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?

I have only ever bought places that needed doing up, so as long as it is appropriately priced, I don't mind what state it is in. I would want a secure front garden if going straight on to the road, so young kids don't run into the traffic.

However neighbours is a big thing, especially in a terrace. If next door has issues with maintenance then I would run a mile. Don't want their poor drainage/ roof issues/ knotweed causing me serious issues.

Have a watch of the "House Doctor", the original series with Ann Maurice NOT the new series with Tracy Metro. It's on at the crack of dawn (5.30am ish) on Channel 5 and you could always record it. She addresses a lot of the issues above

Smells, dog, smoke, damp. Damp is a big no no for me.

Ugly decor, I know it shouldn’t as it can be changed but blacks, purples, reds are awful and put me off.

Parking

Neighbours

Too much work needing doing. I’ve done it once thinking it would be great doing a house up, never again.

Close neighbours with obvious young children

A country lane that's used as a rat run

Nothing you can do about those unfortunately but also:

Small caged furry creatures in every bedroom!

Dirt! I’d not want to have to clean a dirty house. So make sure all the light switches and paintwork is pristine.
Same with smells, id avoid somewhere that smells bad or anywhere with plug-ins or air freshener. Or if I could smell new paint.

Nasty DIY, if you can’t DIY, pay someone to do it properly. If I think you’ve made a pigs ear of putting a shelf up, I’m going to think you’ve done the same shoddy job with the boiler or something else ‘expensive’ .

I do think alongside what Cara said, it makes a bit of a difference what kind of house it is and also how many options in your area and price bracket buyers have. If it's one of many very similar houses in your area at very similar prices, you probably are going to have to do more to make it stand out, either make it perfect in terms of decor and staging etc so it's 'chosen' above other houses and appeals to that top 15% Cara was talking about, or make it cheaper than others so a bargain hunter will pick it up, or just wait until you find that someone for whom it's 'just right' for one of the myriad un-guessable reasons people have for liking one house over the other.

Whereas in more of a sellers market or simply where it's a more scarce or unusual property, if for instance it's the only 2 bed terrace on the market in your town in the £200k bracket, a buyer who wants that probably is going to be prepared to flex a bit in terms of how 'perfect' it is so no point stressing about the colour of the walls and the state of the fence, but also you are never going to convince someone who wants a 3 bed semi for £300k or a one bed flat for £100k to come and look no matter how wonderful it is so again no point stressing...

Neighbours parked annoyingly, no off road parking, a bad garden, a smokers house.

Damp - stains or smell, condensation, stone cladding, paved garden, storage heaters, tiny kitchen, downstairs bathroom, dark rooms, shoddy workmanship ( ie. quickly done up to sell), laminate floors. And dogs

Clutter, smells and dirt are all off putting although our current house had all three and we still bought it.

Mine is probably unhelpful as it's a house that's completely modernised. I don't want to live in someone else's home, so we always change kitchens etc. If it's all immaculate and new but simply not my then that would be a huge waste.

I also don't like unsympathetic renovation. Period properties with giant glass boxes on the back etc

I think as many others have mentioned smells, in fact any evidence that a dog or cat lives there would put me off. Reason being is we actually decided to overlook the dog smell and the fact the previous owner had 3 dogs and bought our current house (it ticked lots of other boxes). It was a complete nightmare. Took 3 or 4 months for the smell to go and every single carpet, wooden floor, tiled floor and even skirting board had to go. The smell was in everything. Some were also badly chewed and the patio doors scratched to death (we haven’t replaced those). The garden also had to be ripped out, the lawn had been used as a toilet along with the decking that on the surface looked fine. It’s cost us a lot of money and time to fix all the issues. We plan to move in the next 18 months and number 1 on the list NO pet houses!!! So if you have a pet hide all evidence and ask (if restrictions lift) someone to come around who doesn’t live there to see if there are any smells. I also wouldn’t buy a house where someone has smoked inside, similar issues with smells.

Ignoring the things you can’t can’t change (location, direction and size of garden etc) in which case I probably wouldn’t get as far as viewing anyway, I think generally I am put off if the house isn’t clean, very cluttered and it just isn’t presented very well, they are things that can be improved easily though. It just doesn’t give you a very good impression. A clean lick of paint (neutral pale colours) and remove all clutter (see if you can put some stuff in storage if you have a lot of crap). No one wants to look around a house and have the seed planted that there’s not enough storage. Are there any signs of damp on walls or ceilings? If your kitchen looks tired could you tart it up on the cheap, new cupboard fronts or paint existing ones. Bathroom does the tiles need re grouting, make it as clean and as tidy as possible. Hire a carpet cleaner and get everything as spotless as possible. If there is anything that looks very tatty look at tidying/replacing (if it can be done very cheaply of course). I think generally you just have to dress your house up for viewings, some things you can’t change without spending a lot of money but things can certainly be done to improve it for little or no cost.

I wouldn't be put off by different coloured fence panels though it can look better taken care of if they look they've been cared for recently so a repaint can be a good touch. I wouldn't be bothered about a small patio, we don't use one much, and a messy garden it would depend on the messy - a bit of overgrowth in the grassy area doesn't bother me, but if it's in a lot of cracks in the patio and there's stuff to be cleared, it's another to-do on my list and if there's too many of those, it's off-putting.

Things that come across as attempts to hide things were my first thought - putting cleaning bottles in front of little patches of mold or small cracks was one we saw a bit & there was a place we saw that had the blinds half pulled-down. Maybe they thought they were showing off the blinds and the light, but the top window's double glazing was blown in a couple rooms and it looked like they were trying to cover that up. Windows are a common place for issues so it's better to have any covers all the way up or pulled back and clear access as people will likely want to carefully look there. Things that block that are off-putting for me - I'd rather see what needs work than dodgy looking stuff like that (but I'm in a price range where we're expecting work).

Having an estate agent or whoever showing who can't answer basic questions and shows no effort in helping with that. Some are good with 'I'm not sure, I'll get back to you that that', but the "Oh, I don't work in that office, I'm just doing the showing" or with one we had an estate agent that said we could talk to the owners about something at a viewing and then had the owners say we'd have to talk to the estate agent about it. Look up the many lists of 'things to ask during a viewing' and make sure that kind of information is available. Not being able to answer about whether it's gas or electric cooker was weird to me.

Also, I liked checking the water so if you need something on for there to be hot water, it's good to make sure that's on. That wasn't off-putting if I knew before testing that it's an old immersion heater, but it certainly wasn't a plus.

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!

@shotofchips

All houses with dogs smell!

They don’t.

At the right price, pretty much nothing that I can change- dirt, smells, crappy fixtures - I've bought a house where half the floorboards were missing in one room because the owner died in there and, er, seeped through. Back garden pretty much needed napalming. But those houses are where you get a bargain. So long as it's structurally solid, I'd rather buy a total shit hole and do what I want than pay for someone else's taste which, however nice, probably wouldn't be exactly what I'd choose myself. Before I view I always interrogate the floorplans and street view to death as that's the stuff that can't be changed or is expensive to change.

most stuff can be changed except:

• the big one, location. School too close (traffic, litter), a barking dog in earshot (ok, a skank may move in later but that's a chance you take), threat of a new road or more housing creating a flood risk, pub nearby (screaming, fights, litter)

• any house that has been smoked in or where a dog has lived.
• bodge repairs, who knows what has been bodged that isn't visible
• an air of neglect unless it is really reflected in the price

wardrobes, carpets, paint etc etc all changeable.

The issue with dirt is that although you can clran it, obviously, it makes you think "If they don't care to even wipe it, do they care about other upkeep?".

I’m only put off things I can’t change. I can see through mess, carpets, decorating, weeding etc.

Things to do to your house:

• declutter - put everything, which doesn’t look neat in a cupboard = you want to make the people think you have plenty of storage
• ensure furniture, is in the correct room eg no fridge in the living room
• clean well including grout in tiles - kitchen / bathroom
• tidy and weed garden
• dress bedrooms. Light coloured / white bedding works well - you could have a duvet specifically for viewings if it helps
• sell a lifestyle, not the way you live
• colour coordinate and where possible add a few well chosen ornaments
• remove bins
• create a checklist of what to put away / before a viewing

As for smells, don’t worry too much about a slight odour as masks go some way to disguising smells.

A cellar

There are some things that can't be changed about a property, or perhaps not worth spending money on as you can't guess what someone else would like. However, somewhere that's clean with a tidy garden as it shows someone cares about the property. Also, if you can air your property before a viewing and leave the heating on low so it feels a bit more cosy. If you can declutter that will help it feel more spacious.

I have to say smells work at a subliminal level.
A freezing cold house with windows open - made me wonder what they were trying to cover up with the open window.
In COVID times owners and dogs should be out.

Top tips: declutter and consider putting stuff in storage. Clean - pay for a one off deep clean - really won't cost much once you've decluttered. Get a gardener to tidy the garden.

If there are major structural issues then price accordingly.

I'm put off by carpets - I prefer hard floors.

Reading peoples views here is like night and day compared to house selling fora and Estate agents advice.
All the advice given to us regarding selling my late FiL’s house was basically to thoroughly clean and nothing else, we’ve only had a dozen viewings since September and all feedback has been about the poor state of decoration.

So since Xmas we have stripped all the old knackered wallpaper in the hall and upstairs ( last done in 1993) repainted the living room after carefully filling/sanding all the picture holes etc. Painted the hall and stairs and put some modern light fittings in place of ancient ‘gas lamp’ style monstrosities, Ripped up minging bathroom carpet and laid nice vinyl plus painting all the mahogany wood, cabinet/bath panel etc. white. We are putting nice parquet style kitchen flooring down and have stripped the hideous 1980s tile effect wallpaper and DH will do a cream tiled splashback with leftover tiles from our kitchen renovation. It’s a decent oak kitchen but could do with new sink/cooker/worktop.

Basically making it pleasant and liveable for buyers who can take their time renovating. We’ve spent less than £500 and it looks a million times better.
Property developers aren’t interested because it’s not ‘bad’ enough to buy for a pittance to flip.

One of those "gardens" that is just a big expense of grass ( or even astro turf) and a 6 foot fence going all the way round it and nothing else. Not a shrub, or a tree, or any sign that it has anything to do with nature. Just an outside room for barbecues and a trampoline. That kind of garden makes me feel very very depressed, and I wouldn't buy the house because it takes years to grow a proper garden. Also, a conservatory is off-putting as I would want it gone, and those grey metal window frames and grey office style front doors. They have taken over my neighborhood like a cancer- people are taking nice 1930s houses and adding a porch with an office building door, looks so weird!
Basically anything that cost lot to put in but I would need to destroy or rip out!

Comments about size and shape of rooms are a bit irrelevant as you can't change that.

In terms of what you can change, coloured painted fence to me is an absolute no-no and I would not be able to live with that. Well maintained is good but more natural I think is best.

If you have animals obviously this is a big problem for people with allergies (like me) as I would need to take out all the carpets and any soft furnishings before I moved in. You can't get dander out of soft furnishings. I have always checked animal status before I moved in and if I loved a house enough would be willing to put up with the fuss of that. But if you want an allergic person to fall in love with your house don't rub their face in it when they are looking around - i.e. animals all out, no animals or animal paraphernalia on view in the picture, make sure it does not smell of animal.

Remove clutter so people can see the actual space and for a small place like yours, show some clever storage solutions if you can.

Patio would not bother me but make sure it's clean (jet wash maybe?) and definitely get rid of the weeds and add some colour into the garden if you can.

If anything needs redecorating do it really neutral. Your lovely wallpaper will always be someone else's hideous wallpaper.

Really small point but for me no locks on bathroom doors is always a red flag. Maybe this is just me but I think you can't really care much about your home if you can't even be bothered to allow people some privacy by spending 15 mins putting a lock on.

@shotofchips

All houses with dogs smell!

Actually, my SIL's house doesn't smell, despite them having a dog. And the dog is allowed on the furniture!

They have hard flooring in all rooms bar one on the ground floor, and they tend not to use the one with fitted carpet as much as the other living room. And it's practically a new build, it was tiny and has been massively extended, and totally refurbished (like back to bare bricks) what little of the original house remained. And SIL is very houseproud!