How spotless does house need to be to sell?

[Joulee]

I’m just getting so overwhelmed. House is very cluttered so that needs to be dealt with before I even tidy/clean.

Does the house need to be tidy? Or does a house need to be spotlessly clean to sell?

Also in terms of hours how much did you spend on getting everything ready?

Single mum.

And painting exterior. It’s a bit drab. Is it worth getting someone in?

I’d say tidy and clean to a normal standard - they aren’t going to be checking the top of the wardrobe or behind the fridge.

It’s important to present the house as a place people will want to live. However, it’s important not to overstate how forensically people will look - when we moved into our current house, there were loads of obvious stuff I missed on the viewing (e.g. wooden floors in need of a re-varnish, cheap badly fitting carpet on the landing, etc).

No, it doesn't need to be spotless.

Our house had been owned by a family for 25 years and looked lived in. We want to be here for 20+ years too so in some ways it was nice to see it that way.

Within reason cleanliness isn't an issue (I was put off the dirty house with mouse traps around the place) - but less clutter is helpful so that buyers can see the full potential of the house.

A lot of houses we viewed, the owners had clearly packed up extraneous stuff and put it in a garage, shed or box room which worked fine

This house wasn't particularly clean or well-maintained, when we moved in, and neither was the previous one. Reduce clutter and tidy outside though. I wouldn't renew anything, tbh. Save your money for your new house. Same with repainting.

hide everything you can, you want basically zero clutter as it no matter how neatly you pile it, it looks a mess.
cleanliness I’d say is basically just wiping down surfaces and hoovering

My mums house is spotless. She is a cleaning addict and very minimalistic. It took 3 years for her house to sell.

It's not being spotless that will sell it , it's a whole range of factors so just tidy away / put away clutter & toys etc
Freshen it up , maybe clear personal photos etc, give it a good clean, the prospective buyer has to be able to imagine themselves & their belongings there. I wouldn't necessarily spend money on painting the outside unless really needed, tidy garden, put out a few pots etc. Don't stress too much, just keep it well presented & quite neutral. Good luck 🏠

I’d focus on decluttering and then make sure it’s a normal level of tidy and clean once the clutter is gone. I know people who kept stuff in the car while viewings were happening/stored them at a friend’s - it’s not to make the place look empty but to make sure there’s some floor space and there isn’t stuff piled up everywhere. E.g. my bike usually lived in the hall and I didn’t have anywhere else to put it so I lent it to a friend for a month so viewers didn’t have to push past it. Do all this before the photos. I usually have things under the beds but I cleared them for photos - not for viewings as it’s much less noticeable in person though.

Depends how quickly you need to sell and if you are looking for top price. Declutter as much as possible, you will then find keeping on top of the cleaning so much easier

Needs not to have a bad smell eg dog /smoke/fish/ strong cooking odours

Need to not be piled high with clutter and rubbish.

Are all the seat clear to sit on?
Is the floor clear of everything but furniture?
Is there any visible rubbish on surfaces?
Are there piles of dirty dishes?
Just basic really.

Don't bother painting exterior. Just tidy up -get rid of rubbish.

If the exterior is really bad I would as that can put people off even viewing. If it just needs a freshen up then maybe not

Maybe I am a weirdo but I don't agree with the advice to put away personal things like photos - I actually like things that make it feel like a happy family home, it helps me to imagine my family in it.

Can you hire a small storage unit to put the clutter until its sold? That's what we did. You do want to reduce the obvious clutter as much as possible as it will make the house seem smaller. I would say plenty of houses which are cluttered and aren't clean or tidy will sell, but if you can work on these areas you will increase the number of people interested in buying, so it may sell quicker and probably increase the price achieved too.

Personally, I tend to look over any furnishings and cosmetic issues (wall colours, wall fixtures, even plug placements, these can all be changed). I would expect a house for sale to have personal items around, especially if people still live there, but not so bad that I might trip over things while trying to look around.

A reasonable amount of tidiness that allows the buyers to move around without things in the way.

I would be doing a full deep clean when moving in anyway, maybe even hire a cleaning company, so don't stress yourself out.

We sold our house a couple of years ago - managed to get the sale completed just before prices tanked. It was in no way clean. It was basically a temporary house by all accounts (bought it to remodel but had to move to another county) so only had one bedroom ready, passable kitchen and a conservatory which we used as a sitting room while the rest of the house was basically a storage for building materials. We'd not lived in the house for 6 months while selling and just came in, collected our stuff and left on the day of keys exchange. The new owners fancied a similar building project so it was no concern to them that the house wasn't pristine when they got the keys.
Edit to add, it was not sold cheaply either. It was appropriately priced for the area. We had one buyer pull out and then the second couple who viewed it offered 5k lower than the asking price which we accepted.

A spotless house won’t sell an overpriced house in the same way that a dirty house won’t put off the buyers of a house in a desirable area.

Maybe you phrased it wrong, almost anything will sell if the price is low enough. The reality is the better you present it the more likely you hit or exceed asking price.

It doesn’t need to be spotless by any means, but it does need to be uncluttered. Lots of clutter will give prospective buyers the impression that the house is too small and that there is no storage space which will be offputting. Also, it’s a good exercise to undertake before you move anyway, as presumably, you don’t want either the expense or the effort of transporting a load of stuff that you no longer need. Houses with lots of clutter also give me the impression (possibly incorrectly) that they won’t be well looked after or maintained either, so I’m less likely to consider buying. A house being untidy is just a fact of life though with working families and young children, and I think most people accept that.

Definitely declutter as you have to imagine packing and unpacking it all for the new house!

Then just clean as you usually do but it'll be easier if it's got less stuff in it.

Our agent recommended removing personal photos so these all got packed up and each time we had a viewing I'd pack some stuff in the boot of my car.

The front of the house is the first impression so if it needs painting then do it. Everything helps. We spent months in the lead up to putting ours on the market doing odd things to tart it up.

Good luck!

Do you want the clutter? If not then it’s better to get rid of it now rather than packed it, move it and unpack it.

I wouldn't get the house painted, you won't recoup it.

The main argument for decluttering is it makes it easier to get it looking nice, quickly, for each viewing. Everything sells at the right price but if you want to maximise the price and sell swiftly then having it clean and clear will help with that.

It isn't like tidying up generally, it's easier because you are only putting things away temporarily. A few boxes in the loft if you have one, or even in the car. We went quite hardcore, we took down a couple of bookshelves, packed away a couple of bits of furniture, put away things like the bread maker and food processor so we had space in kitchen cupboards to hide paperwork. Absolutely loved it cleared back. We had a viewing every day until it sold. I think it helped a lot that we were realistic with the pricing from day 1. If you "test the market" or go with the highest valuation for a few weeks, you may well end up clearing up regularly for viewings for those few weeks - people are slower to offer on more ambitiously priced houses.

One of our houses sold within days and that was after tenants trashed it. The photos it sold with online were the same ones from when we were trying to let it out. There was a big fat disclaimer underneath it saying when they were taken and that the reality was different, I can't remember the exact wording. However the house was in a cheaper area of the county and was in an up and coming area and sold for more than it was worth. The new owner made a killing on it once he'd done it up and resold it on.

We filled our car to the brim with stuff, even the driver’s seat!

It does need to be clean. Urgh went to a viewing and loved the house, had so much potential. BUT it was filthy. It was lived in but filthy. Bathroom was disgusting and dirty sinks, piles of stuff, the agent opened a cupboard and it looked rotting inside so just wondered what else was hidden issues.
This was also sold to us as a lived in family home of 20+ years so while it was lived in, they probably wrecked it too.

Just had a wee cry. I literally only have the weekend to sort. I wfh so thought I could do the odd hour here and there. But its not been possible to find a decent chunk of time.

I just did our coat/shoe caddy thing in the hallway and that took 45 mins! Was supposed to be a 15 minute job.