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??

oh yeah,
I forgot to mention the tartan carpet running down the curved staircase ...

in this house, every wall had been stripped for decorating years before ...

I'd hate to buy a house that had been fully kitted out in somebody else's taste

What I want to know is how people get their houses so picture perfect. I mean I understand the theory but can't see how it works in reality. We slaved for hours and the place only looked marginally better!

the house I grew up in was regularly in house magazines
we HATED it
all trace of us was removed, the photographers brought their own ornaments
and HUMUNGOUS lighting
and reorganised everything "to look better"

I guess it is selling a pretend way of living. We aren't ready to give up our real lives (and don't have the energy required to pull it off).

OMG TalkinPeace How could anyone leave a house in that state?

DSS bedsits first thing the neighbours asked us was "will you need us to call the police for you?" the Mike Tysons were the father of the pooey baby and his posse. THey were for real and VERY scary!