could weep sometimes...

mostly it's actually the people selling the house. they reject the professional images they've paid for because 'not enough of their sofa/patio furniture is shown in the photos'

usually swiftly followed by... 'and we've taken these on our iPhone'

if you put your house up for sale, it's already no longer yours, let the professionals sell it/market it and find the person who'll pay the most for it.

SanityClause · 22/11/2014 21:39

And are people really fooled into thinking it's an enoooourmous room, if the photo has been taken with one of those fish eye (?) lenses that sees round corners, but makes everything look as though it's in Alice in Wonderland?

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AimlesslyPurposeful · 22/11/2014 21:41

For some people it isn't just buying a house, it's buying a lifestyle. They want to feel like they're improving on what they have and for them cosmetics are initially what draw them in.

I think those looking for a bargain know that they're probably going to have to look past dodgy pub carpets, artex and upvc windows but others want to move straight in and if there's dated furniture then there's usually dated decor and a kitchen that needs updating.

MidniteScribbler · 22/11/2014 23:13

I find it funny that people can't see past it either, but the very fact is that they can't. It suits me though, because I can buy them cheap, make it pretty, and then make a profit. If a bottle of wine and some glasses mean someone is more likely to view or buy my home, then bottle of wine and glasses it is. So rather than bemoan the lack of foresight in other people, I market my houses according to what people think they want to see (I've bought and sold over 30 times so far).

I recently had to help an elderly relative sell her house. She'd lived there for over thirty years, and was a typical 'old lady' house, although clean and tidy. Several agents came out and valued it before she did anything to it. About 90% of her belongings went to storage, the house was scrubbed to within an inch of it's life (fortunately already just had simple cream walls and carpets), carpets cleaned professionally, rented some new modern furniture, and framed some cheap posters in dollar store frames, had a gardener come in and put some nice flowers and mulch in the garden. Lent her my big outdoor table, chairs and BBQ to put on the patio. Total outlay $3000. Agents came back and revalued the house at around $100k (AU) higher than their original valuations (Eventually sold for $20k higher than that within two days on the market). She would have been foolish not to have done the work, absolutely foolish.

What I find more ridiculous is the people who sit there and demand that everyone else be able to see past their crap belongings and that they shouldn't have to make any changes to their house in order to sell it. Get your head out of the sand. Either you want to sell, or you don't. But expecting others to be oh so clever and insightful about your home is foolish.

HedgehogsDontBite · 22/11/2014 23:20

When we sold our house half the estate agent's pictures were of my gorgeous Westies lounging around the sunny garden. I was like Confused 'you do realise it's the house we're selling not the dogs?'.

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