How "house viewing ready" is your house?

[Millana]

At this precise moment, if you were/are going to have people coming to look at your house, how "ready" is your house?

I'm not planning on selling but mine is a disgrace. 😔

It's been slowly dawning on me that if we were to sell, we'd have to put a lot of work into it so why are we living with the mess and clutter and half decorated rooms etc? Why would we put all that effort in for other people but not us?

Now I need to put that into action and change it.

Our roof leaks and our shower isnt in use. There is paint peeling off the hall walls where water got in, several windows are blown. Then there is superficial stuff like carpets being ruined, and broken fitted appliances. It would be sold as a project i guess.

I am hoping about another year. But I thought that last year too! Piles of stuff from deceased relatives that I am working through plus a whole load of maintenance needed that got neglected whilst caring for now deceased relatives. Lots already done but so much more to do!

In my last house about an hour and it looked beautiful. This one I’ve not had long and it has issues so I’d need about 6 months!

We moved in 5 months ago and there are still unpacked boxes all over the house. Not my stuff & not my house, I’m renting a room with the house owners, a married couple that I’m sort of related to, so I can’t do anything about it.

😂😂

A morning hard graft

Realistically a day. I get bored of housework very quickly and I'm rather good at procrastinating.

I would hazard a guess that the vast majority of posters with (almost) ready to go houses have a helpful partner and/ or a cleaner, and/or don't work full time and/ or have children/pets?
I love a clean, decluttered house and actually enjoy the process of getting there. But too many other factors are in play!!!!

I live on my own and no my house is not ready. Sometimes it is, rarely though.

I could get it ready for a friend in under 30 mins.

For house viewing ready it'd be more like 2 hours work, all hands on deck. I'd have to clean our bedroom which would take the majority of the time. Kids rooms generally ok. Downstairs and bathroom generally in good nick too.

True I'm PT and husband/kids pull their weight too.

Hmm well I have a cleaner and an equal partner (helpful implies keeping house is my job that he might deign to help with every now and then - no, it’s our equal responsibility).

Work full time in a very busy job with evening / weekend working also, 2dc and pets.

So, yes, some of the factors you suggest definitely contribute, however they definitely don’t all need to be in place otherwise keeping a house is an unobtainable dream.

For me personally, a cluttered unfinished house is more uncomfortable to live with than being on top of it and getting stuff done. Dh & I are both do-ers so it comes naturally to us. Others don’t feel the same way or have different priorities. One is not better than the other, just different.

I have a job , 3 cats and 2 children , no cleaner but I just like a tidy clean house . I do a big clean once a week and tops ups every day .I don't think it's hard once you have a routine and have a home for everything.

I do think it helps that I have plenty of space and not more stuff than I need .

I was actually thinking about going into a tidying business as this thread and life experience has shown me that I find this easier than others to manage .

Not reallybat all. Reckon there's a couple of weeks of work, minimum. However we have only moved in less than 6 months ago and I haven't figured out where to put everything yet, we need to redecorate, not all the window dressings fit properly or are there at all, etc...

I like your PoV though. Make your house beautiful for you. Definitely

😂

I reckon we’re a days work for DH and I away from it being estate agents photo ready.

we did spend an awful lot of days in December decluttering snd rearranging the house though. Probably 8 days work.

Our kitchen and downstairs loo need gutting and completely redoing, including removing some supporting walls and moving plumbing. At the moment we just don’t have the budget. If we suddenly had the money and were going to do that we’d need months.

If we were just going to tidy up what we’ve already got and sell if as a house with a project to do then I reckon I could get it viewing ready in a day. We’ve just had builders in redoing a bathroom and redecorating and we had a deep clean when that finished so it’s pretty good at the moment. There’s one room (playroom/home office) which is a disaster zone as it’s where we put everything when we cleared space for the builders so that would take most of the day. The rest would just take a few hours whiz round to get everything put away.

We’ve also been decluttering like mad as I’m currently overdue with baby 2 so there’s less to sort out than there would have been a month ago. I’d love to get it perfect before the baby arrives but realistically I’m moving pretty slowly now!

I work full time, no partner and definitely no cleaner. But no pets, and only one older child (turns 15 next week) so there are no toys and mess that comes with young kids.

Keeping my flat tidy is important to me, if it's a mess it makes me feel embarrassed. DS's bedroom isn't perfect as with most teenage boys but I don't allow meals in bedroom for example and I insist he makes his bed daily and changes sheets regularly.

It is for sale, but every viewing creates a panic to get it ready 😔

I am reading this as someone who is looking to buy and viewing a lot of houses at the moment.

I don't expect a house to be spotless when people are still living on site but I do expect it to be clean and not cluttered so I can get a good look at the space.

Drum kit in the living room, broken tiles, messy garden, messy house and half-finished DIY jobs is not a great look if I am honest.

I would worry there might bad blood with the neighbours (who wants to hear drum practice everyday after all...). The rest would make me wonder if the house has been poorly maintained in general.

If your house is a great location it is a shame to let the way the inside/garden is kept let you down.

Mine would probably take months and months and lots of money.

I should have added I think there is something quite disrespectful to viewers to just expect them to view a messy place. This is life's biggest purchase and I really want the sellers to make the basic effort of showing a reasonably clean and clutter-free house.

I guess it is different if from the start the house is listed as a ''project''/needing work and that is reflected in the price.

But beyond that I am really amazed at how many sellers can't be bothered to do the basics of getting a house presentable.

I have a teenager so, not at all. If I didn't have to take his room into consideration, it would take me 10 minutes to make it viewing ready, including his room this goes up to an hour. So 1 hour I guess is the notice I'd need if I was doing it by myself. I only live in a 2-bed flat though, and no outside space.

ours is reasonably clean and tidy, but isn't well maintained - nothing that amounts to worrying neglect, but lots of little half-finished, must to it later jobs like painting over a filled hole left where a loo roll holder was knocked off the wall, books on the floor waiting for a shelf to go up.

H has a weird thing where he is shite with DIY and hates it, so lets things linger. I am also shite with DIY, but do regularly offer to get a handyman in. He refuses, insisting he'll do it "at the weekend". I am aware that most of mumsnet would say LTB but back in the real world he is an otherwise considerate and hard working man, so I tolerate our scruffy house.

I don't have a partner, I work full time, have kids (although not young) and two dogs. What helps me is that I move quite often and love a good clear out, so I haven't accumulated a lot of stuff. Everything I have has a place and I live in a smallish flat. I used to live in a large house and it was far harder to keep on top of tidying then, because I didn't use all the rooms. For me the answer has been moving and downsizing.

It’ll be viewing ready in less than a day. We declutter, keep surfaces clean, etc and there’s no major work that needs doing on the house in my opinion ( if a new owner does not like the floor, kitchen, bathroom etc, they can remove it but there’s no problem with it), just need a deep clean and to move somethings to the garage, etc