Anyone got their house on the market at the moment?

[HeadFairy]

I'm not too worried about the market at the moment, nor too worried about getting an offer in etc etc, but I am beyond frustrated at having to leave my house immaculate every time I go out incase we get a suprise viewing. Is everyone else going to these lengths? It's flipping impossible with a toddler about... as soon as I pack away one set of toys he unpacks another load in another room. It's like painting the Forth Bridge!

I have.
It is a pain in the arse.

We are naturally quite tidy people, but not to this level.

We ahve been on a few months though and have chilled a bit.
If you just keep on top of the bulk of it, then you can tidy up in a few hours.

ours was on the market for about 10 months and you're right that it's a pita with a toddler. I have been shocked though at the mess in some houses we've been to view - honestly, dirty underwear on the floor and unwashed dishes

Well, what I did was to hire a storage garage and chuck perhaps 1/3 of our stuff in it! I decided to go for the clean, uncluttered, almost 'show home' look. I culled the boys toys (aged 1 and 3) into 2 identical plastic toy boxes- the rest went into storage.

Then every shower we had, we wiped down the cubicle, the loo was ALWAYS flushed, laundry was ALWAYS put in the laundry bin, dishes were always put in the dishwasher!

It was a challenge to begin with but it has to be said, we were absolutely committed to selling (I sold it myself), I'd seen SO many other similar houses (on Open for Inspection visits) to price mine that I knew instantly what put buyers off, and avoided it... and I sold the house from 1st advert to cash in the bank in 17 days.... Know you couldn't do that here in the UK but boy that clear out was worth it! And I made sure only I was in the house when people came to inspect (lots of calling on my obliging neighbour to have the boys for half an hour at short notice!). A thing I HATE here is having the owners home when I inspect or worse, being shown around by them! What DO you pay an agent for??

We bought close by and actually left much of the stuff in storage for up to 3 months as we sorted ourselves out. Very handy.

However, yes, I DO sympathise but I believe keeping on top of it all in THIS buyers' market will be worth while.

Yes - me!
I have been told I am getting obsessive about tidyness, but no-one has even seen the results yet.

We have now notched up 4 cancelled viewings in less than two weeks. Sods law says that the day I dont tidy up, will be the day a "serious" viewer turns up.

Nicky - the house is pretty good, no need for a major cleaning binge. We have a cleaner every monday which helps. But it's the 30 mins minimum I have to dash around the house like a mad woman before I go to work that kills me.

We have done quite a big de clutter, lots in the loft and in storage. It's the fact I can't leave clothes drying all day on the airer that really irritates me. I can't even leave clothes on the washing line as the garden's too small.

We've got one girl interested, they're apparently thinking about putting in an offer, I'm keeping everything crossed because for once I'd like to be able to go to work without having to dash round shoving clothes in to wardrobes and picking up toys and bits scattered to the four winds by ds.

When we had our house on the market years ago I had a call from est agents saying someone wanted to come around straight away - I was with DC in soft play place so dashed back to tidy up only to meet person waiting on doorstep. Naturally with toddlers the house was quite messy and I cringed with embarrassment but it was that person that bought the house, so it just goes to prove that it doesn't need to be immaculate or have bread baking or coffee brewing, it just needs the right buyer in the right place at the right time....so a miracle basically!

thanks for that marmitebabe, you've given me hope! This woman who really likes the place is being funded by her parents and they've both been to see it seperately, so we've had three viewings from the same buyer effectively. I've never resorted to bread baking but I did offer one woman who was viewing the flat my ds if she wanted him She did say she was feeling very broody but politely declined.

We bought this house after an unexpected viewing.
We had stopped outside to take down the tel no of the estate agent when the husband drove up. He asked if we wanted to come in and see it and we agreed. His wife was mortified and immediately started trying to tidy up toys and pull wet laundry off the radiators. It didn't make a jot of difference we loved the place and made an offer later that day.

I guess it's true then, if it's the right house you can see past any amount of mess!

Yes have been on the market 2 months now & it is really stressing me out. We were hoping to limit viewings to weekends (where possible) but are expecting midweek viewings now the evenings are lighter.We are totally fed up of keeping the house tidy & cleaning, cleaning, cleaning when we have someone coming round. At first the house had to be spotless & presented like a show home but now I am relaxing up a bit as I truly can't be bothered with it all. Have had a fir number of viewings but no offers yet. Boo

I would not allow a viewing without 24 hours notice. It will give you time to prepare without having to be tidy all the time.

If they are interested they will come tomorrow or the weekend. A lot people are just damn nosey.

In this market though Beta dad you have to move fast. They may be deciding whether or not to accept an offer on their own based on what they may be able to negotiate.

I agree with brettgirl. The estate agents is right opposite the house and they've had quite a few people wander in off the street, and if they're looking for a 2 bed flat, the agents often ring up and say can they pop over in a few mins... cue frantic dashing around from me. Generally they give me a couple of hours notice, but the most frustrating thing is if I'm going out with ds for the afternoon and I have to leave it looking nice just in case, now it takes me even longer to get out the house

We're on the market at the moment and I'm struggling keeping it tidy as well with 2 toddlers. But then as someone else said, we've seen some very messy houses and the one we've fallen in love with wasn't just messy, it was chocker block full and filthy!!!