Viewings - tidy vs showhome?

[BobLobla]

How important do you think it is to be ‘perfect’ versus obviously clean, decluttered and tidy for viewings? When I’m viewing I expect clean but I always look past anything else to focus on room size and potential. I never judge on decor/evidence of someone living there. Am I in the minority?

Depends how much you want to sell. It makes a big difference for strangers to be able to see your house in the best, clearest, cleanest way possible. What you've become accustomed to, others will zone in on and find distracting.

I think better to be extremely tidy for the photos, so you may pull things out of the frame. But then as tidy as you can for viewings. Definitely as clean as you can.

Clean is most important to me. A tidy house is good, but not to the extent it's bare, ie nothing other than a kettle on worktop, no sign of a remove control etc. It's meant to be a home and that's important to portray.

What counts as perfect? Fully redecorated, staged furniture, manicured lawn?

You might well have still got the offer if just pretty good, perhaps it was the area or the school catchment that got the offer, or the price.

I think it depends, I don’t look for show home because I’m usually planning to do work to a property however I always sell at “show home” state and both times have sold for over asking on day 1 of viewings.
I think most people can’t look past a house that isn’t presented at its best.

I will be thinking ‘Does this location/size/layout/aspect etc work for me, and am I prepared to do the amount of work needed? I have no interest in your decor or stuff lying around. By all means, tidy and clean for the photos to get viewers through the door, but I wouldn’t go overboard after that. I never bother.

Yes I think that’s what I mean. ‘Perfect’ is almost impossible if we’re talking ‘staged’ - especially in a home with 5 adults and 5 animals!

Did the buyer say that the perfectness of the tidying was a key factor in their offer?

As there will be maybe say 20 viewers of your house OP it only matters what they think so I wouldn't go mad on the off chance that one set of those people need perfection unless you have the time and inclination to do that

5 weeks. It’s a very sought-after catchment for families. Feedback we’ve had so far is all about their current position rather than comments about the house, which has been positive . We’ve had 12 viewings. I think it’s more about price so we’ve just reduced.

I remember one we viewed that I wrote wrecked by children on the details. Every door, every wall had dents, every door frame had paint and wood chipped off, obviously several boisterous children in residence. No major damage, but just every room needed annoying minor work that was going to take forever as DIY. Gave that one a miss. Generally not too bothered by clutter, just cleanish and not smelly (in a bad way, pet smells can permeate) otherwise I'm looking at location, room sizes and very important to me a big garden.

Nope. Hence price drop .

We had a 1 year old so it was a military operation getting the house viewing ready each time, but had it down to a fine art. I think it depends who your target market is - our main interested viewers were young families/ couples wanting to start a family, so seeing that eg a highchair fits in the dining room alongside the table is useful (but had we been targeting older families/retired couples that would have looked like clutter).

One thing I did was keep a nicely ironed white duvet cover on a spare duvet (+pillows), then on the morning of the viewing I would switch the bedding (normal one in a vacuum bag in a wardrobe) so that the bed looked freshly made up. I’m perfectly happy to look beyond a bit of clutter when I view a property, but if trying to sell then I want to maximise my potential market.

Yes - choosing between this and another, etc. Next door’s house was up at the same time as us and their price influenced ours (ie I think we put ours on for too much on advice from EA) but theirs is immaculate. Ours is good with more modern layout but not perfect. It’s clean, airy, spacious and all evidence of pets is removed for viewings. Dd1’s boyfriend is an upholstery and carpet cleaner so he’s worked his magic too.

I would say decluttered, clean and tidy and smelling fresh is fine.
Obviously, you need great photos and description to attract the viewers in the first place. It sounds as if you have managed that part.

As long as you have the decluttered, clean, etc, it's likely to be the slow and generally buyer's market of 2025. Most people simply can't afford or are unwilling to pay current prices and most sellers and agents still don't seem to have realised this. It was totally the opposite in 2021, for example, everything sold immediately. Hopefully, your price cut will bring in some offers.

Yes next door’s sold within 2 weeks.

We did perfect 'staged' home and sold full asking first viewing. But that was what we needed- moving city and were viewing other houses the same day. We priced in the middle of what the 3 estate agents we looked at told us.

We left some person photos and items out but alot was boxed up (and put in the garage roof!) and the house was made to look its best - no clutter, clear surfaces, cleaned like no one lived there!
An identically house to ours had been on the market for 3 months, lots of viewing but not sold - it was very clutter (although clean), too much furniture making the rooms look small, everything just looked crammed in. So we took inspiration to be the opposite.