Getting house 'ready' for sale viewings -AIBU?

[Getbehindme]

Hi!

We're selling our house, we live in a city with a very 'hot' market and the house is on for a lot with a lot of viewings booked.

I'm having a disagreement with my DP about how much effort to put in on little jobs to help the aesthetics, like a bit of tidying of the front garden, little paint jobs etc.

YANBU - these little jobs will help us secure a decent offer

YABU - for a hot market, desirable house, the number of viewings etc it won't matter and I should put my feet up.

They make a difference , I'd spent a few days getting it ready it will pay off.

It will make a difference.

I wouldn’t spend huge wodges of cash but I would definitely spend some time tidying things up.

Declutter; clean windows; clear garden junk; general clean; air house before viewings.

When you start to do little jobs such as a bit of paint you just make the rest of the paint look tired. Then it becomes a full redecorating job.

Defintely look at cleaning up. Make sure windows and doors are clean, garden is tidy.

I wouldn't spend money on new plants, it January but if you have flower beds make sure they are tidied up.

Paint job - can be difficult, as PP said, it can make the rest of the room look tired.

A general tidy up with clear spaces is good, I still remember two houses where it was impossible to see the actual workspace in the kitchen or the foor space in the bedroom as it was too cluttered (not with furnitures, just tons of stuff which showed that there is not enough storage space)

I wouldn’t spend loads of money or fully redecorate but I’d definitely tidy things up, do little jobs that you probably might ignore if you’ve lived somewhere for ages but in photos or to a fresh pair of eyes will jump out.

Me & my DH had the same disagreement before we sold our old house, I got the little jobs sorted, we had an offer in the first week

We completely moved out, repainted whole house and replaced the carpets, we sold our house for 40k more than our neighbors and their house had more sq feet! I do think they listed their house too low though.

Forth time selling in four years. Make the house sellable. I don’t mean big expensive jobs but make it somewhere people want to come home to. It’ll give yours the edge over other on the market, and it will move much quicker. Good luck!

Thanks all!

I see the point in starting painting jobs which might then make you want to paint everything. We've just viewed a property and thinking about it, I could see what was needing done but my thoughts on the value of the property were based more on location and space.

DP just goes in the opposite direction to counter my opinion sometimes, to the point that I think he's too laid back about it, but my point is that if it's nicely presented it gives the buyer more confidence.

You need to make it look homely without making it look like it's yours. Basically, make it look like the buyers could move in without doing anything.

Don't decorate, but do CLEAN.

I'd remove ALL personal items. Photos, fridge magnets, clothes on back of doors, towels on bathroom door etc.

Make sure nothing is hanging out of cupboards. Make sure drawers close properly.
Empty bins/sink
Make sure house smells clean and fresh.
And make sure your toilet lid is closed!!

I read somewhere that having yellow items dotted around helps to persuade buyers. Not sure how true this is but it can't hurt? Eg. Yellow candle, flowers, bowl of lemons in the kitchen etc

Also switching lights on for viewings. Not overhead lights but lamps etc.

If you have mats in the bathroom remove them, makes the bathroom look bigger.

Also, people WILL look in cupboard and drawers and wardrobes if they can!

Make sure windows are clean and make sure your front door is clean too.

Can't think of anything else.

Good luck!

@samwitwicky that’s a brilliant list! Might have to keep that for if I ever sell

Have to say, the vendors of my house made it appear as though they had practically no possessions! Not quite sure how they did that - they must have shoved it all in the loft!

We hired a storage unit to stash some stuff in, was easier to tidy and clean with less clutter and made the house look bigger. It sold v quickly and for quite a lot more than we expected.

It's a great list....a great list of shit I'll need to do! But a great list none the less.

We have a storage space so starting to move crap out now.

Annoyingly, we'll never really know who's right.

I ‘dressed’ our house for viewings. Created a home someone could visualise themselves living in.
Nothing major, just decluttering (lots went into parents garage and spare room!), clean and tidy, desk set up in spare room with laptop on, leaves brushed off the grass (and in the summer the rattan was all out to create the ‘outside room’), toddlers room tidy and some toys out but not too many.
I told agent to block book viewings over a Friday and Saturday afternoon (I didn’t want to keep the house like that all the time!), and we had 6 offers of asking price and one £5k more.

In my experience of selling in a white-hot market last year - aesthetics was everything - not for the initial sale but keeping it until completion.

In a hot market you will get a barrage of offers as people desperately scramble to take your house off the market - offering above asking. While it's good, it's also bad as until you exchange those people who made a quick fire decision can just as quickly change their mind. They will continue to check Rightmove and see other houses until exchange - knowing they have blocked your house from other buyers. Buyers tend to use cheap and lazy conveyancers, which works to their advantage. Changing their mind and them loosing £650 isn't a big loss to them if they find a 'better' house. So, your house needs to be perfect in their memory to make any house they see after yours not seem as good.

Then comes the interesting bit - while they quickly gave an over-asking offer after one 30 mins of viewing, during the conveyancing they will use any minor defect found as an excuse to get you back to asking price territory. So don't give the surveyor any excuse.

Finally - they will always pre-exchange viewing in the guise of a 'measure up' which will most likely be the second time they would have seen your house and the first time they will see it in the cold light of day. It's also where sellers let their guard down and stop keeping a 'showroom home'. Your buyers would have spent weeks imaging themselves living in the perfect photos of your listing - as well as seeing the horrible reminder of the asking price and remembering they offered £10-20k over it! Every crack or blemish will be magnified and maybe used as a negotiation tactic which at that point you will be fully committed to your next move and might be tempted to give in.

Not exactly the same but I recently sold my late parents house
It had a lot of stuff in and a badly overgrown garden elderly persons house with a lot of disabled aids
I gave the stairlift back to the company who installed it for free providing they removed it 😂 they were the next day
I paid around £1500 to empty the house and clear the garden despite the estate agents saying not to bother
I paid for a recent gas service as well on top
House sold within a week for £20k over the asking price

You’ve had good advice here OP , you won’t regret following it.

Take your own photos of your house well before the agent comes and suddenly you will see all the things you need to do. None of us notice things like the kitchen bin, box of recycling under the table, items on top of wall units , fridge magnets in our own house etc but they look look terrible in photos.

Yup...

I've seen loads of houses over the years... Even though I like to think I'm not swayed by marketing... Wbcib is essentially what it is.... I think we all are......

Some very nice places in terms of area, size we had to try to convince ourselves... But was so difficult to see the house under the clutter /personal effects....

I'd deffo be dressing the house for sale.. In parallel with decluttering our huge stash of personal stuff!

When I've sold I've decluttered and cleaned them very well. You need people to imagine living there. However, even in a red hot market your house may not appeal to everyone so you need as many bids as possible.

The market is slowing down here now. But even when it was hot 30% fell through so I insisted that buyers were proceedable.

Tidy, decluttered (especially the kitchen and bathrooms) and CLEAN.

To be honest, when I am looking for property I can see past paint jobs etc as I will invariably redecorate. I just want to see that the property has been cared for. Piles of junk and dirty surfaces put me off.

You don't want a house or, more especially, garden that looks a lot of work. Piles of leaves off the neighbouring sycamore would put people off I think. But perhaps garden furniture could be put out if it looks like there is a lovely sunny spot for a BBQ.
Best you give an impression that you are a clean and tidy person - rather than a lazy, scruffy one (thinking of the gunge I have found in the back of drawers or under sink from previous purchases).