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!

I think a lot of buyers expectations have also changed in the last few years. The expectation of instagram ready show homes and they don’t want to buy something unpolished. Which is stupid/ a missed opportunity in my opinion and certainly not my attitude. But we’ve recently tried to sell and some people have commented they wouldn’t buy because it didn’t have bifolds, didn’t have the under stairs pull out shoe cupboard (plenty of other storage) etc.

When we were selling our last house, I used to tidy everything away and move the cat litter tray and feeding bowls out of the house to the side return so as not to put off buyers. No interest from the people who viewed the house.

Then I couldn't be bothered one day and left the cat stuff where it was. Two people viewed that day and they actually got into a bidding war over the house (much to our advantage).

When I drive past our old house now, I can see a giant cat tree in the front window with several very happy cats on it. So I guess it depends what the buyer is into!

The first house we bought was an estate sale following the passing of the owner who was elderly and lived alone. We intended to gut it anyway so we couldn't care less.

Yes. My first home was horribly decorated and quite messy. But as soon as I walked in the door I knew it was the one - open plan, large third bedroom instead of a boxroom, affordable as the owners were desperate to move after chain collapsed.

I never bothered about people's belongings as they won't be there, much more important is the actual house and size of rooms, stuff like that. We sold DMs house empty with old carpets still in there within a day.

@Jumbuk haha! I’ve literally don’t the same thing with my dogs things! Well, I’ve hidden them away under the stairs and I was going to pop his bed into my car. But, on reading some of these messages, I can see that maybe a dog bed won’t cost me a sale after all! This thread has been an eye opener in a good way!

I wouldn’t be offended about the shoe thing, but I wouldn’t go into the house! I have bad feet , and without my shoes which have adapted insoles, I can hardly walk, so …..

I understand about not walking on carpets with dirty shoes, usually I take indoor shoes with me when I go to other peoples houses. I suppose it wouldn’t occur to me for a viewing, but maybe it should.

My only problem with being asked would be a bit cautious of how ‘precious’ the vendor might be about other things ongoing. Personally if I sell my current house (where the previous owners installed pale cream stair carpet🫤) I would get some of the plastic over shoes that plumbers use and ask people to use them if it was wet outside.

Regarding the shoes, I would probably get the shoe covers as PP said as people might not want to remove shoes with no socks, I wouldn't want to be barefoot looking round a house

I tried my best with the last house we sold, it was clean but a bit cluttered - we were moving because it was too small for us. Still found a buyer quickly.
The house we then bought was quite empty but smelt really strongly of cigarettes and cats, ot wasn’t fun doing the viewing when hung over! It was also really dated.
What matters to me is the location, room sizes and a sound structure. I can see beyond things that can easily be changed.

@CupEmpty there are new deplexes hopping up all around me and where I'd get 350 for my small 1980s terrace, new 3 bed duplexes are going for 585. It's a big difference for a bit of extra space and pale beige walls. Yes these duplexes are better designed with more storage space, but 200k more??? I have been decorating each room in my house, one at a time, to new house standard. Neutral pain colours. New skirting boards.

We asked everyone who viewed to take their shoes off, in fact the estate agent always asked them. You could also buy those shoe covers.

I bought a total shit hole. They had tidied up a bit but it was awful. I was very much buying on location though.

I sold my home when it was like that. Always neat and tidy for viewings, but one day when I was at work the estate agent said they have someone to view it and could they go over (they had a key). I said yes no problem Then about a hour later realised I had my washing hanging on the clothes horse (including underwear). They purchased it! 😀

Yes. We looked at about 20 houses when we were moving 10 years ago. The one we eventually bought, the owners were away so we were shown round by their daughter who didn’t live there, got the impression it had been on the market for ages and they had pretty much given up, it was run down, tired, not incredibly clean, cluttered, there were burn marks on carpets, stains, and kids had scratched their name into furniture. We bought it because it was the right size, right price, a period property, with the right configuration of rooms, right location, etc.

We saw others that were cleaner and tidier but had weird room configurations - a massive bathroom and a tiny bedroom, a family bathroom you had to go through a bedroom to get to - or other issues like traffic noise.

Yes, my current house. It was untidy, very cluttered, very dated, probably hadn’t been touched since the ‘60s. Covered in polystyrene ceiling tiles and red swirly carpet. No kitchen at all to speak of - a sink and a stand-alone cooker. That’s it.

I would look at light, condition of walls, size and direction of garden and the size of rooms and whether my furniture could fit in it. Also if it had a decent kitchen and bathroom. A general mess wouldn’t deter me at all.

Always. My/our priorities are: distance from station, aspect, light, quality of road/houses either side, room size and ceiling height. Everything else can be changed - water pressure is a pain in the butt to improve so turn on the shower (investigate if they are electric)and taps . However, I have always bought in a stagnant market and underbid up to 10% or more. The exception was a house I loved but I only broke even when I sold it. A FULL STRUCTURAL SURVEY is essential.

Conversely, when I sell, my houses are pitch perfect structurally, and interior wise. The last two, I haven't lived in when they were sold so they were tidy. Always sold within a day or two and either very close to or above asking price.

Except for the non negotiable my key lookouts when buying are: window frames for fit, opening and rot, skirtings for signs of rot, water pressure, age of boiler, saggy ceilings and painting over (if a ceiling is brilliant white and the skirtings/door isn't, there's probably been or is a leak (check what's above) etc. If there are limited cupboards and shelves in a small house and no clutter, where is the clutter? Cupboards/storage makes small rooms look smaller. If the house is immaculate - stuff has almost certainly been removed and you won't be able to replicate the look.

Tips for selling:

Light - replace the energy saving bulbs with the highest watt your fuse box can take.

Windows: minimise curtains to maximise light where possible and have windows professionally cleaned inside and out (it makes a huge difference.

Furniture: think about its layout and forget about the TV. Two sofas may look better facing each other than at right angles so everyone can see the TV. Remove things like coffee tables from the middle of small or average sized rooms. If rooms are small - switch in smaller furniture or think about it in advance and don't swamp them. For example, if a bedroom is 9x6 or less, put in a 2ft6" single rather than a 3ft one. It makes a world of difference to the potential buyer's perception.

Smell: dog and cat smells do not sell houses; neither do other strong odours. Carpets may need to be deep cleaned and windows opened for 24/48 hours.

Bathrooms: spotless with no brown toilet bowls.

Front of house/front garden
Tuck bins away, paint and clean front door/outside paintwork, have any trees/foliage trimmed or cut back for neatness and light. A window box or pot can help with a bit of colour. If there's a drive, have it jetwashed.

I note dear reader the full priced house DH and I viewed. It was rancid, it had had leaks, it is the only house, where I'd have refused to take off my shoes if asked. Children were living in it and dogs, very noisy dogs. The photos looked great. It was on the market for £1.3m. All the non negotiables were right and it could have been a great project - for about £950,000, but love was absent in the house's every seam and feel. It isn't just about objectivity.

I bought recently.

Re shoes - no problem to ask for them to come off. A number of homes I viewed the agent asked for shoes off- I usually asked at the door. No need for big list of reasons - just, shoes off please.

To me if a house was really clean, it helped me feel a house was cared for, which to me meant less likely to be unresolved bigger issues or things going wrong on my watch as a result of poor maintenance beforehand. Of course, it was all a sham - my house was immaculate on viewing and it's been nothing but trouble!

I confess when I come to sell I think I'll pay for cleaners to take the stress out and think of it as part of the cost of selling, and just enjoy the benefit while it doesn't sell!

I've always scrubbed for viewings but my current home was an estate sale and hadn't been cleaned for months.

But I just loved it. I had such a good feeling in it.

I'm sure even if your home isn't pristine it will be clean and presentable.

I bought a house that was a tip when I viewed it. An example was the mistaken impression that the kitchen floor was a mid gray colour. It was white.

The stress after we moved in was indescribable. There was a lot of what can charitably be referred to as 'deferred maintenance' that we gradually discovered in the weeks after moving in - not just dirt but dangerous wiring, lots of bodger jobs that had to be fixed.

I would think twice about repeating a purchase based on 'potential' though it was a lovely house after many years of working on it.

Who’s likely buying your house OP? Someone who has children already - may understand more but will also be extra concerned about storage! Or someone who wants to start their family there?

We didn’t go for it but we did view a house where a poor woman was dying in one of the beds. She was on oxygen and obviously couldn’t go out for the viewings. Felt absolutely awful.

Also viewed a house where the couple were very obviously trying to live separately with the children in the house. They’d only bought it a year ago. Also very sad.

When selling ours I just dumped all the kiddy plastic crap in our car. DS was furious about his potties being hidden. And even now if he can’t find something it’s “probably in Mummy’s car”. Some 7 months since selling. I also drove the car away minutes before the interested parties would arrive - partly so they wouldn’t see the plastic crap, partly so they’d think the on street parking was really quite manageable!

Haha, I also did that - drove the car away minutes before the viewing so there would hopefully be a free space right outside the house. Not many people go to those lengths so high five! 🙌

@ThoseClementineShoes haha! That’s exactly what I did! Parked over the road so the viewer couldn’t see the dog bed and a load of washing in the boot 😂

I don’t think the buyer was particularly sold on my house yesterday - I have a big kitchen / diner and she complained to the agent that it was a big wasted space and I should’ve put a kitchen island in the middle! I love the kitchen for the exact reason it has space - I have young DC so they could run and play in the kitchen, we could dance and swing them about etc. I just felt it was a silly thing to put off a buyer, especially since, if the buyer felt so strongly about it, she could add one in herself. The search for a buyer continues!

We hid the mornings dishes in the oven - just warn the estate agent not to open it!

The house we bought was in a state. Had to rip up the carpet because of the embedded dog hairs. Had to repaint every wall to cover the smell and stain of cigarettes. Had to steam clean the entire kitchen to remove the grease. Had to rip out the bathroom and replace. Untidiness was the least of the worries!