Has anyone managed to sell a scruffy house?

[sevenyearoldsarecrazy]

I can't get my house to look the way other houses (being sold) look. I just can't. It would take some money and some time and I would need to ship my children to boarding school for some months.
Has anyone got a positive story about selling a house that was a little rough around the edges??

I bought and now live in a scruffy house. Could you just concentrate on your best 2 rooms and make them wow so people could see what the whole house could be like - with a little bit of work.
If the whole house is scruffy it will seem like a big project to a lot of people.

I wouldn't care about bedrooms for example but if the kitchen and living room was nice I could see past it.

I've been wondering the same thing too. When the time comes I might just stick 'everything' in a storage unit for a month or two.

All the walls need a lick of paint too, nothing too bad, but I can't do it with the kids here.

Good plan, there is a wallpaper rip that is my main nemesis. And I think the sink needs replacing. And and and!
If only storage wasn't so expensive, could do with some of that too!

I bought a scruffy house, and am slowly doing it up. There were other factors in the decision, like location, huge garden and relatively cheap (hollow laugh).
As long as it's structurally sound, then there are people who will see beyond the decor.

People see beyond that when they view houses. A house may be newly refurbished but if it is not to your taste then you are not going to like it anyway. When we viewed our house it was really scruffy but that was fine as we wanted to change it to our taste. If it's clean and smells nice that's very important in my opinion.

Our location is quite good. And I would look beyond scruffy myself. But there is no denying the draw of these beautifully photographed houses. Although I guess photos can be taken 'carefully'!

We've just sold our scruffy house but only after the scruffyness was reflected in the price.

Nooooooooooooooo!

How scruffy were you?

I am just hoping to avoid the price being dragged down too much but don't know if that is realistic. Madly decluttering and tidying right now and the stress just from that is intense!

We were the sort of buyers who don't care about scruffiness, as long as it isn't hard to fix (lick of paint,new carpets, new gutters, trip to the tip, etc.) It often puzzles me on MN when sellers ask for f/back & are told to "get rid of that sofa/rug/painting", and I'm thinking, "Who cares about X? I'm not contracted to live with it after purchase, am I?" Whereas stuff like room sizes, the view or noisy neighbours matter hugely.

We're that sort of buyers too ragged. But it's amazing how many aren't.

Unfortunately OP I do think scruffier houses go for less. There are plenty of people who want a place that doesn't need any work doing - and often people tend to confuse "nicely presented" with "doesn't need work doing" even though in fact they are not the same thing.

me too re being a househunter who doesn't care about scruffiness.

TBH my heart sinks when I am in the first stages of looking at a house online (ie before I have done the sums to work out if it is really good value or not) and it is all white painted, granite worktopped, dressed to within an inch of its life etc, because those houses are so often the overpriced ones where the vendor has spent a lot on the house and expects to make that back in the sale even though what they have done is not to everyone's taste and may need to be undone.

I am put off by smelly animal poo, but as long as it is clean, a bit of tattiness is fine.

Some really reassuring posts on here, as we've recently decided to sell. I've got depressingly-long lists of things to do to every room that I had thought would be essential if we want to get more than about 50p!

It's not like it looks like it belongs on "How Clean Is Your House?" or anything, just lots of the decor is what I think is euphemistically described as 'tired.' Also DS (2) has an uncanny knack of making even the tidest room look like a bombsite after a minute. Added to that I think we've just got too much stuff in general. I know quite a lot of this should be fairly easy to resolve, it's just sitting here looking at it now I can't imagine getting a set of photos that don't scare most people off at the Rightmove stage.

There are also bigger jobs like sorting out the 'quirky' layout upstairs, which would mean it is a proper 4 bedroom house (not a 4th bedroom you can walk into from the 3rd) but just adds to time/expense and not sure if it would increase the value enough to make it worthwhile. And there's the dodgy kitchen roof which I think will have to be done come what may....

Aaargh!!! Maybe we'll just get lucky and a cash buyer with a thing for seventies houses that look like they were decorated in the ninetees will snap it up .

Clean and tidy is all that really matters - not everyone wants to buy a showhome, some of us like to "do up". Depending on what you mean by scruffy it may need a lower price, possibly, but don't assume that it has to be absolutely perfect.

Our house was pretty scruffy when it went on the market - although I didn't realise quite how much until we came back from living abroad after it was under offer (it was rented out). I don't think a bit of scruffiness will put people off IF the house is good in other ways. We are 'lucky' in that ours is in a prime road, backs onto park, and is a really good example of what it is in terms of layout/etc - so it did go under offer pretty quickly. Personally I think most potential buyers will overlook a bit of scruff for the things that really matter, but if competition is stiff primping becomes necessary!

As buyers we can see past scruffiness.

However lots of people really can't, so as sellers, we're decorating and turning our usually scruffy flat into a beautiful minimilist, freshly painted environment!

The estate agent reckoned doing the jobs that needed doing would up the value on ours by £10K (£230K to £240K).

We're spending about £2k on it (this includes plastering).

As a buyer I'd be pleased to find a nice scruffy house as there would probably be less competition for it!

Nope, but we bought one! :o
I think most people can see beyond stuffy, and at thr end of the day, it matters not a jot what people have spent on the inside, it will only even go for the ceiling price for your area.
If It's clean and tidy and you have packed up all the clutter to the garage/parents/storage for the duration of the viewing period, then it should sell as well as the next one.

A tip though, from one who knows. Sort the clutter before you box it up!

Damn autocorrect...
Scruffy and ever!

We bought a scruffy house...and are hoping to sell it in the same condition. Prob would take the hit too if it meant we could move.
I don't care about rugs and throws in photos - give me room dimensions and location and most importantly the price and I'll make my own mind up. Not paying for someone else's magnolia and laminate makeovers, thanks.

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I am a bit worried about attempting to fix a couple of things in case I make them even worse! What is on our side is that there is very little for sale where we are-so hopefully that will help people see past the superficial.
I agree that it can be kind of depressing seeing identical 'newly done up' photographs online-I prefer a bit of character to a home.