Does how tarted up a house is actually help persuade you to puchase it?

[GretaGip]

It's a slow sell here, on the market for 8 months, 9 views up to now, but for some strange reason there's 4 different appointments tomorrow.

I'm absolutely sick of staging the house a la Channel 4 housey programmes - fresh flowwrs, delightful fragrance, and the garden manicured etc.

The house will be clean, tidy and well-presented.

But do I NEED to dot my 't's and cross my 'i's?

Does it make a real difference?

[GretaGip]

Srry, this was meant to be in Chat.

[FarFromAnyRoad]

For me, no. Your choice of decor is of no interest to me if I'm a potential buyer. I'd be looking at room size, storage space, obvious defects etc. I wouldn't care if you had pets. Might mind a bit if you smoked but not a deal breaker.

[blueshoes]

No fresh flowers is not likely to make much of a difference. Manicured garden might. I was impressed with stripes on a lawn.

It will help to have a clean lick of paint, no clutter and bright rooms.

[UterusUterusGhali]

God no.

I'd be looking at space.
Rooms.
Garden.
Parking.

I wouldn't give a shiny shit about how your table is laid. If it were "staged" I might have a bit of a chuckle to myself.

Sure, swirly carpets and artex are off putting, but not a deal breaker.

[Fatmomma99]

everything I've heard is that a kitchen and bathroom that don't need renovation sells houses.

Cluttered houses are also apparently harder to shift, so stick clutter in the loft.

Good luck with your appointments.

[GretaGip]

Thanks, the house is in a relatively good condition survey hurdle to cross, and has been seriously declutterd, so that should help. Hasn't yet, pah.

Did once see a house with a laid dining room table, and I apologised that we were viewing when they were obviously expecting guests. Naive little old me.

[Socalled]

Personally, I have enough imagination to see past someone else's decor and/clutter and see what I would do with a house, and the self-consciously show-home look irritates me - so no, the flowers, artful fragrances, 'dressed' rooms, and depersonalised, bland 'for sale' decor etc don't do anything for me. The fact that it's pushed so heavily in bumf about how to sell your house suggests I may be in a minority, though.

I'm currently buying an uninhabited house with truly ghastly decor - chipped magnolia paint, dirty cream carpet throughout, including the bathrooms, geriatric furniture, bare light bulbs, an ancient kitchen with swirly brown lino - but it's basically a lovely, big, secluded house with a gorgeous garden that will respond really well to new paint, sanded floorboards and rugs, and a new kitchen and main bathroom.

[NormaStits]

We bought a place that was grimy and hideously decorated, no problem at all because we wanted to get it for a lower price.

I'd rather just buy it as you have it rather than you stick a couple of grand on the asking price for new decorations which I will still rip out and paint over to put my own style into the house.

But that's just me, I know other people who don't think like that.

[TheRealMaryMillington]

For me no

I'd rather see a home than a show home

I'm looking at space

Chances are I will hate your taste any how so any fripperies more likely to distract than entrance

So long as I can move around it without tripping over your dirty laundry and it all doesn't smell a bit funny…..

[HarrietSchulenberg]

Like others have said above, I look at size of rooms, space and an overall "feel" to a house.

Other people can't see past what is in front of them. ExH couldn't. He once refused to have a second viewing on a lovely flat because it had blue wallpaper and on another occasion considered putting an offer in on a tiny house that was clearly too small for us on the grounds that he liked the stripped pine doors .

[Shakey1500]

Not a jot. Our current house had been on the market for two years, mainly due to the fact it had only been decorated once, circa 1980 and needed everything doing to it. Consequently it was a frikkin' steal

[Gdydgkyk]

Major Decluttering has helped sell our home after being on market for ages

[momtothree]

I dont like bland houses either gives un realistic view on how its lived in. These programes have destroyed the soul of a lot of houses. Each one looks exactly like the last. Cheap ok kitchens that you have to live with because you cant justify ripping it out... rather have bad kitchen you have to change.

[MrsMook]

We looked through the trendy finishing touches when we chose our house.
By the time we got our furniture in, the look was ruined. The photos of the lounge were Ok on the sales guide, but our possessions turned post-modern retro ironic decor into vile 70s throw back. Impressive for a house built in the 80s

We are tolerating the neat bathroom that's a bit cool for our taste. The kitchen had a presentable finish that had people wondering why we stripped it and totally redesigning until they saw how our new layout maximised the space.

The lounge had the headache inducing spotlights ripped out in weeks and was totally changed within 4 months as brown wallpaper lead to us calling it the cave.

Tidy will do for me.

[Imustgodowntotheseaagain]

Clean, tidy, looking like it's been well-cared for. If it's rammed with clutter I would be suspicious about your ability to pack for a move!

[LovelyBranches]

Smells make a big difference to me. I viewed a house that stank of wet dog and it was so hideous i nearly gagged as I walked in through the front door. I was a dog owner at the time so if i felt like that, others must have been extremely put off.

[emwithme]

No. I bought our house despite it being stuck in the 1970s. It is the most 70s house I have ever been in - including the houses I lived in during the 1970s (well, those 2 3/4 years of the 70s I was alive for, anyway).

I was three paces into the hall and I KNEW it was going to be our forever house. I just knew...the survey came and I regretted it but carried on regardless.

£165k on renovations and extension building later and I am NEVER buying a house with my heart again

[BarbaraManatee]

I nearly bought a house with an enormous, scary looking dog mural on one of the bedroom walls once. In theory, I like a house that needs a bit doing to it... In practice, we've not significantly improved the house we did buy in the 5 years we've lived here. Still, I'd probably be a sucker for a house that looked like it needed a little TLC! Tear a few bits of wallpaper or something...

[SumThucker]

No. We bought ours that seemed to be stuck in a 1960s time warp.
The space was what sold it for us, so as long as there isn't clutter everywhere and is relatively tidy I wouldn't go off how tarted up a house is.
Unless the bathroom was all pink, that probably would put me off it.

[popcornpaws]

No, the house we bought was a shambles decor wise, the sellers son was an apprentice painter and decorator and he obviously "trained" using her walls!
We bought the house because it was big, had a huge living room, large bedrooms, bathroom etc and the views are amazing, farmland and a glen as far as the eye can see.
We have been in it 24 year as theres never been a reason to leave really.

[Socalled]

So where does the general Sarah Beeny notion that a seller needs to store most possessions, paint everything magnolia, 'dress' all beds in 'stylish' women's magazine throws and pillows and the dining table with unconvincing plate settings, have an entirely bare kitchen bar a fruit bowl featuring an upended butternut squash etc etc come from, if we're typical of actual buyers? Just a tv ploy?

[BackforGood]

I think you might be getting a bit of a warped view here.
I mean, I agree with most - you sticking some flowers on the side, or brewing some home made bread really isn't going to make me buy your house, but it is fairly incredible the amount of people who can't see further than the "image" they are being presented with.

For me, it's a balance - I'm very wary of a sterile, totally minimalistic house. It just makes me think 'where will I put all my 'stuff'?'. I wouldn't want to pay a mark up for some new kitchen or bathroom that I didn't like either - if it needs doing, I'd rather be the one who got to choose how it was done.

That said, of course if you viewed 2 similar properties at the same price, you'd be inclined to go for the more "cared for" looking one. So I suppose it depends on the level of 'tarting up' you are talking about.

[KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes]

Our house had a Fungus the Bogeyman inspired kitchen. It was quite a sight. Owners were weirdly proud of it.

We still bought it.

Their faces when they came back a week later to get their post and it was all piled in a skip in all it's Mouldy Green glory.

I felt bad...