Selling a house AIBU

[Loopylala7]

So DH and I are keen to sell our house. We tried our luck a while ago for a couple of months (literally 2) but didn’t have a single viewing which was a massive disappointment so has taken us a while to decide to try again. It is a 3 bed modern house, in a really desirable town. When I say 3 bed it’s 2 bedrooms and a box room.

Anyway, from years of watching house programmes, I’m a strong believer in styling a house to sell it. Nothing major, mainly boxing up all our excess crap and storing it away for a bit and trying to pretend we live a minimalist lifestyle. As it is we have toys everywhere and washing wherever we can dry it and a bike currently living in our lounge. We also have a makeshift office on our kitchen table. The house is clearly too small for our needs and looks it.

DH wants to stick it on as is. I’m thinking that would not help us sell it in the least. Would you buy a house that clearly looked overly crammed I’m a bit mortified to have pics on Rightmove looking that messy but DH thinks I’m being silly. My inner House Doctor is horrified. Am I over thinking this? Help!

Of course you need to sort it out. No one is going to buy a house with a bike in the living room as it would just emphasise that it’s too small for a family.

You are definitely right! People will be put off if it looks cramped/like you don't have enough storage. You have to show the house at its absolute best in the photos.

Well if it's looks too cramped for you others will think it's too cramped for them. what did u do last time?

We boxed a load of it up and sent it to our parents for a bit. I’m glad I’m not going to stir mad here. It honestly is a lovely area and fab schools. Modern houses are just too small (at least the ones we can afford!). May look into renting one of those container places for a bit.

Ask your DH would he buy a house with a bike in middle of living room? You are right to declutter and clean and make it smell nice.

"DH wants to stick it on as is"

Because he can't be arsed? Why would anyone want to put photographs on the internet of a messy cluttered home, particularly as its meant to be an advert!

You are right.
Your DH is wrong.

Get as much stuff (including the bike) out of the rooms as you can. When people view the rooms in your house they need to get an accurate idea of the size of the rooms. They also need to imagine themselves living in those rooms with their own stuff. It's hard for them to get through that thought process when there's so much clutter distracting them.

Our house was small, and some things had to be stored in plastic boxes. We shipped out all the boxes into storage, everything under the beds into storage, and a host of other bits and bobs. The place looked clean and tidy. We had three offers after a day of viewings. Just a bog standard 3 bed semi in normalsville.

If your place looks cluttered, the first thing I'm gonna think on a viewing is "shithole", especially a bike in the living room. It's going to make me think you let things go, let things slide, that the property hasn't been well-maintained and repaired. It looks slovenly. Now none of this may be true, but the thing is you sell a look, a vision, you tell a story. And if I walk in and see the house a cluttered mess, the story I'm being told is "would you like a cluttered mess too?"

(by the way, we bought a cluttered mess. And it hasn't been well-maintained.)

By tidying up our house both looked loved, clean, fresh but homely. My children's things remained and were put neatly on shelves. Our knick knacks were still around. It looked magazine-worthy. Obviously it was a bit of an illusion as we'd put clutter and things we didn't immediately need into storage, but yeah - it sold a vision.

I think I’m called all the house doctors into action glad it’s not just me. This is half the problem, I’ve built up to it as I know it will be me tidying each time I guess it will be worth it in the long term.

If you didn't get a single viewing the first time then I'm afraid it is more than likely the price!

Many people are trying to buy somewhere they think will give them more space after three months in lock down. Presenting your house as cluttered and lacking in storage is the way to alienate those buyers. They want to buy somewhere clean, spacious and easy to maintain. A bike in the living room isn't giving that vibe.

I am planning on putting my house on the market.

I have massively decluttered. Packed a lot of things away I know I won’t need for the next few months and stored them at may parents. I have also got a skip! It’s very therapeutic to decide whether your crap is worth moving to a new house!

The whole house will be given a fresh coat of paint, new carpets needed in a few places, new floor tiles in the kitchen and new kitchen cupboard doors.

I am spending a bout £4K get It up to standard. It will add at least £10k to the asking price. Well worth it.

Would you go so far as to put a king size bed into storage and buy a cheap double? Asking as our king size dwarfs our bedroom, but we had it before we moved here? I believe the width difference is 14cm

Selling a house is just like selling anything else really.
You want people to want what you're selling.
Most potential buyers will want to buy (or at least consider buying), if something looks good and well cared for.
Show your home off, looking its best.
Why wouldn't you?
Only 1 silly person at your place OP, and it's not you.

Of course you are right. I was house hunting a few months ago and was instantly put off by messy houses (and smelly ones). It just made me think , well if you can't be arsed even tidying up to sell, I bet you haven't maintained it properly either. You don't have to have it professionally dressed or anything, but it can make it more appealing. The house I bought was professionally dressed. That's not why I bought it, but it certainly made it easy to see how we could use the space, and made us want to live in such a pretty house!

Professionally dressed? Is that a thing outside of the telly? If so how do I get hold of one of these people?

I feel your pain. Your living situation sounds exactly like ours. Ours is a 3 (so 2 plus a box) bedroom modern style house too and we're living on top of each other. It's utter hell with two children, and I cannot wait to sell.

Clutter gives a terrible impression to potential buyers. Do you have a shed/playhouse/loft/garage (possibly not if you have a bike in your lounge) where you can bung as much stuff as possible? Or a kind neighbour who is willing to let you use theirs? When we sold our first house we put the ironing board, washing basket, hoover and lots of bigger toys that took up room in our cars for viewings (and then drove them round the corner!). I also shipped off lots of things to my brother and parents houses. We lived a very minimalist life for a couple of weeks but it was worth it.

I would shell out for the double bed, yes. Or even get a freebie off of a selling site and just buy a cheap mattress.

If you want to sell for the best price then you need to declutter. But the lack of clutter isn't going to make any difference if no one comes to look. If you didn't even get any viewings last time you put it on decluttering probably isn't your only problem (unless your photos emphasized the clutter too?). Have a look at other houses that have sold near you in the last few months and work out, dispassionately, if you're being reasonable about asking price.

We've cleared our house out each time we've sold (three sales so far). As well as helping sell the house it puts you in a much better position for moving!

As well as the big declutter and storing stuff you do not need regularly offsite (parents/storage place), every time we had a viewing, we had boxes ready to clear kitchen worktops, grab laundry baskets etc. loaded the car and drove it round the corner.

Yes
De clutter but also look at your price. No viewings at all usually is related to price and most probably in your case as you did declutter last time it was on market.
With Covid, you can declutter for 1 day, do a virtual viewing video with the estate agent and not allow any physical viewings at all, only drive past viewings. So you can clutter the house right back up once your video is done and published.
Make sure you have as much info on the webpage...floor plan with accurate measurements, photos, virtual viewing video, street map, school checker, epc, even info about council tax band and average utility costs can help sell a home.

Have a look at this thread to show what a massive difference it can make moving furniture / self staging when prepping a home to sell, and make sure sure you get good pics taken! Even if you only read the OPs posts it might help when talking to your DH

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/3988268-Whats-wrong-with-our-house-13-days-no-viewings?

Regarding the bed, if you intend to buy a bigger house with an additional double bedroom then yes, you could replace the king size bed with a normal double.

But I would not bother. For photography and viewing purposes, dress the bed in perfectly ironed pale duvet cover without the duvet inside as it will take several inches of puffiness off how the bed looks.

Decluttering is vital. All counter tops completely clear, I wouldn’t even have a knife block or a kitchen towel roll on show for the photos of the kitchen. And elsewhere, toys in the kids rooms only.

When we were selling our house I bought new cushion covers to dress living room, a new duvet set for our bed, removed lots of photos, completely cleared kitchen worktops except for kettle, toaster and a large bowl of fruit, just one kind eg all lemons as they look fresh and are synonymous with being clean. Hide your dishcloth and make sure light switches, skirtings etc are clean.
Look online at pictures of rooms and work out a look that you can achieve without too much expense.

@LoopyLala7, I don't know if hiring people to dress your house is a big thing in the UK as I'm in Oz, but it's massive here. When we were viewing houses we noticed the same pictures in a few houses, then the penny dropped. Often they left labels on cushions and things too, whether by accident or design I have no idea! But it certainly gave me some ideas for interior décor.

You are absolutely right. It is a pain but makes such a difference to the saleability of your home!