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?

Clean, neat and not cluttered will sell. Flowers are a nice touch but not necessary. Some people will not be put off by dirt and clutter but why make it more difficult. Lots of people just want to move in so if your house is recently and neutrally decorated it might persuade them.

I bought my house as it didn't need much work and the decor was liveable until I could afford to decorate. My friends bought a shit tip as they could get it cheap, had money to renovate and wanted a project. So horses for courses.

There's no point in asking this question. People don't make rational decisions, they just think they do.

What's happening subconsciously is hugely important - someone unthread talked about the 'feel' of a home. That's crucial. A buyer needs to imagine himself living in the space. So I'd be pulling out the stops if I were you.

Agree partly ... weve been in some house and I thought the kids will wreck this`...

clean and tidy is important so you can see the space!

some things would make me a bit wary such as dirty wood work and floors - because to me it's neglect and I'd wonder what else they hadn't bothered with

but it wouldn't need to be show home clean - in fact the house I have just purchased needs completely stripping and the carpets are minging

oh yes and with mine - it was always very very clean, fresh and I had nice flowers!

It just needs to be clean and tidy.

If it's too messy the viewers will think "no storage/too small".

As for dirt, I am no clean freak by any stretch of the imagination. But I do make sure the house is dusted, hoovered, bathrooms and kitchen sparkling. It still won't be perfect.

We were looking recently and went to see what should have been a 'done' house. But it was so disgustingly filthy the whole house needed redecorating. A deep clean wouldn't have fixed the decades worth of dirty handprints on the walls. That was a deal breaker. I just couldn't be bothered.

And definitley a mowed lawn.

Good luck with your viewings!!!

I think most of you are missing the point here. I agree with Lagoonablue that some people make it look like they don't really want to sell their house.

We once bought a house that needed a lot of work doing and having gone through it all I certainly wouldn't want to do it again. I am happy to move into a house that only needs cosmetic work - decor, carpets etc, but ripping out kitchens and bathrooms, rewiring, extension building etc is my idea of hell.

I don't like houses being "staged", but would look at the house with a view of "how much will I have to do to this house to make it habitable" and if the answer is not much and not too costly it would be of interest to me, and I suspect, most people.

Also, if the house doesn't look well looked after I wonder what else hasn't been looked after - when was the house last rewired, do they have the boiler regularly serviced etc.

I'm going to go against the grain here and say "yes, it does" I'm not saying people will pay an extra 10% or whatever for a nicely decorated house, but I think it will definitely make it easier to sell, and give it an "edge".

It is a numbers game. So for every 1 eminently sensible MNer who says she would be able to see past décor, grunge and clutter there are the tens of real people who want to buy a house in your area.

They know the area, or are scoping it out. They know the size of house they want. Will you house make their list?

Obviously more people will consider an uncluttered, light bright, welcoming house than a cluttered dirty one. So even if the décor or kitchen is 20 years old it won't matter, as long as it s clean and tidy.

When we first put our last house on the market we had no offers. We took it off the market, had the cellar repainted and the hall, stairs and landing redecorated and put it back up for sale. Within weeks we had three offers all for the asking price or above.

I think most of you are missing the point here.

Ooh... slapped wrists all around from Bunbaker

Haven't you just made the same point as everyone else?

My flat was freshly decorated and decluttered. Zero interest.

We really dressed it. Dining table laid for a romantic dinner, magazines fanned out on a side table, matching crockery in the kitchen, little towers of soap in the bathroom... New photo's on the internet and it sold immediately.

I am one of those 'see past the decor' people but obviously we are a rare breed!

My DH would swear blind he 'sees past' the mess in a house. But it's a lie. He can't.

Neat, tidy, flowers, fragrance- make them believe that your life could be their life.

Houses that were grubby, slightly smelly (even just smelling of pets) or cluttered put me off tbh. I'm very shallow and we had a lot of choice, so they just got crossed off.

Well Bunbaker is correct.
A house that is obviously cared for is going to attract more people - it makes sense that is there is lots of work to be done, like ripping out a filthy bathroom, or seriously cutting back loads of enormous weeds in the garden, it will put a lot of people off.

Personally, I can see through all that (I really can!) and location, views, size of rooms and garden are what are important to me.
But most, I would think, want a good-looking and well-maintained house.

Last time we moved, we did redecorate bits that needed a freshen-up. I tidied (but still made the house look lived-in), and there were flowers in the kitchen simply because I always have nice-smelling flowers in there.
And of course the lawn should be mowed. It shows the garden off to its best advantage.

My SIL does up houses for a living. She goes to the extreme - she puts them up to sale looking like they have come off a very expensive TV show. Personally, I think it is horrid. Compulsory white kitchens (last one looked like an operating theatre!), bi-fold doors everywhere, very little furniture, to make rooms look bigger. I was aghast at how quickly last one sold and for how much. It was actually a very ordinary detached house in a not very nice road but some sucker was taken in by all the interior 'dressing'.

I was aghast at how quickly last one sold and for how much. It was actually a very ordinary detached house in a not very nice road but some sucker was taken in by all the interior 'dressing'.

Proof that is does work!

For some it will make a big difference. Some people are just not good at visualising. In addition, if buyers are looking at a property right at the very top if their price range then things such as good decor etc might have an enormous impact since they will be able to see that they don't need to do anything once they move in.

I fancied a four bed detached house with agood sized garden and one came up for sale in the area I lived so we went to view it.

It had a huge garden to the front which was good as it Was on a main road ( normally a no no with me) and had next to nothing at the back . They and a few neighbours must have sold off their back gardens as there was a little cul de sac of bungalows built behind the older houses.

So, we went inside. Lovely entrance, big doorway . Nice square solid house just like you'd draw it when a child, two windows at the top and two at the bottom.

Inside it looked very dingy and grimy . Horrible 70s carpets in the eighties. It looked neglected and like it needed a lot of work.

There was clutter everywhere., boxes and boxes of it. Turned out they owned a mobile shop and all these boxes of sweets and other things were their stock and they were piled to the ceiling.

The last room we viewed Was a downstairs bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. The owner opened the door and showed us into the ensuite. I couldn't understand why it didn't have an outdoor window. Well there was a good reason for that....it opened into their garage ! I'm sure rather than go for planning permission the owners had just hived off a part of their garage and built into it.

This house was not cheap.

We made our excuses and left . I couldn't! Just couldn't!

The kids would have loved it!

Depends on the type of buyer you might imagine for your place. Which depends on the area.

We once had a flat in prime London and the type of people looking round were rich Russians, Arabs, Chinese. They wanted to see something finished and dressed because they wanted a "hotel" feel in their UK house and to not have to overseer changes from afar.

If you are living somewhere suburban where families will want to make it their perfect home, then a non dressed house makes sense surely?

I do not want to pay for someone else's taste in décor (unless it happens to accord with mine), so would not want to pay a premium for a beautifully done house if it is not to my taste as I would expect to redecorate anyway and would take that into account in what I was prepared to pay.

My DH does, though, find it difficult to visualise what a house will look like without clutter, with walls knocked down etc. Our last house was a complete project, but luckily we had seen one in the same street fairly recently which was beautifully done so he was able to imagine what it could be like.

I do think it depends a bit on your market. My parents, for example, would only want to buy an easy to maintain house that would not require any work upfront (or much work over time) and having a well dressed house would I think help persuade them that a house was low maintenance.

If I was selling, I would definitely repaint (if needed) and declutter but would not eg replace bathrooms, knock down walls etc

we look at the extreme opposites
something in a terrible state,so everything can be replaced.
or im drawn to a homely look.
anything cold ,modern ,not lived in or unfurnished rarely gets a nod off me.
i like character ,plants, flowers , books and stuff.
lived in but clean

Always better to have it as lovely as possible so that people who do not want to spend time/money doing something up can see themselves living there with minimal work. Can also affect the offer price - a lovely home can fetch more than the same house that is not as well presented.
I would put the effort in if you are anxious to sell.

Good luck with the viewings OP, and let us know how it goes.

I boight my house because it was the right size price and location.

But I loved that it had laminate flooring - I thought 'great, don't have to rip out someone else's minging carpet and it's easy to clean'. I also loved the view. It just felt like home.

I think it did help that the house was spotlessly clean and brightly painted - it looked cheerful. I think you do need to ditch clutter. If you stuff it into cupboards then you just give the impression of having no decent storage. I also think clean smelling is important. Setting the dining table, not so much!

Clean, tidy and decluttered might help a little bit but a show home finish wouldn't make any difference.
I have happily bought several houses that were very, very dated and not that clean though. If it's really bad then I can justify stripping everything out and redoing it.