Have you ever bought a house when it wasn’t “show home tidy” for a viewing?

[Boatshoes]

I’m selling my home (it was a new build when I bought it) and have my first viewing today. I’ve been up since 3.30am making sure it looks all nice and tidy and clean (viewing is taking place after I go work at 7am). I have a few more viewings lined up next week when my DC and DH are here (they were away overnight). My question is, have you ever viewed a house that wasn’t 100% neat and photo ready and bought it / sold it? We are generally a tidy house but now there is the pressure to keep it nice! The houses we have viewed so far (3!) have been lovely and tidy - I’ve not yet seen one with a cereal box on the counter or a child’s toy out of place!

@Boatshoes it sounds like yours will be clean, & tidy enough, not to put people off.

I think things that DH & the kids aren't likely to bother with (😂😂) like the hoover, ironing board etc 'out' indicate there's not enough storage space, but loads of toys, messy sofas, etc aren't so much of an issue.

it doesn't bother me at all, if I can see the walls (even at ceiling height) I'm happy.

I'm looking for a house I can make my own, rather than someone else's 'showhome'.

it's horses for courses though. I'd rather buy an older property where I can justify replacing a 25 year old kitchen that's falling apart, than a 5 year old new build where I hate the kitchen, but can't justify replacing it. But others would feel differently.

I think lived in is fine.

From my recent experience I’d be a bit leery if it was a complete mess as in my last purchase vacant possession was not vacant possession and I’m currently on my 4th skip clearing it out. Although it’s largely the land that’s the issue, the house was okay in the most part.

It’s taken months, I’m on my 4th skip and our solicitors weren’t remotely interested.

I'm always amazed when people are put off a house by the furniture/clutter/decor. You aren't buying the furniture.

When viewing I look for light, room size, garden size, parking, street scene, road noise etc. And smells like damp, urine, pets. Smells would put me off tbh.

A person's housekeeping skills wouldn't bother me. Although yes, our house was show home standard. No personal effects were on show including the laundry basket. Even the washing up stuff like drainer, brushes and liquid were hidden.

My first flat was owned by a couple who had split, she had moved out, he was still in it and begrudgingly he'd agreed to sell. He made zero effort for viewings - dirty plates on the lounge floor, kitchen sink piled up, dirty pants and porn mags on the bedroom floor
Was irrelevant though as we loved the location of the flat and dimensions of the room and how light it was.

On the other (seller) side, we once sold a flat which we’d kept immaculate for weeks, but was finally sold through a 9am Saturday viewing which the estate agent hadn’t told us about. The viewers came in to find us in bed, and the remains of a Friday night curry and a bottle of wine in the lounge and kitchen. Made an offer on the spot 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ours was tidy but not show home when we decided to buy it.

I'm very suspicious of showhome levels of tidy and staging when I'm viewing a house, especially if I can't immediately see their storage solutions.

It gives me the impression that either the people selling don't have many hobbies, or they've already put a lot of stuff in storage to stage the home because the space with normal family stuff in doesn't work.

The house I live in now was a tip.
There was crap everywhere and a hole in the kitchen ceiling where the shower had leaked. We bought it because of the location, the style of house, the garden and the parking we wanted.

I remember years ago a friend was selling a one bedroomed flat. She had a double bed on stilts, like a bunk bed but nothing underneath. She got the space underneath and had a desk and chair in there and a few other bits. When she was selling it she ''had to'' get rid of that and get a conventional bed. I was surprised she was told by the estate agent to do that. Most people could have figured out, it's a one bedroom flat, there is x amount of space available....

I can't believe how little imagination people have.

@Boatshoes I would be like you - up in the early hours tidying if I had to leave to work early and there was a viewing that morning. We have always tried to present our properties as clean and tidy as possible as I think it can have an effect on the price you get. If you want top dollar, you have to put in the effort.

People can look past a bit of mess but too much and it could affect the offers you get, unless the house is a doer upper. I've viewed some right states over the years and I think as a viewer, you do get a better feeling about a tidy house, like the owners care about the house.

So just do your best when your husband and child are back home. We've sold in the past with 2 children and a dog and we've made sure that none of them are home when the viewings take place - one of us will be out with them if necessary while the other is doing last minute tidying and decluttering. We put clutter like children's toys in the boot of the car temporarily. Some people can look past mess and clutter but others can't. I always think, why risk it?

@hippygirllucky you and I are the same! DH can look past mess whereas that’s all I can see! I want a home I can move into without having to do anything, but DH is definitely more of a do-er-upper type!

@YukoandHiro I managed to store the big cuddly toys at my parents in their spare room, along with spare bits of furniture that was taking up space. I remember when my parents sold theirs and my mum shoved coats / washing etc under her duvet and it looked like she had bodies hidden in the beds 😂

@Edwardandtubbs absolutely hats off to
you! I honestly think I would be turned off by a house in that state. I think we are quite lucky with our house as it’s the only one in our location with particular extras, but then again, we have more new builds going up where I live so my worry is that people will opt for a brand new build, rather than a 10+ year old new build.

being ‘Show home’ doesn’t bother me, I think generally clean and tidy is important as it will help sellers know the house is looked after. And that they can move around the rooms easily. But honestly I wouldn’t worry too much!

@Anothernamethesamegame my house is really good condition. There is nothing that you would look at and say “oh that needs to be replaced”. I would add photos but it would be too outing! We’ve recently redecorated and it looks lovely - there’s a particular reason for us to move otherwise I would never leave it - it’s a lovely, light home and I will miss it terribly.

Absolutely I’ve bought untidy, un’staged’ houses, some in quite poor nick. We live in a big, Victorian wreck we’re in the process of renovating, but when we bought it, it had been a student party house for years, and was set up for multiple occupancy, very badly knocked about, and full of hungover students asleep in disgusting bedrooms, or eating Potnoodles in a rank kitchen. No proper bathroom. You have to look beyond mess. Its bones were beautiful.

I’ve never extensively decluttered or staged any of our houses to sell, either. Just a good clean and paint touch-ups where necessary, and they’ve sold quickly for more than the asking price.

Yes I bought a house that had mouse poop and two turds left in the toilets

😂 wasn't even a renovation was an ex rental property

Our house was filthy when we viewed it.

The kitchen especially...overflowing bin (which smelt), dirty dishes stacked up, lots of spills and drip marks all down the front of the white cabinets.

The whole house smelt strongly of cooking smells and on a scorching August day every single window was tightly closed, the windows dripping with condensation (clearly from cooking). It didn't appear the windows had been opened for months.

It didn't put us off but we needed a firm mindset to be able to get past the smells!

The one we're buying wasn't show home tidy when we viewed it. They'd been on the market for months so had run out of steam. It was clean but had all the usual messiness that comes with family life and a new puppy. We always tidied ours but our standards definitely slipped as time went on.

Absolutely. Well, I've only bought 3 properties but the second of these was very grotty, worn out and dated. But it was a good house and if only it had had a larger garden I think we would have stayed there instead of moving out after 6 years.

Our current house was clean and tidy when we viewed and left very clean and tidy on moving-in day, but it was extremely dated, with decor and modifications not to our taste at all and we knew everything needed updating. It was the cheapest house on the best street, but only cheaper by about £20 or £30k.

Thanks all so much for your feedback - it’s really interesting to read everyone’s experiences!

I would also like to ask - would you find it rude if a vendor asks that viewers remove their shoes when entering the house? As in, they can wear them in the kitchen / hallway where it’s hard flooring, but for the living room / stairs / upstairs where it’s carpeted, shoes should be off? We recently had our carpets clean and, with young DC, I wouldn’t want dirty shoes on it. Or does that seem to over the top? I’ve never done this before so don’t want to offend potential buyers.

The house we are currently buying hadn’t even been tidied up for our first Viewing. There was washing hanging up to dry and washing up in the sink. But it was the location we wanted so I can see past the mess.

The house we bought nearly 30 years ago and still live in was certainly not show house clean and tidy ! It was owned by an elderly lady who was downsizing. We managed to look past the dust and dirty dishes and bought the place ( at a slightly reduced price) as the house had the number of rooms we needed plus in the area we wanted .
Obviously we then gutted it.

Yes, as it wasn’t a thing to be show home tidy. The first house we brought the owner had a bath towel round her head and the house was a bit messy tbh

but we knew it would be ok and went in and revamped with new kitchen, kept bathroom but decorated each room

I wouldn't find it rude No, and have been asked to do so before by EA showing us round houses.

Only issue in summer could be, what if they are wearing sandals etc without socks? Could be an idea to provide some disposable shoe covers so they could slip them over their sandals in that instance? You can get a box of 100 from Amazon for about £7.

If you’re leave the carpets, I’d think they were very clean 😂 don’t mention you’ve just had them cleaned