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

[DarkGreen]

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?

Dirty fitted carpets, patterned wallpaper, curtain pelmets and old fitted wardrobes, I know they can all be removed but it still puts me off

Dirty laundry lying around, unmade beds, stuffy smells and dog poop in the garden. Apart from that, I guess a non-cluttered house is best.

I was once shown around a very damp house on the very edge of a Manchester suburb. As he took us upstairs I was desperately looking for something positive to say, so complimented the view of open fields from the bedroom.

The owner proudly replied, "At night you can also see the lights from the M6" in the distance.

We left very soon after.

If the owner is there and follows you around silently . In my experience sadly agents don’t want to do viewings these days. Also what would put me off is an old rickety kitchen or bathroom as they are high ticket items- unless it was a doer upper. Having said that I have a friend who had a brand new kitchen on every house she buys regardless of what the kitchen is like anyway!

At a different house viewing we had to call the police to a neighbours house. On a hot summers day we were waiting in the car, with the windows sound down, waiting for the estate to turn up. All of a sudden from a house nearby we heard a woman bellowing at a child at the house next door. All of a sudden a teenage boys head came flying through the blind and struck the window with great force and called the police.

A few minutes later the estate agent rocked up and greeted us with "well it's a lovely quiet area, isnt it?'

Pretence that a tiny boxroom is a standard single bedroom, or that a living room is a bedroom.

Where I am (near a university), there are a bunch of people trying to get out the HMO game who are trying to sell their 2-beds with 2 reception rooms as 4 beds, most above four bed prices for the areas they're in. They're all lingering, but its so frustrating when actually looking for four beds - 60%+ of the ones in my area are pulling this sort of trick where at least one reception room is a bedroom or there is a tiny hackjob box 'bedroom'. Even worse when they keep jiggly the price or put up multiple ads so it shows up as new in an alert - got one estate agent that does this over and over, it's ridiculous.

One thing in adverts that was a red flag for me was if they say there is X, particularly gardens or similar, and there is no photo of X, there is pretty much a guarantee that there is an issue with it.

I hate it when they've clearly just put in a new kitchen to sell... I'd rather you know 5k off the house and I choose a kitchen myself. I would feel had ripping out a perfectly good kitchen. give me sticky drawers anyway!

I am not fussy as long as there is a sea view and the neighbours are at least quarter of a mile away and there is a place to hide the kitchen bin, hoover and ironing board. I cant bare the Footballers wife look or the Next catalogue style, that would make me walk out the door.

I'm honestly surprised at the things that put some people off.

Pet bowls? Seriously?

TBH what puts me off depends on how the house is priced. If it's obviously a wreck and priced accordingly, I'd go for it, as you have such a blank canvas to work on. You also increase the value.

I've always said I don't want to have get a garden back in hand again, but I'd do that for the right property.

Ideally I want a house that has been loved and cared for, but not mucked about with. So, I am much more likely to by a house (and garden)with a 1970's kitchen and swirly carpets, but the kitchen is solid wood and properly installed and the garden has mature plants, than the same house after the dead owner's relatives have "done it up" to sell it and installed a shit MDF kitchen, plastic laminate floors and gravelled over the garden.

top off putting thing = open plan... if I wanted to live in a big open field I would buy one but I want a house

I specifically want a house with LOTS of seperate rooms/storage because I have kids and it way easier if you can:

• shut a door so you dont here coco melody playing for the 10th time
• shut a door and hide the toy mess if someone pops over unnanounced
• keep kids out of dangerous areas like the kitchen or off the stairs
• to be able to seperate the kids/pets if they are winding each other up
• so the whole house doesnt smell like whatevers being cooked and so much more

I honestly dont get open planning but it rules out like 80% of houses we look at, just stop knocking down walls people.

I house hunted with a 25 year old niece a while back and what put her off was messy complicated curtains ie:with valances , dated wallpapers, strongly coloured or patterned tiles, home painted kitchen cupboards, patterned wallpaper.All those things could have been changed but she wouldn't even view them so they fell at the first hurdle.

Clutter, owners being there, dirt, and terrible decor.

mam0918 that may be your preference but a majority still love open plan living- the chance to have kitchen/diner/seating area in 1 space is massively appealing. But a separate laundry/boot room room. Often if you put walls up this prevents you from having the larger kitchen/with island so many long for.

I mean, I hate anything "recently refurbished" but I think I'm in a minority. I've never seen a property that's been done up in a way I'd like. It's always to someone else's taste even if it's plain (aka soul less). And you end up with a ££££ mark up when you wish they'd just left it needing doing. Make sure the place is clean, looking well cared for and relatively tidy and that suits me. Most things are preference and everyone is different.

I'm with you mam - leave the fucking walls alone!

Stairs to the front door... Im not climbing home 🤣

I don't think I would be put off by things that are easily changed/won't be there on move in day such as
unmade beds
pet bowls,
toys
toiletries
clutter (unless it was prohibitive to actually seeing the full space)
toilet seat up etc

Things that can't be changed
location- we viewed a house with a footpath at the sides and backing onto allotments. That put me off from a security POV and the owners had CCTV on the footpath which made me think it was an issue
Proximity to noisy road or railway
Whether its convenient for things I need- school, shops, station etc
Smells from pets, smoking (or worse because can't be changed) nearby factories or sewage works.
We also saw a house with a manhole cover indoors (they had extended and it had originally been in the garden) which was off putting.

Other things would depend on how much it was and how much I was prepared to budget to change.

I'm going to tell my friend about this thread though, as she and her DH are trying to sell their (1 bedroom) flat and I asked her if they go out for the viewings and she said no.I was quite surprised. Admittedly her DH always wfh and she currently is, but its a pretty small flat and I think would be very cramped/awkward to have EA, 2 owners and 2 viewers all mooching around.

@mam0918

I also prefer separate rooms if there is a choice within budget. Kids don't always want to watch the same thing , I don't want to trip over/tread on DS lego creations, I don't want to look at all the post-roast dinner chaos when I'm relaxing in the lounge, or hear the dishwasher...
I always think a really large space would be more difficult to heat too.

Selecting preferences on Rightmove - detached house, garden, parking etc.

Followed by wading through several pages of flats, mobile homes, semi detached houses, terraced cottages and retirement flats which are wrongly listed and finding the search facility is crap because the agents are either too thick or dishonest to list correctly, hoping that some mug will fall for it and buy a house they weren't looking for.

That puts me off big time. I have contacted them, I have reported individual listings, all the same unsold and unwanted stuff is still there, with the wrong search attached to it. I don't spend to much time on Rotmove now there are plenty of other places to look.

I love the open plan/huge kitchen/general hang out as a family type rooms. Far more of an impact than lots of smaller closed doors rooms.
In a dream world I'd have both though- large open plan kitchen/dining/living area, utility and a snug tv/reading room. One day!

@grannyinapram

I hate it when they've clearly just put in a new kitchen to sell... I'd rather you know 5k off the house and I choose a kitchen myself. I would feel had ripping out a perfectly good kitchen. give me sticky drawers anyway!

Completely agree. My heart sank when I saw a new kitchen when we were house hunting.

Dogs. I'd be seriously put off mostly due to the smell, hard to get out. And poo in the garden.

I want to see it clutter free and truly clean. Any animal pet smells, I'm very put off.

I'd like to see bedrooms presented with an actual bed in so I can gauge the size.

I would like everything to be very, very clean; shower screens and shower heads descaled; spot light bulbs all working; any small cosmetic DIY jobs taken care of; a washed front door and swept porch. I want to see the house is being cared for. Obviously declutter and make it seem like there is ample room to live - don't have your laundry airers up in a living area, toys should be put away, kitchen counters almost bare. You want it to appear possible to live there without being cramped.

Clutter most definitely. Artex, picture rail, carpet, old fashioned kitchen and bathroom. I like new builds or recently built so most match my criteria.