Can you see through the decor on a house viewing?

[Diversion]

When you go to view a property, it has a new bathroom, a fairly new and modern kitchen and has been well maintained. Presuming it has pretty much everything you were looking for and is priced within your range could you see through the decor if it was not to your taste and realise that it just needed new paint or wallpaper? Or would it put you off?

Yes, of course. I genuinely struggle to understand those who can’t see beyond horrific wallpaper or surface dilapidation. When we bought this place it had been a student party house. Among other things someone had lit a bonfire inside the kitchen door, all internal doors were wrecked by a large, scratchy dog, and over its three floors, it had two tiny bathrooms next door to one another on the first floor. It had graffitti, a leaky bay window and a kitchen installed at some point in the eighties.

But the bones were beautiful and the location perfect, and there was a huge, dilapidated garden.

I really don’t care what the decor is§ like, It will never be my choice and I will always change it. Baffles me when people don’t buy a house because the colour on the wall isn’t to their taste.

Decor? No. But if a house has a brand new kitchen and bathroom that to my taste/poor lay out I would probably dismiss it. Would rather buy a property at a lower price with a run down kitchen and bathroom that needs replacing and redo them to my taste.

I like to think that I can see through decor. What I‘d find more difficult to get past are smells…

@Vissi what did you do to the bathrooms? knock through? add one on ground or 2nd floor? We’re facing that same dilemma

Problem with that is the houses that need a refurb are pretty much same price as the ones that have been refurbished (certainly where I live anyway) I’ve just been looking at a large Victorian semi which hasn’t been touched since the 80’s it needs £200k spending on it easily and certainly won’t be worth £200k more once finished, I know I wouldn’t be doing it for profit but it’s still a lot of money to invest.

I'd definitely do this. I have done several times. New kitchens and bathrooms are expensive! I look at the roof, too. Other than that, I'd probably redecorate and redo the garden anyway, so no problem. I'd expect the price to reflect the work ,though.

i would definitely say I’d be more inclined to buy a house with great decor and a crappy layout, than the reverse. I don’t even really know what I want out of a house layout. Good decor helps me see how the house functions as a cheerful home that I would be happy to invite people to see. I probably wouldn’t notice if the only toilet was in the attic or something provided i thought downstairs had a beautiful window ledge for my orchids

Yes I can, the shittier the better because I would hate having to pay for someone else’s decor if it wasn’t to my exact taste.

More people can’t see through decor than can though. No idea why, but they just can’t!

Absolutely. Unlesss it's something very difficult to get off and it's priced high. Like massive bar and cheap timber cladding all over that room...

What I absolutely cannot see past are new badly designed kitchens lately when people want top money because it has new kitchen. The hell am I paying premium for nonsensical kitchen which can't fit fridge that has to be either in utility or on the other side of dining area.

There seems to be lack of reasonably priced doer uppers sadly. I would love one again.

At my stage in life, I wouldn't be able to get over decor. We are looking at new houses and I have a toddler and a newborn on the way. Painting and stripping wallpaper just wouldn't be possible right now! So yes, it would impact whether I bought somewhere.

I’ll be honest and say I do find it hard to visualise how a house could look with different decor/updating - I guess I’m just not very creative.

It wouldn’t put me off a house is it was just a couple of rooms had wallpaper I don’t like or the bathroom wasn’t exactly to my taste. But if there was too much in the house that wasn’t to my taste I would probably carry on looking for something more suitable. We’re not into DIY or doing up houses so when I view houses it’s a big bonus if they are already in a good condition and to our taste. I will pay extra for that.

This. Was very put off by one house with a brand new kitchen and bathroom that just had loads and loads of brown. Ugh.

Yes- very true. There are definitely times in your life when you don’t want to do a lot of DIY/ refurbing. I have a friend who has 5 children and flips houses with her builder husband. She’s literally done winters in a caravan in the garden during back to brick refurbs with 3 under 5. She’s braver than me is all I can say!!

That said, unless it was truly horrific I could live with most things for a few years. We inherited our vendor’s curtains and light fittings and I’ve already told the kids it’s likely they are there till 2026 because we need to do a tonne of structural stuff first. I’m already “not seeing” it tbh.

While I agree with pp that refurbs are often not priced in ( ours was to be fair) I think there’s an increasing tendency to conflate “needs new kitchen and bathroom” with “kitchen and bathroom are a bit dated but still completely functional” which I think is quite a recent thing and probably attributable to the rise of insta/ house porn. Because trends cycle through faster, stuff looks dated much more quickly.

I am not sure I can always see past clutter and decor but I know I should!!

We are exactly the same!! Don’t enjoy having to choose colours etc.

Added one on the ground floor, yes, and knocked the two together on the first floor (with a door to my bedroom and a door to the landing).

People always say they can, but my experience trying to sell my house says in reality they can't.

My house isn't a total monstrosity where everything would need replacing top to bottom. The downstairs loo and hallway have what I'd call divisive wallpaper, one has "unusual" but not divisive wallpaper (nautical birds) and our lounge is painted an apple green.

You could "neutralise" it in less than a week and on a relatively small budget. Our estate agent told us we didn't need to, that people didn't care.

And yet when we were on the market, we struggled to get viewings and the decor was mentioned by at least half the people who did view. Houses with identical layouts that had no upgrades but also no decorating at all (newbuild magnolia) sold for more than our house was on for, despite us having a ton of expensive upgrades.

True I’m amazed that people are marketing their houses with 30 year old kitchens and bathrooms and expecting the same price as the house next door that has been refurbed. Mind you I’m also amazed at how many crap new kitchen designs there are out there!

We probably paid to much for our reno job but location and views swung it.

I agree. Lots of people think they can but really can’t.

There is a reason developers always present houses in pristine but neutral condition with props that suggest an aspirational lifestyle.

Yes we did. Bought a house that hadn't sold in a year and a fairly sure it was the green carpets and purple walls and gloss green ceiling. Painted it was light and beautiful and we were very happy there. I bumped into the guy who used to own it who shrugged his shoulders about the decor and said he'd bought it like that and just lived with it.

Yes absolutely. However, what we thought was a strip the wallpaper and paint job turned out to be a rewire/ new plumbing/ strip wallpaper, plaster and paint job. Every surface needed to be updated, from the cheap laminate to the glossed artex ceiling. Considerably more expensive than we first thought. We've done most of the house but lost momentum and have some terrible unfinished rooms alongside lovely fresh new rooms.

Agree with this too, it seems like a form of arrogance when people can’t see that their houses aren’t worth as much as similar houses that have been updated.

Old kitchens & bathrooms are not appealing! If people don’t want to spend any money on their houses then fine. But that will be reflected in the sale price they are realistically likely to achieve.

To be fair if people have divisive wallpaper and decor there’s a chance that those expensive kitchen and bathroom upgrades are not to other people’s taste either.

Yes, but they do that because of the type of buyer they’re looking to attract — lower-middle class-aspirational of varying levels of income, depending on house type. I’ve sold quite a few houses in different countries over the years, but the last one I sold in the UK, I knew exactly what type of buyer would be viewing it, because I’d lived in the village for seven years, and understood the people who lived there, and the people who wanted to live there, and that dictated that I decided to sell it empty, and that all I did was remove all of the bookshelves we’d built in. These people were not going to be readers, and they would replace the kitchen and bathrooms asap, so no need to do anything with those.

I looked on Rightmove recently (had forgotten our old postcode and needed it for something), and the house recently went on the market, and the people who bought it from us have done exactly what I thought they would in terms of decor, right down to the grey walls and furniture, dark blue kitchen and Quooker tap.