Would clutter put you off viewing?

[NigelHarmansNewWife]

Today there's a lovely Victorian house come up for sale on an old alert I've got set up which looks to be a well-designed family home. There wouldn't be much you could do to create value if that was your thing. But it is really cluttered. It's not untidy as such, just overwhelming to look at.

I found myself thinking, "well those shelves will have to go, try to see past the billion pictures on the walls, etc." I don't think a lot of people can see past clutter and when you put eclectic decor into the mix even more so. It reminded me of our house when we went to view it. It had been on the market for two years. We were looking at the same time as a colleague and they had decided not to view it as they couldn't see past the sellers' taste in cluttered interiors with what they described as "colourful" decor.

No, as long as I knew what I was going into it would be fine. But if really bad then it could be also dirty as you can’t really clean round clutter, which leads to the question of is it maintained.

Yes, I get that and that is something you can't always see in photos.

We looked round a previous house we went on to buy that was filthy. I knew it was bad when DP commented on it afterwards because he just doesn't see this stuff normally!

I mean theres clutter and there is hoarding. Bad decor and a bit cluttered? Fine. Hoarding level? No way.

Yes, would put me off! I probably wouldn’t view it initially from the pics if it was really cluttered.

A tip - if you look at the ceiling in a room you'll see how big it is without the clutter.

I think most people can see past dodge furnishings and clutter (unless the property is top of your budget and you don’t have the funds to redecorate). I think a lot of people may be put off as they are worried the property wouldn’t be cleared properly on the sale of the house and will have to do a lot of expensive house clearance!!

I'd say it has the look of somewhere they may be finding too small, but could probably look very different if they had a good declutter.

It wouldn't bother me at all, I would certainly view if I liked the look of it.

I find it very easy to imagine everything gone and redecorated to my taste. You're (usually) left with an empty shell when you buy a house, so the owner's stuff is irrelevant.

It wouldn't put me off but then again I'm one of the weird people who lay on the floor to visualise the floorspace as you can see it better from the ceiling than with things on the floor.

When the EA came to do his pitch he asked if we had decluttered. I told him I'm just a bit of a minimalist.

One of the bits of feedback on my house from one viewer was they didn't like the paint colour in the kitchen 🙄 so I can imagine clutter would put a lot of people off.

Of course not. Mn seems to be full of unusually unimaginative people who are completely unable to imagine houses without their contents, or without the lime green paint. When we viewed our house, it was a HMO full of student filth and bongs.

No it wouldn’t put me off. You can see past clutter. If I really loved the house it wouldn’t bother me - you can still see all the original features and potential.

it wouldn't bother me

@Revelatio that is a good point. Our sellers left loads of things as they downsized but left themselves too much to do by the time they moved out. I was really pissed off with them as we then needed to get rid of things in order to properly unpack. I managed to sell many of the things it was less pressing for us to get shot of.

No but I do realise that might be unusual. When we bought our last house it was painted on the most god awful colours. I think someone had watched too much Changing Rooms then overdosed on LSD before starting to decorate.

We managed to see past it and bought it although I think it had been putting some people off.

Clutter doesn't stop me imagining me living in the space, but in a practical level it means it isn't always possible to see any issues with the house or for the surveyor to do their job.

And that's the thing - if you reduce your potential market when it's already tough then you're not going to sell.

Not at all unless it was hoarder level in which case I’d worry about maintenance. If the person just has a lot of stuff it’s fine. I always look at the floor plans in detail anyway and I know what size my existing rooms are so I can compare. I’m also suspicious of houses that are v staged as often that’s done to hide a lack of storage. For me it’s location, footprint and layout and general condition in terms of the roof etc. Those are expensive to change/ fix and I’m not someone who is up for a back to bricks refurb or even close. Everything else I can live with, even if the paint is going to need three coats 🤣

No, not a chance. The filth and clutter will go with the vendors. It's where the road is and the where the sun rises and sets, the schools, amenities and how well it is maintained etc.

Being able to filter out background stuff is a valuable life lesson.

I think I could see past it but I might not view if really cluttered and lots of other similar properties around. Clutter hides so much I would worry that problems might not be visible. I also get stressed walking into cluttered untidy places so it would not be a nice experience.

Yes, but that’s a decision for the seller to make. If I were selling a house, I’d clear before the photos to ensure I wasn’t putting off potential viewers. But you’re the potential viewer. All you can do is decide to view or not. Clutter wouldn’t stop me viewing a suitable house.

We bought our current house cheaply because it was cluttered. It had been on the market for nearly a year, and the estate agent showing us round said that so many people had been unable to see passed the mess. We did get a really comprehensive survey done, because the place looked pretty neglected.

If it's a lot, yes! If we're talking strewn toys, piles of clothes, etc... definitely. If it's a little maybe not. But it's always best to give the house a good scrub. It'll sell faster.

It's also about EAs not advising sellers though I think. They post photos on Rightmove and that's about it for many of them.

It wouldn't put me off in fact I'd be more interested in a possible bargain overlooked by others. OTOH clearly a sizeable proportion of people can only see the obvious.

People are always advising in MN not to waste time tidying or decluttering a house, estate agents just want it on the market quickly, some people just don't have the circumstances to be able to do it.

My honest answer is that I do find other people’s clutter unappealing and yes, it does actually put me off houses I’m viewing. I would probably still view them as long as the floor plan showed that the room dimensions were good underneath all the clutter but if the clutter was bad, it would affect how comfortable I felt during the viewing and thus how likely I would be to make a good offer.