How 'perfect' does my house need to be for estate agent valuations?

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I've got them coming on Friday and currently at the absolute chaos stage of decluttering and cleaning and freaking out.

Both gardens are appalling although I'm hopeful I'll get the front one tidied if not spruced up in time. Back garden is a disaster - I work all week and the rain has meant I've not been able to touch it.

Entire spare room is a dumping ground (will probably end up chucking most of it in the loft/garage) and there are a few jobs that need doing before I put it on the market including replacing the bath which was buggered during lockdown thanks to home hair dye and DDs fake tan 🤦🏼‍♀️.

I have half of today and Thursday, all of tomorrow and a couple of hours Friday morning before the first appointment.

What should I prioritise? Help!!!

Just to add I've got someone lined up for the bath/other jobs but money is tight and I need to find out where I'm at with valuations and future mortgage before I can get those done.

Hoping to get house on market end March/beginning of April.

Not at all. You can take them round and explain all the things you are going to do to get it ready to market and ask them to value it as they would if all that is done.

Then you have the incentive to get it all sorted ASAP before you have the photographer come round.

Not at all perfect, no need to worry. As long as they can clearly see (and get in!) the rooms and you explain what you're going to be fixing before it goes on the market, that's fine.

I would make sure the front garden looks okay
Give everywhere a good hoover
if you have stuff to get rid of don’t fill the garage and loft with it- bag it up and put it in the bin or in the boot to go to charity shop etc
is there anyone who can help you with any of it

To a large extent valuation is based on condition and room size - most of what you mention makes it easier to shift rather than impact the valuation. But do get stuff sorted for photos - even if that means sweeping stuff from room to room as the photographer goes around

From what I've seen they base the valuation on similar sold properties in the area and put it in the same price band as similar properties that have recently sold on right move regardless of what it looks like decor or clutter wise, or they do around here anyway. The value isn't specific so to speak as in, we had two houses on our road go on the market, one had been recently refurbished and looked like a show home, the other was nice but obviously older decor (think old fashioned kitchen cabinets, flooring etc) and whilst tidy looked more cluttered e.g. had the fridge in the dining room whereas the other had everything kitchen related in the kitchen and both were the same price (different agent though). So long as there is nothing glaringly wrong with the house itself I don't think that clutter will make any difference to a valuation but you would of course need it tidy for photos then viewings. If you aren't already, I would suggest getting valuations from more than one agent so that you can see if the valuation is broadly the same/realistic. Good luck!

This is really helpful thank you!

Believe it or not in a previous life I've worked both at an estate agents and for a property newspaper but I haven't had to do this since I sold my one bed flat 28 years ago and a 3 bed house with front and back gardens and a garage is a very different ball game!

I've got two top trips booked for tomorrow and first thing Friday. I think part of the issue is that I need my car tonight so everything is stacked up all over the place waiting to be packed tomorrow and it's making it look worse than it is.

@thejadefish I've got three valuations booked for Friday. I work full time in a school hence having to try and cram everything into half term.

The valuations I've seen range from my mortgage providers estimate of £297k to the higher end of Zoopla which is £328,500. I'd be very happy to hit somewhere in the middle.

I would disregard Zoopla and take more notice of the valuations offered by several agents, who have sold similar properties in the area recently.

When we sold fairly recently, we depersonalised the house for photos and viewings and it was as clean and tidy as I could get it, including the garden.

Was reading an article about just how hard the property market is at the moment for everyone. Regardless of valuation only you know how much you need to move. Good luck.

Yeah I'm hoping it will pick up in spring.

I'm relocating/downsizing for a better quality of life. It's taken me years to be in the position and have the kahunas to actually do it, so I'm probably more than usually anxious about the whole thing.

Glad you're getting several valuations OP. If it helps my house was messy when we got ours valued (I thought if I wait until it's tidy to get an agent round it'd never happen - I managed to tidy for photographs though even if it did mean storing stuff in the garage). We ended up having to drop by a price band in order to sell (we had 3 separate agents give valuations - all were the same) and we accepted an offer last month. We had previously accepted a (higher) offer but the buyer pulled out, and round here it seems to be largely a buyers market, or that's what all 3 agents told me anyway. I don't know about the rest of the country, hopefully your area is a bit easier. Hope you get a quick sale at a good price x

Thanks @thejadefish - am glad things are progressing ok for you.

The move is worthwhile so long as I get over £300k. The sweet spot is £315k but will just have to see how it goes on Friday.

It's a really nice little house, but I need something different now my daughter has left home and managing the mortgage solo has meant I've been having to work two jobs for the last few years. I'm 50 now and just want a slower, simpler pace, more time for hobbies and to look after myself properly which is impossible at the moment.

I'm planning a move from the South Coast to North Yorkshire so all the logistics are...challenging to say the least but hopefully worth it in the long run.

Do what you can easily to make it presentable, but ask the estate agents what is worth doing and what isn't. Daughter bought an ok house but the vendor was cross that he wasn't going to get the money back for the work he'd put in, it just hadn't affected the value.

I also knew someone who couldn't sell the house till the bathroom was done .. 15 years ago. Still there.

@Tumbler2121 the bath issue is an absolute pain in the arse. The bathroom was redone just before Covid hit so it's decent except where the bath itself is stained from cosmetic crap.

Just a thought, have you tried every idea for bath stain removal? Magic sponge, Bar keepers friend etc, soda crystals? Just thought it might be worth one last go.

Good luck with N Yorkshire. We were looking there too last year and there was a glut of ex-holidays lets at very good prices.

Ignore Zoopla.

we got some blokes in to tidy the garden up. Bought a load of ready planted baskets and the like for the front of the house.
rented a storage unit and dumped all the crap there.

estate agent won’t care about that sort of stuff (so not needed for their visit) but you need it looking good for photos and viewings.

generally not worth doing diy etc. most viewers for ours were planning to repaint etc.
specialist cleaner for bath?

I've tried everything for the bath. The problem I suspect is that it's an acrylic bath and I think my hair lightener damaged the surface and DD's fake tan stained it.

I've tried all sorts including neat bleach and looked at bath resurfacing products but they're no good for acrylic.

I'm tempted to just leave it and say whatever offer I accept I'll knock an extra £500 quid off (the plumber who fitted if for me originally has quoted £490 to replace and I've got loads of tiles left over if any of them need making good in the process)

I would definitely replace the bath. People prefer to be able to move straight in and use it and a brown strained bath would make everyone uncomfortable. Even if you explain what the stains are. It's more about the hassle than the cost of replacing it.

Do the best you can, if you are willing to accept a lower than advertised offer then don't say anything at this stage.

Also be prepared for someone to try and strong-arm you into a reduced offer just before completion. See some of the other threads about this.

you need it to be ultra tidy for the photos and viewings

if you arent ready for that, so you need a valuation?

Can you post a pic of the bath stain? Honestly we looked at and considered houses with all sorts of problems, and a stained bath doesn't seem like a massive deal to me if the house is right but are we talking small discolouration or brown all over?
Can you throw money at a gardener to tidy up the gardens- not before the EAs but before marketing?
Best of luck OP. We just made a big lifestyle change type move and I'm delighted with how it's turned out, was definitely the right thing although massively stressful all the way through the process.

Ask the agents about the bath. Last time we sold they said do nothing, someone will buy it for the road, catchment and number of bedrooms. Sure enough someone did, and ripped out the entire downstairs including a virtually new kitchen, for a living kitchen diner arrangement.

At this stage the agents are competing with each other in what they will do for you, and how much money they can get you for your house. It's a good idea to blitz it this week but it's not the end of the world if you are not showhome ready for their visit.

Be wary of higher than expected valuations, as some agents will push the value to win the business. We had one that was a full 10% higher than the next highest.

I've only just seen these replies - thanks!

The bath basically looks like Jackson Pollock has been at it with a tube of raw sienna. It's embarrassing to be honest and I absolutely hate it. If I have to get a new bathroom
when I move I am never getting acrylic again.

I've been decluttering all week and still not quite there but off to work shortly.

Basically I absolutely hate my house at the moment - everywhere I look I see another thing that pisses me off and I don't have time to sort out (it's a lot better and I know I'm hyperfocussing on tiny stuff but I have been on the verge of tears all day because it's stressing me out so much).

@TemporarilyCantDoMyself im glad your move worked out for you. I'm really well second guessing myself at the moment but I think that just mostly because it's so incredibly stressful to be doing it all on my own.