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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think, if you're trying to sell your house for half a million...

131 replies

AndOutComeTheBoobs · 27/04/2019 19:45

..then you should really vacuum the stairs and hall way?

Seriously, it was absolutely covered in crap. I saw a toe nail.

Same goes for people selling stuff on Facebook.
"Could do with a clean".
Are you kidding? Clean it!

OP posts:
bourbonbiccy · 27/04/2019 21:09

If there is a motivation to do so, but that is not always the case

When would you not be motivated to have your home as presentable as possible with viewers coming around ?

Kungfupanda67 · 27/04/2019 21:11

I once viewed a house with a potty full of wee in the middle of the lounge 😳

mirime · 27/04/2019 21:12

I couldn't live in a filthy mess to start with, but others seem quite happy like that.

Ours had been empty for five years when we put it in the market and we did go clean it when we actually had a buyer.

Personally I'd have liked to have properly cleaned it - I would have shampooed the carpets and everything if I'd had the time - but we both work full-time and DH doesn't work set hours so we did what we could.

House was on the market for less than 50k and we didn't attempt to hide the problems.

bourbonbiccy · 27/04/2019 21:17

@speakout I hadn't read the whole thread, just seen your examples.
I get the ones whereby elder people had passed so not possible to have it in tip top condition.

But I would still have to clean the house before the viewers arrived (if my ex resided there ) to enhance my chances of optimising the value of the offers, and just because I would be embarrassed if it were my house.

longearedbat · 27/04/2019 21:17

@showgirl - the toddler was chainsmoking?!

Nanalisa60 · 27/04/2019 21:22

Does not matter if it’s a million pound house or a one bedroom flat, the better its presented the more likely it is to sell!! There is a reason that developers have show homes and flats. I find it unbelievable that people think anyone will want to buy a property that’s dirty and uncared for. I use to love watching the house doctor!! She new how to sort out a house and get it ready for viewings!!

BlueJava · 27/04/2019 21:22

I was viewing houses last summer and went to see one which I could see would need work but it was beyond my imagination. The elderly couple had moved out and the family were selling it but no one had cleaned up at all. The bit that turned my stomach was used bandages on the bed. Who'd leave that there?! urgh!

CoastalWave · 27/04/2019 21:22

Half a million will not buy a particularly big or magnificent home.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66962920.html

Up North it will. Only down south would people think of paying half a million pounds for a council house tower block flat.

longearedbat · 27/04/2019 21:24

£500k is a lot of money. Even if you live somewhere where it will buy you a small average house, it's still a lot for the majority of people to scrape together. But for those London centric property buyers, yes, you can buy wonderful large properties in excellent condition for this amount in many areas of the country.
I just find some of these property price posts a bit sneery, as if to say if you've only (only!) got £500k, you're not going to get much for your money.

NannaNoodleman · 27/04/2019 21:36

We BOUGHT a house that was full of cat shit and dirty ear buds. Absolute filth tip. Stunk.

Owners wanted a quick sell and no one would even go through the front door to view it.

We offered £70,000 below the asking price and they accepted. We then had various detailed surveys done and knocked another £20,000 off.

Just saying.. it doesn't put everyone off Smile

LaCastafiore · 27/04/2019 21:38

as if to say if you've only (only!) got £500k, you're not going to get much for your money.
sadly it's true. I'd love to buy a 8 bed detached with land for 300k and have a lot of spare cash for holidays and life in general. I don't think many people actually enjoy having a ridiculous mortgage to match property prices, and seeing how much interests they waste on the damn thing!

WanderingTrolley1 · 27/04/2019 21:39

500k really isn’t much in some parts...

OhTheRoses · 27/04/2019 21:39

Ultimately if the price is sub market and the area prime and the house potentially prime with minimal capital outlay, the state of the house is less relevant than its potential. I have made significant gains on this basis. Commercial cleaners will blitz a house for £500. Brilliant if presentation takes 20% off.

MagicKingdomDizzy · 27/04/2019 21:41

longearedbat I don't think that some of the posts are meaning to be sneery. I think it's the point that actually in some places £500k will buy you a fairly rubbish place where a toenail clipping wouldn't look out of place on the floor!

I moved from East London to a place where the property prices are much more reasonable, and if I viewed a house here worth £500K I would expect it to be immaculate. In East London, not so much.

NW2SW · 27/04/2019 21:45

It was for a rental, but one house had every bedroom occupied. Some with couples. Just watching us walk around their bedroom. Most awkward 10 minutes of my life.

ILikeyourHairyHands · 27/04/2019 21:47

Hilarious pile-on to repeatedly explain to OP that a 500k house is nothing special...

TeacupDrama · 27/04/2019 21:48

actually in the vast majority of the UK 250,000 will buy you a three bedroom house

SirGawain · 27/04/2019 21:52

We viewed a house in which there were a number of fairly trivial faults but it alerted us to the probability that other things might be amiss. On closer inspection it was clear that the occupant was a diy bodger and there were serious electrical faults. We stopped looking after that but it’s likely that other thing were wrong. In OPs case lack of care in cleaning might suggest lack of care elsewhere.

Passthecherrycoke · 27/04/2019 21:55

Tbh I can see how this happens. You have no idea what’s going on in the vendors life.

Bluntness100 · 27/04/2019 21:57

I've viewed a million pound house that was filthy. I've posted about it before. The owner was this very glamours attractive woman, who lived in thr worst shit hole I've had the mis fortune to see.

Rubbish all over the floor, dirty dishes in the sink, grease everywhere. Grime everywhere, bed linen grey with it, towels on the bathroom floor the same,and the cat litter boxes over flowing, the smell of cat piss made my eyes water. In her actual bedroom too. She had a cat litter box in there and honestly the smell just smacked you round the face when you walked in.

It was so odd, because she was so well groomed, hair, make up, lovely clothes, nails done the lot. You'd genuinely never have guessed when you met her how she lived.

AndOutComeTheBoobs · 27/04/2019 21:58

If someone were trying to sell me a house for 25k they should still vacuum the carpet.

Some people are completely missing the point.
If you want a sale, then vaccum t

OP posts:
PumpkinLatteMyArse · 27/04/2019 21:58

If I was going to drop a half mill on something I'd be less worried about the toe nails and more worried about everything else that couldn't be hoovered up in one go.

PumpkinLatteMyArse · 27/04/2019 21:59

Some people are completely missing the point.If you want a sale, then vaccum

Not really. Most people know that someone isn't going to not buy your house because it needs hoovering.

Passthecherrycoke · 27/04/2019 21:59

Why should they? You’re going to clean and redecorate aren’t you?

Cruelstepmother · 27/04/2019 22:00

I viewed a house with a four-foot-wide hole between two of the rooms. "We were going to knock it through but we never got round to finishing it."