Asking what puts you off when viewing a house to buy?

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We have had our house valued but we are just getting the house ready to sell. Touching it up bits and tidying up.

For context its a 2 bed terraced house on a country lane with no driveway but space on the Road to park outside the house. It is an old house.

What areas and things should we focus on? What would you look for and what would put you off?

One trick OP - when you've finished decluttering to what you think is a reasonable standard, go round the house taking estate-agent type photos from the best angles you can find, paste them into a word document, then sit down and look at them. You'll be amazed what jumps out.

Tea towels scrunched up on the kitchen radiator. That stack of bills on the sideboard you've been meaning to do for so long you don't even see them any more. The overflowing laundry basket in your bedroom. The pair of pants under your son's desk that you didn't spot when you gave his room a once-over.

Seeing still photos in the cold light of day is a really good way of spotting the stuff that will scream at other people when they look at the house.

I think most stuff is covered. Deal breakers for me are damp smells, carpet in bathrooms, wallpaper
Also storage is important- I want to know where I can neatly store coats, shoes and my hoover/ironing board. If I can't see that I'm not buying the house.
For example I nearly bought somewhere that was smaller than I wanted but the owners had fitted shoe cupboards and places for the hoover so I could see how it could all be stored.
Another house with similar layout just had it all stacked up in the hall and downstairs cloak and it immediately made me think we couldn't fit

Visible damp, or other visible expensive structural work, like a crumbling chimney. I can look past most decorative stuff, but I don't want to budget for imminent repair work.

In terms of decorative issues, make sure you don't have piles of stuff lurking in corners of the room. It gives the impression that the house is too small or lacks storage, so really have a good declutter, consider a self-storage unit or hide things in the loft/garage if you can.

A house described as 4 double bedrooms but in reality three small
Bedrooms and a downstairs living room that has been ' converted' this happens frequently.

Cleanliness and smell.

We once viewed a house where the owner had been cooking fish. It totally put us off.

God I wish I hadn’t read this thread, I feel like I’m never going to sell my house now 🙈

[quote SlopesOff]Re: my previous post about ugly bathrooms and not wanting the bother of changing them, have just seen this property mentioned on another thread, the bath room is my nightmare

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/88297144#/media?id=media1[/quote]
Lol, it's got waterfall taps! Everyone I know who's had those has regretted it. We live in a very hard water area, and it's practically a full time job cleaning limescale off the inside of the spouts.

One friend resorted to using cotton buds and white vinegar on them before every viewing when she was trying to sell.

That bathroom's a bit weird, because they've got a vintage style bath with a very modern basin and it kind of doesn't work imo. I actually like those baths from an aesthetic point of view, but I'd never have one because I know I'd hate cleaning the bit where it meets the wall at floor level.

Best to remove the CCTV camera and sign warning off burglars too. Bit like the pp who mentioned lots of bars on windows etc. Fine in a London garden flat, not so appropriate in a town in the West Country - just makes it look like you have a problem that someone in another road doesn't have.

And I wouldn't buy it if it smelled heavily of a smoker. That's almost impossible to get rid of. Dogs too, as we have finickity cats.

Signs of damp, large cracks, or any other problems that may be difficult/very expensive to fix.

Signs of poor quality work - eg skirting boards that don’t line up or light switches put in wonky - this would suggest everything’s been done on the cheap and there’ll be a lot of stuff that needs fixing. Fine if the house is being sold as a gut and start again, but not if they want top dollar.

Recent expensive work that’s not to my taste - eg a new very blingy kitchen, as the owners will likely want ££ for it and I’d want to rip it out. This wouldn’t put me off offering but I’d know that my offer might not be what the owner was hoping for.

Noisy/very run down neighbours (not a lot you can do about this)

Lots of road noise (ditto, except double glazing)

N or NE facing so little sun in the garden or kitchen

I tend to expect to do work to a house so am not bothered by clutter, poor decor, lack of storage etc (as long as there is somewhere to put it). But these things will put many buyers off.

Ugh. Horrible snot colour paint.

The bathroom is just wrong.

No off road parking and conservatories had one once never again and if I liked the house enough the first thing I would do would be to take it down.

@Notjustanymum

I’m amazed with all the cupboards over the bed dislikes! Having put up with horrible 1 straight run of 1970’s wardrobes for 15 years, we took the plunge last year to make the most of our chimney-breasted wall (no fireplace) which made the existing storage space unusable, to install wardrobes along that and the adjacent walls, including cupboards over the bed to provide much-needed storage. The Master bedroom now looks so lovely and uncluttered compared to what was there before! What would put me off would be bad location, major repair necessary and (lack of) parking. Everything else is more easily fixable!

I think it's more of the old fashioned (French?) style ones that used to be fasionable in the 70s? - the white ones with lots of patterns etc. Or the later fashionable orange coloured wood effect, or those mahogany/dark wood ones. Not so much that there is a wall of units, but the colour/style of them. Either too dark sucking light out of the room or too patterned making it look like a tart's boudoir.

At the moment, light wood effect seems in fashion which probably isn't too bad, i.e. beech, light grey, etc. which don't over-power the room.

The Owners of the house following you around like their stalkers.

Plug in air freshners
Smell of pong of Trainers/Shoes

Dead or decaying house plants

Filth, hoarding and dogs, cats are ok.
I like a house that I can see without clutter because I want to look at light fittings, skirting board and little details which you can't see if there is clutter everywhere.
I won't even come in if the house is filthy.

Dog smells, smoking smells,damp, dark painted walls and poorly decorated no up keep on house, garden, on street parking, Busy roads, the state of next doors garden etc . Tiny garden that gets no sun

I prefer being shown round by owner not their teenage children or the estate agent who can not answer any questions you may have.

Rough looking Nosey/Loud Noisy
Neighbours
Pets Dogs/Cats Crap in the backyard or outside by the entrance of house..

Messy overgrown Garden

I fell for waterfall taps, we replaced them within two years, they’re dreadful things. Having said that, I’d happily live with that bathroom but this thread has made me feel that I must have unusually low standards!

I love a kitchen that’s crying out for replacement, so much that people say would prevent them from buying a house would disappear with the vendors or be easily changed. It makes me wonder how anyone manages to sell a house these days when people seem to be so fussy.

Declutter, clean, make sure there are no bad smells and put a few vases of flowers around. That said, you don’t want someone to make an offer because they are wowed by the house’s atmosphere but then pull out once they’ve reflected on the price/size/area. So don’t try too hard to be a show home. The main things that put people off are outside your control. If the price is correct for the size and area and the place is clean and tidy, you’ll get offers.

My more important thoughts:

• always amend the standard estate agent’s contract: they are desperate for your business and will allow this. You should be able to fire them and rehire someone else shortly after if the relationship isn’t working, make sure the contract small print says you can, and you should never agree to pay more than 1% commission. Tell them another agent offered you 1% and they’ll match it.
• I’ve had three purchases collapse and two go through smoothly. The two that went through were where I had direct email contact with the seller and we were able to stop minor queries becoming huge delays. Estate agents are not the expert negotiators they claim to be and can accidentally cause deals to collapse.
• remember that all the agent cares about is their commission. They aren’t your friend. Even if you are paying them, they may push you to take a low offer because the difference to their commission is actually quite small. If you’re the buyer and have had your offer accepted, they may still push the seller to drop you and take a higher offer from a no chain buyer - even if you’ve already spent £2k on fees 😢 (happened to me).
• keep an eye on the photos / description / floorplan. Estate agents often make mistakes here. If the photos aren’t good enough and showing the house in a flattering light on a sunny day, tell them to do them again.

I am shocked at some of these replies !! The two houses we have bought and massively profitted on have had loads of issues - can nobody see past a bit of worn out carpet when viewing a home that ticks all the other boxes ? Also, as for pot plants having to be taken to the tip - unless there's a back story of mobility issues/no car - what's the big deal ? Astounded that someone would be all away from a house purchase based on a tiny issue like that !! To me, if the house is the right price and location, with off road parking, I can overlook almost anything. Wrong price or location however, nothing is going to sort that.

Could you post some pictures so we could comment?

Generally, I think the house should be clean and tidy. Not necessarily show-home standard, but shelves dusted, carpets hoovered, clean baths and sinks etc. A little bit of homely clutter is okay, (eg. Toys i kids bedroom) but not hoarding-type clutter.

Obviously it’s winter so gardens don’t look their best. However, paths could be swept and gardens raked of leaves.

Read somewhere once that you should leave some strategically placed magazines around. Ie. ‘House and hound’ to appeal to the country set. Alternatively, park a posh car nearby to make the area appear more upmarket.

@GeordieGreigsButtButtZoom

Bad smells. They'll be a nightmare to get out, probably impossible. We saw one house once that was very nice but there was a room that was clearly the dedicated smoking room. The smell didn't really permeate into the rest of the house, but it was still awful and put us off it. And a couple of others that just stank all the way through. I love dogs, but if you knew as soon as you walked in that one lived there just by the smell, that was a no. Houses with dogs don't need to smell.

I would agree with this. After viewing over 20+ houses recently, the nicer ones are just clean and smell nice. We viewed a house and someone had left their underwear out on the floor in the bathroom...i mean come on!!!

We viewed a house and someone had left their underwear out on the floor in the bathroom...i mean come on!!!

You do realise it wasn’t a permanent fixture? Unbelievable.

I didn't buy the house where I had an appo6to view but couldn't see to of the bedrooms because people were asleep in them.
The people selling the house couldn't speak English and kept pushing me to go on one of the rooms.
Me and my friend left after that and I've always asked the estste agent to meet me at the property since then!

@DameEdnasNeighbourhoodWatch

I am shocked at some of these replies !! The two houses we have bought and massively profitted on have had loads of issues - can nobody see past a bit of worn out carpet when viewing a home that ticks all the other boxes ? Also, as for pot plants having to be taken to the tip - unless there's a back story of mobility issues/no car - what's the big deal ? Astounded that someone would be all away from a house purchase based on a tiny issue like that !! To me, if the house is the right price and location, with off road parking, I can overlook almost anything. Wrong price or location however, nothing is going to sort that.

Some of us have neither the inclination, the vision, the time, the skills or know the right people, or want the hassle of doing up a house. We have done it the once, and I would never want to do that again.

I am "shocked and astounded" that you can't understand that. I am happy to do a bit of decorating, but don't want to undergo the hassle and worry of a complete rewire, installation of gas appliances where there were none, new bathrooms, removal of stone facing and artex and replastering, not to mention all sorts of other odd jobs that turned up in the process.

To most people a lot of these things aren't "tiny issues". We aren't all you.