If you are divorcing and selling leave some ‘man’ evidence

[1624RL]

Looking to buy a house. Saw a house today which is being sold after current owners have only been there 3 years and spent a fair amount of money in that time. Told it was being sold to invest in their business......except, only 1 bedside table and no evidence of a husband/male partner in the house. We’ve seen this several times. It’s obvious it’s a divorce sale, which usually means you can bargain harder. So, if you are selling, at least have a second bedside table with a few books on it and some men’s shirts in the cupboards.

I bought 2 bedside tables as a single woman for the symmetry. DH and I only have one bedside light and it's on my side. It's all so confusing

You are a total weirdo. Why would you even want to take advantage like that? Some people are so cruel.

OP were you suggesting this to try to help single women home-owners?

Personally I like neutral balanced decor, before having a partner I wouldn't have put male shirts in my cupboards as the space was mine, all mine

How bizarre!
I have based the offer price of the houses that I have purchased (4 in my life so far) on the state of the house structurally & bearing in mind the work that needed to be carried out; the number of bedside tables had been completely irrelevant (save for the size of the bedroom), as has been the lack of 'male' stuff around - in fact 3 of my 4 houses were empty when I bought them - what does that imply, I wonder??!!!!

at least have a second bedside table with a few books on it
And make that reading list super-masculine and definitely married! A Jack Reacher novel, an Andy McNab, High Fidelity, some Bukowski, rolled-up Private Eye for taking to the loo just in case the dog-eared Guinness Book of World Records in there doesn't offer enough private poo time...

Or porn magazine, that is clearly male?

While this thread is really weird I have advised people I know to try and dig and find out why people are selling when they are house viewing.
Our EA let slip that our sellers were moving immediately for work.
Meant that I started the negotiations much lower and got our house at a much better deal as I knew they needed a quickish sale.

I have 3 bedside tables.. does that make a polygamist? (3rd one was larger than expected but fit a certain part of the room so we left it)

How weird

Not sure what my house says to prospective purchasers. Two rooms with two bedside tables each, one with only one.

It’s the 3rd house I’ve bought as a single woman. Maybe leaving ds’s smelly trainers lying around will add the appropriate pong

My house is very feminine. Nothing that really screams man. I think he left anyway he'd just buy two new tables.

Married nearly 30 years and only one bed side table and one lamp 😜

Visitors will also only see one toothbrush in the bathroom because I refuse to keep mine in the same room as the toilet.

I also don't have any curtains in the front room. I have no idea what kind of signal that gives out but thought I'd add it in for good measure

On the side that doesn't have a bedside table with lamp (mine) there is a mahogany glass display cabinet (with nothing in it - it was my mums). Does that count?

We don't use a bedside table. People do live here.

Is it because we've gone back to the 1960s where a woman isn't allowed a mortgage on her own?

I live with no other humans. But if you put a recorder in my bedroom at night, you would hear me saying “ lie on my tummy if you like, I know you like that”. Yes, I’m talking to the cat.

I like to keep an actual man in the cupboard, ready to jump out at househunters who poke around in there looking for shirts.

Oh do fuck off, OP.

I'm not convinced that a relationship breakdown will make it easier to get money off, as they probably need to get the right price to buy 2 separate houses. I'm pretty sure that if it was that clear cut estate agents wouldn't tell you. And they do, IME.

I barely remember the furniture while househunting... Was more concerned about size, layout, gardens etc.

I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous. I don’t see how a divorce would particularly make a difference to bargaining power. Surely everyone with a house up for sale is moving for a reason eg new job, relocating, new baby, upsizing/downsizing.

It took me a year and a half to sell after divorce, mainly because neither of us could agree when we received an offer. I was living in the house in the meantime so it didn’t make any difference to me.

I've got three toothbrushes, lots of big electric tools and log splitters etc, two bed side tables, there's shirts in the wardrobe . However I live alone. If I ever discovered someone had looked inside my personal belongings when viewing my home I'd not to sell to them

1. down couples only have one Bedside table.
2. I've got tow bedside tables DESPITE being divorced
3. people getting divorced often need all the cash they can get-they are probably more inclined to bargain harder.
4. Aren't you nice to think you can capitalise on someone else's misery?

FFS!

It has been commented, and I found that a divorcing couple would not take any significant reduction in sale price, as they needed the maximum cash from the sale.

And as for "not exploiting a sad situation" type comments, I do feel a sale where the owner has died will attract lower offers- it's just the market operating.

Actually we found it was the opposite, in divorce sales a price has been negotiated for settlement and they are unlikely to drop lower because it will cause all the calculations to be wrong.

I would never dream of using someone's personal situation to drive a bargain, I simply offer what a house is worth to me

Ps I've always had two bedside tables even when I bought as a single woman, and two bedside lights!