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AArgh!! Selling house is doing my head in

12 replies

Moanranger · 29/05/2012 13:21

Our house (So London, accessible to City) has been on the market since late April - JUST in time for 1) a month of non-stop rain, followed by 2) the latest "World as We Know it to End - Euro crisis". So not a great time to sell.

What is doing my head in is the need to keep it in pristine condition - as though preparing at any moment for Queen/Martha Stewart to drop in unannounced! Example, I head out to work, then get telephone call from agents saying a viewing at 5 pm. I realise that some of the lovely flowers in pots in garden are now dead sticks, so drop in to nearest pub selling bedding plants, franticallly looking for something that will match the gardens "colour-ways". Find begonias, run home, plant, realise terrace is dirty - and now she admits to criminal activity - whisper it- gets the hose out and washes down terrace...Noooooooooooo!! Run back to office, have meeting and look down at my fingernails - oh, dear, nicely black rimmed.

All the above in addition to daily bed making- room dressing, vase filling, dust mote inspections, obsessive wiping of sinks.

Oh, and another garden task from yesterday involved standing on a 10 foot wall tying back roses so the garden would look bigger.

I blame Kirsty/Phil/above-mentioned M Stewart - not to mention our target market of haute bourgeousie bankers, who have lifestyles that you have to create in your house to get a sale.

There is light at the end of the tunnel as yesterday we have received an offer we think we can live with. Anyone else in this boat or have gone through this recently, my commisserations.

OP posts:
Lulabellarama · 29/05/2012 14:35

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

Nix01 · 29/05/2012 14:42

We had the estate agent photographer here this morning, and trying to get this place pristine in 2 hours whilst the kids were at school was stressful!

Moanranger · 29/05/2012 15:08

Lula, I know what you mean re toiletries - our usual pound store creams & supermarket 99p conditioners have to be hidden, and I get anxious wondering whether toiletries are posh enough - hope they don't open any bathroom cupboards as usual necessary but unattractive bathrooom detritus will fall out!

Nix, we actually moved our children out for the duration - two teenagers unfamiliar with the concept of "tidy". My son's room presents a particular dilemma as it has this persistent teenage boy pong. My daughter - experienced with boy odour after her first uni term advised a Comfort clothing conditioner spray which does work for an hour or so, then odour comes creeping back.... Hopefully it is all over soon.

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Nix01 · 29/05/2012 15:21

Moanranger, that's too funny, I can only imagine! Thankfully, my boys are still boys are young so I don't have the stinky factor yet, but shipping them out isn't an option either ;)

Is it the shoes? My 5 year old has the stinkiest feet I've ever encountered and he loathes to wear socks!

What is this Comfort Clothing Conditioner of which you speak? It sounds fabulous, if it's anything like the fabric softener we get here, I love, love, love that smell!

Nix01 · 29/05/2012 15:22

Oops, mean to say, Thankfully, my boys are still young so I don't have etc etc.

How do you edit posts on this board?

Moanranger · 29/05/2012 15:28

Nix, it is the same as the fabric conditioner, and because the odour is pleasant it is why it is used.

This teenage boy odour just sort of emanates from him. I think it is skin/oils thing. I think it has permeated his clothes, so I spray inside his wardrobe too. Also doors and windows get opened.

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TheCokeMachine · 29/05/2012 20:17

I feel your plain and have spent many hours delicately arranging my house into a show home. It was driving me bonkers.

Tell your agent you will only do Saturday afternoons for first time viewings. I did this and it made it so much easier. I also got a bit of a viewing rush going on a Saturday (one in, one out) so people thought my house was really popular.

Don't live 'on ceremony' just because you may get a viewing, make you agent do the viewings on a Saturday afternoon and go for a family meal and hand the keys to them.

Seriously, if someone wants to buy your house they will wait a week to view it. All the last minute viewings I had (before I insisted on Saturdays) ended up being time wasters who were 'just in the area anyway' and fancied a nosy.

Moanranger · 29/05/2012 22:35

Coke machine - good idea! I can deal with Saturdays best anyway, especially knowing that once finished, we could slob out as no viewings on Sunday.
It looks like we have a solid offer, so hopefully this is over, but if it falls through I'll definitely do that.
Also, the psychology of it seeming popular is good, too & for something like a house purchase, prospective buyers can wait a few days to view.

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TheCokeMachine · 30/05/2012 08:42

Good luck with your offer, I've got the buyers surveyor coming to check my house today and I swear this is the last time I tidy this place before I move :)

iseenodust · 30/05/2012 16:25

Moan Consider cleaning the carpet in teenager's bedroom? All that padding around of bare & stinky feet...just suggesting Wink

Moanranger · 30/05/2012 21:42

iseenodust, we actually replaced the carpet - and the boy pong even overwhelms the new carpet smell. I think he will grow out of it.

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StiffyByng · 04/06/2012 21:51

If I can make you feel better, we were on the market for five months and had sixty viewings. We are in a two bedroom flat with my two stepchildren sharing one room with all their belongings, and the baby in with us. So a smallish flat with three kids in it. I don't think we've tidied a thing since the day we accepted an offer.

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