When buying a home, do you expect it to be perfect?

[Tuemay]

We are hoping to sell our house soon.
It has just had a brand new bathroom and kitchen.

Would you expect a house to be perfect?
No painting to be done, no dodgy diy etc?

We are currently trying to give everywhere a fresh coat of paint but I am worried that people will expect a perfect house!!

actually some people the other way round if its perfect they cant put their stamp on it and make it thiers, the new kitchen and bathroom may not be to their taste so they will think don't like but too new to replace with something we like so they will go for a house that does need a new kitchen, basically when your selling just make sure its clean and uncluttered for viewings, the house we bought last year was empty and had mould from being so needed bedrooms decorating, hall decorating, new wiring, needs a new kitchen rewiring downstairs, lounge decorating but we could see how nice it will be when its finished and after five years of living in a rental with owners tastes it will be great to have a house that is our taste

No, I've got imagination, and prefer a bit of work so would be ok from a buyer's perspective and I think most people would redecorate once they moved in.

But if I was selling I'd have it as good as possible, so there were no obvious reasons for low offers (needing a lick of paint wouldn't be a reason to offer low though).

No. Our first house had green furry carpets and wallpaper on the ceiling ! But it was clean, well kept and had good 'bones'. Knew it could be made nice!

I guess what I am worried about, is that we wouldn't get full asking price because of decor ( everything is neutral, no dodgy wallpaper etc, we have got rid of all of that!!)

We too had wallpaper on the ceiling!!!

no.. i don't want to pay for someone else's preferences

Yes, kind of. It doesn't have to be to my taste and I don't mean show house condition - but no tatty paint, no obvious DIY to do, nothing broken. It's not to do with not wanting to do work myself, it gives you an idea of how well things have been maintained. If someone can't be bothered to mend the little things - the broken door handle, the big scuff on the wall - I'd presume there is no chance that they'd looked after the big things (boiler, appliances etc)

I would expect to change it over time to how I like it.

No. Because other people's idea of perfect is rarely mine. I'd want it to be really clean and really well maintained structurally but wouldn't mind if the paint and carpets are a bit tired or it needed a new bathroom. I'd be delighted with a new kitchen though, as that is a huge expense.

The house I bought was clean and tidy. I love it. I've done lots to it, blocking doors, knocking down walls etc. I knew I could do it when I viewed the house.

No not at all, I would like the basics that you don't really see in good repair, electrics, plumbing, roof that type of thing, if they needed work then that's what I would use to lower the price.

Cosmetic stuff I will be changing anyway no matter what they cost to put in.

People want different things. Some want a fix up and some want it perfect. I would expect a brand new house to be perfect.

No.

My first house had mushrooms growing out of the floor, water running down the walls, a kitchen that had seen much better days and every room needed repainting. Oh and there was a massive wasps nest in ceiling of the spare room.

I'd originally been wanting a new build or at least something that would need no work but i fell head over heels in love with the house and never regretted it. We had to stay in rented while it was being done up... my only regret was we had to sell it as we had another baby and it only had 2 bedrooms, which was ok for a while but then got too difficult. If I was downsizing and it came on the market I'd go back like a shot.

Should have seen DP's face when he saw the state of it.. he wasn't at my first viewing but he knew I wasn't going to settle for anything else!!

I'd rather it was in need of a lick of paint. I'm always going to want to choose my own paint colours and I'd rather paint over old decor that new because the latter would feel more self-indulgent!

But then I'm also really put off by white/magnolia etc walls. I find it harder to believe a house has been cared for if they couldn't be bothered choosing colours for the walls. I am aware this is entirely irrational and lots of people actually like white walls. But it just goes to show how different buyers are in their preferences so there's little point trying to please them all.

Make sure it's clean and uncluttered, don't worry about decor.

I think there's two ends of the spectrum.

People either want a doer upper or they want it completely finished to the latest standard i.e. perfect. Whilst they probably will want to put their stamp on it even if it's brand spanking new, they'll still want it perfect in the meantime.

Anything in between appears to be perceived as paying for somebody else's taste.

I would think that full asking price is not the norm other than in boomtimes. I've never bought or sold at full asking price. We are on the brink of a global recession, so I wouldn't have thought it was a realistic aspiration at the moment, however perfect the house.

You are filling me with hope

It also depends on how realistic your asking price is and what the competition is like.

Eg you could price your house at £200k and if there's a similar one on the same street for £150k your's is going to have to be significantly better than the other one to get anywhere near full asking price.

Or if yours is £200k and a similar one is £250k, you might get more than your asking price, especially if the other one needs immediate work.

Plus also depends on local demand/economic conditions and how desperate you are to move. It's probably not a good time to try and buy and sell houses due to likely recession, uncertainty, Brexit that we've all forgotten about, so your pool of buyers might be smaller than it would have been over the last few years.