Would you buy a dirty house?

[whomovedmychocolate]

This is a serious question - we've seen a house, it's fine. DH really likes it. But I'm deeply put off by the fact that the bathrooms are so grimy and the kitchen looks grimy too - it just looks uncared for.

There's light fittings missing etc.

I should add this is owned by a builder (a fairly good one by all accounts but I know builders tend to never 'get round to' finishing off their own houses).

DH says I'm being daft but I worry about what's underneath when I see such a shabby finish and lots of dirt.

WWYD?

[VivaLeBeaver]

I would as long as the survey was OK. But I'd either get my mum or a professional cleaner in to blitz it, ideally before we moved in.

[Paschaelina]

Do you like it? If its the right one you will see a way past it.

[Paschaelina]

Maybe you should link so we can judge?

[iskra]

We bought a pretty filthy repo house. I know what you mean about the dirt. I'm planning on getting professionals in to blitz it before we move in.

[FourArms]

We bought a filthy house. It's fine underneath & I think the state of it probably saved 20K :)

[KeepErLit]

I bought a filthy, neglected house. Was the only way we could afford to buy a house on this particular street. A nicely presented house round the corner (slightly smaller, not such a nice street) was £35k more at the time.

[mollymole]

is the state reflected in the price, because if it is you may find a bargain
it will not cost too much to get a professional firm of cleaners in

[LoveBeingAbleToNamechange]

We bought an awful house, to the point it made me feel sick that children lived there. We gutted it and started again, now tis lovely ( although not always spotless )

[bibbitybobbityhat]

We bought a filthy but sound house pre-children in 1998. We were in a rented property before hand, so spent two or three days cleaning before actually moving in, and ripped up the carpets and lived with unpolished floorboards for a few months years.

It was on the market for £20,000 less than the house next door, even though it had an upstairs bathroom and next door's was at the back of their kitchen.

Well worth a few days cleaning.

And nowadays we'd just pay for a professional company to come in.

[Indigojohn]

Gosh yes! I would get the professionals in to blitz it, though!!
In fact, it would cost a few hundred abut you might have saved thousands on the house!

[TheFarSide]

The issue is, if it's not clean then it suggests a lack of maintenance so there may be hidden problems - might be worth a full survey, as someone has already suggested?

[Mammonite]

Yep, it was the best thing we ever did, investment wise. But that was an old house and was always going to be a renovation project, it was obviously neglected: doors falling off, piles of rotting rubbish in the garden etc. I remember getting a bottle of bleach and cleaning the kitchen sink so there was one clean point to start from where I dared to put something down! I would try and get it for the keenest price possible and make it your own. Have your surveyor check out whether it's just cosmetic dirt or whether it's in dodgy condition beneath. If the seller is a builder it's likely the building work he has done is decent enough but he may not have been focussed on the housekeeping. I guess I've seen/lived in so many grimy houses in my time I'm hardened to it.

[lalalonglegs]

It wouldn't bother me at all if that was all that was wrong with it.

[DilysPrice]

At the right price, and with a good survey, absolutely.

[SybilBeddows]

I'd like to think I would because it would be irrational not to when you can just get it cleaned, but in practice I bet it would affect my subjective response.
Like the house we looked at that had animals (and hence their poo) in every room. Eurgh.

[NettoSuperstar]

Well I live in one, so yes

[Mollymax]

Our house was filthy when we moved in, but i had not really noticed when viewing it. Maybe they did not bother cleaning in the few months it took to complete.
We moved in on one of the hottest days of the year. They were still at the house when we arrived, she looked as cool as a cucumber with not a hair out of place, i wondered how she managed to stay so clean after cleaning a house. Then i realised, the house was a shit heap. So i had to clean all again, after just cleaning the house we had moved out of.
Bitter? Me? Just a bit.

[Thehusbandsatcricketagain]

Mollymax - exactly the same happened to us,did not notice it when viewing but when we arrived omg I was nearly physically sick with pickle ect welded onto kitchen cupboards.........eventually got it cleaned but was hard work.

Yet when we moved out the kitchen was immaculate inc floor,lawn mowed,floors hoovered !!!

Different people I suppose

[whomovedmychocolate]

Excellent point nettosuperstar

Well the thing is I think it's overpriced as well. DH and I have talked about it more and he is convinced it's fine and I'm coming round to it.

It doesn't help that it has some short term tenants (pro sportsmen) who live (and smell apparently) like pigs

I don't mind cleaning. It has a lot going for it. If he'd drop the price for us then yes I think it could be flipping wonderful. It's big enough for us all to have enough room not to hear each other and frankly if I can get over the 20 foot high chandelier (no that's not a typo it's a big hall open to the rafters) and the grot I think I can make it a really lovely home.

But it feels unloved. Like those houses you visit where there is a divorce going on or the occupants don't like each other anymore. :(

There are, for example no flowers in the garden, just lawn and bog all out the front. Little panes of glass in internal doors have been broken and not fixed (it costs about £5 for glass and putty and takes half an hour FFS).

But it's got Corian worktops - which are possibly the most expensive worktops you could buy unless you made them out of unicorn testicles and a great EPG rating (ie low bills).

It even has the same Miele dishwasher I have here. And it's where we need to be for schools.

Mollymax - I had that experience too at a previous house. I made them pay for professional cleaning because it is a standard clause in most sale contracts that the house will be left 'clean and free of rubbish'. Next time. I would suggest you speak to your solicitor and ask them graciously when they intend to get the contract cleaners in.

[thisisyesterday]

yes, i would.

as long as it can be cleaned up then why wouldn't you?

[upahill]

I would and I would be getting it professionaly cleaned.
I would also use the fact that it is filthy as a bargaining tool with the estate agent.

[thisisyesterday]

give us a link, i am in the mood for some property porn

[whomovedmychocolate]

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-10338777.html

Pics are not great though. It's not this forbidding and yes that is a small house at the end of the garden, the owner built it for his grandkids to play in. Apart form being pebbledashed it's very sweet.

[thisisyesterday]

hmm see what you mean about the front. it's a bit erm... paved... isn't it? but then you could always take a bit of paving out and put some grass/flowers down to be nice and eco-friendly and make it look a bit nicer!

garden not huge considering the size/price of the house.

house itself looks lovely though, could def see past the furnishings and dirt etc...

i preferred the one you had linked to on your other thread though

[Paschaelina]

Doesn't do that much for me, I preferred the other one you linked to this morning. This one looks a bit up itself - too try-hard.