Is anyone else trying to sell a house and feels like poking themselves in the eye with a sharp stick?

[Pinkjenny]

House has been on the market since July. We have changed estate agents, which obviously made no difference as it's not a new instruction. Am sick of it all, sick of the pointless viewers, sick of the useless feedback, sick of always being pipped at the post, sick of the market, sick of my house.

I don't blame you PJ. When we were selling we must have had about 15 viewers and out of that lot there was only 1 couple who had actually sold their own and were proceedable and thankfully they bought ours. I was so fed up of making the house look presentable, for the viewers to turn round and say they weren't even on the market yet. I know it's what people do but it's soul destroying. I even had one woman look at the garden and say she wasn't interested in the rest of the house as it was too small for her trampoline! It stated the garden size on the particulars and had pictures.

Dont forget the freshly ground coffee and baked bread.

Pinkjenny is it an option for the viewings to be done without you there? Have you done that in the past? It was only by us clearing out of the way that we finally got the feedback which explained why people were not liking our house when they go to see it:

• we had a huge sofa and one armchair in the sitting room end of a lounge diner and a huge dining table. The furniture was huge and made the room look smaller than it actually was.

Not saying this is your problem just that people only said this when we effectively didnt exist. We hadnt seen them, they hadnt seen us. They could be as honest as they liked without ever having to fear that we would recognise them in the street.

In the US you have to vacate your house when people come for a viewing. It would be unheard of to stay there. It's a complete PITA but you get great, honest feedback, no-one is distracted by your appearance or accent while looking, people discuss the house freely amongst themselves without worrying they will hurt your feelings. They can imagine themselves owning the house and living there themselves when traces of the current owner are not there. I really recommend getting out of the house for showings, and clearing out as much as possible of your personalisation, hobbies, etc. while it is on the market. If your house has been on the market for a while, you need to ask yourself what you can do to help shift it.

We do a bit of property development on the side and being invisible as Mathanxiety described was the advice we had from the Estate Agent.

Do try to develop a professional relationship with the Estate Agent. You arent selling your home, you are selling bricks and mortar. Detach, detach, detach (even if it is a terrace!).

Agree with GnomeDePlume.

Yes you live there, but it shouldnt seem to be inhabited...

Queen and Gnome - last night was farcical. We came dashing in from work/nursery with both dc, tired and hungry. We gave ds some raisins which he promptly flung all over the floor just as the doorbell went...

Thankfully they had a little boy of around the same age who helped ds to eat them. At one point dd got really overexcited and just picked up a raisin and lobbed it at the wall. I have no idea why.

Perhaps uninhabited may be a stretch.

Hi Pinkjenny, I have PMd you.

Oh no PJ!

You definitely need to get the Estate Agent more involved. I know that it might feel difficult but would you consider giving the EA a key? They can let themselves in (by prior arrangement of course). You can then take the DCs out of the way completely. This does make it easier for the EA to show your house - a quick call to you, you clear out of the way, they can come in.

A friend of mine used to throw all his DCs toys into big plastic buckets, chuck them in the car and drive away.

Maybe next time you can ask the EA to bring the potential buyers at a more convenient time for you, if you can predict the usual time you get in from work/nursery? Or be better prepared, foodwise, assuming you have a day's notice before a viewing? Yes, it is very hard, but not impossible. The EA is presumably interested in helping you put your best foot forward and will co-operate. Half an hour extra would have given you time to use the loo, get organised, take some food with you to the car (we often ate dinner and did homework in the car, parked up the street from the house, when selling in the US).

You are hoping to make a bit of money from this effort and it is worth the bother of treating it like a job.

i am about to put mine on the market....not terribly optimistic but have vowed that i am going to put it on and forget about it. ha ha ha ha ha!

mathanxiety - Normally I would never agree to a viewing at that time, but it is dd's birthday party this weekend and I have houseguests, so I would have had to put them over for a fortnight. The more I think of dd throwing that raisin, the more I become.

Gnome - have PMd you.

I think you are all absolutely right, we will need to vacate for viewings. My ds tends to follow them around the house, and dd strikes up conversations with them. On one horrific occasion, she was caught by the potential buyer rifling through her handbag. I think she thought it was mine, but it was horrifying.

Bloody kids.

off not over

The early evening is when potential buyers get off work and are able to see your house before having their own dinner. Why would you, who stand to make money from this transaction you apparently want to accomplish, refuse to let someone who might be interested in buying your property see it when it is convenient for them? There are plenty of other sellers trying to sell and buyers will only buy a place they can see. I lost track of the number of people who traipsed through my house between 6 pm and 8 pm, even over Christmas, when I had my mum staying. Certainly well over 50 parties in 6 months.

Gnome - with your professional developer hat on would you say that it is better to show a family house for sale as:

a) pristine and freshly painted but stripped bare of all carpets, curtains, furniture and contents; or

b) basicaly clean and tidy but with the contents and personal belongings of the owner still in?

Me and DW were debating this last night and I think a) because I hate clutter and like clean things but DW thinks b) because a family likes to see how they might live in it and a house stripped bare doesn't feel like a home.

I don't like to see a house stripped bare as sense of scale gets a bit lost. Rooms always look much bigger when empty.

Er, I did let them see it when it was convenient to them, they suggested 6pm last night. I am absolutely not arguing with you over this and I have no idea why you are being so confrontational with me.

Gnome has given me some excellent advice, which I have gratefully accepted.

Not necessarily stripped bare, but the suggestion of furnishing is all that's needed. Rooms do look bigger when they're not full of furniture and that is a good thing. You get used to it as the seller. You are aiming at the middle ground between bare and full of distracting items that say 'someone else's home' to a potential buyer.

You arrange your attractive furniture in a room in such a way that the dimensions of the room are apparent and attractive features like a bay window or good light or a fireplace are not hidden. You take down heavy curtains that seem set in place since Harold Wilson was PM. You clear a mantelpiece lined with tchotchkes and put up something simple that says interior decor magazine instead, and you make sure your gran's little lladro pieces in a display case don't clutter up wallspace where a potential buyer could imagine their bookcase going. In general you should aim to have your space look like a fairly high end catalogue.

I didn't mean to be confrontational, Pinkjenny, but you did say you would never normally agree to a showing at that time. However, looking back my post had a snippy tone so sorry for that.

I actually think it's potentially upsetting for small children to see strangers walking through their house, looking at their bedroom and their toys -- one more reason to up sticks and leave when there are people in.

We have just accepted an offer on our house - but, now I'm having seller's remorse, we heading from London to Gloucestershire and it's a bit scary!

It doesn't bother me whether people are in or out, whether there are candles lit, clothes on radiators, children throwing raisins etc etc. They're all minor things compared to the actual cost of buying a house and they're not going to sway me one way or the other if the actual house is right.

Ealing - congratulations! I'm sure you won't regret it.

MoreBeta apologies for replying slowly.

Our approach to showing houses is 'like new but better'. The decorating is completely warm & neutral but we dont use developer's magnolia which acts like blotting paper. We put light fittings in (no Callan lamps) and make sure that the lighting is bright. Bright lights make rooms look bigger. Showing is different from living. We put in carpets - not the cheapest and coloured mink (light but not too light). We put in good quality underlay - makes the carpet feel more luxurious. We dont stage in the sense that we dont furnish except that in the last house we put a table/chairs in the kitchen because the kitchen was big enough and it needed to be clear that a 4 seater table would fit easily. We put curtains/blinds in every room.

What we aim for is no obstacles. We want someone to think 'all I need to do is move my furniture in'. We sell empty, the chain ends with us so we want people to be able to see that advantage.

So I guess my answer is closer to you than your DH.

Be a the best on Rightmove. Look at your price bracket and make sure that you look like the best deal. Dont look mean in the group. Move the price down to the lower price bracket and look like the best.

Only go with an Estate Agent who offers layouts. There is no excuse for Estate Agents not offering this. Once you have chosen your estate agent (someone you like and can work with) ride them like the devil. Demand feedback, ask them the awkward questions 'does my house smell?' This will make it easier for them to give honest feedback.

tyler80 the difficulty is that not everyone feels like that. Not everyone is able to look past another person's posessions and mentally move their own in.

Happy house selling!

Gnome - thank you for coming back.

All fantastic advice for anyone selling a house. I thought you might suggest copying big developer 'show home' staging so your minimal furniture advice is a bit of surprise. Best in price category on Rightmove sounds a very clever way to get visitors - i had never thought of that but it makes perfect sense.

Oh yes the lights. How could I have forgotten them -- we had every light blazing for every viewing. I have never gone through so many bulbs. And the cat's box was cleaned every single day.

mathanxiety - always a pleasure to see the word "tchotchkes" being used by anyone other than myself and my mother!