I blame The House Doctor

I'm always amused by such programmes. How people with lurid decor,masses of clutter and simple repair jobs can't see that's why their house has been on the market for 12mths +

It does seem now petra that sellers as well as buyers go for the "wow" factor when house/flat hunting,but don't you feel good when you are showcaseing your property looking it's best even if the buyers decide to change everything you have done when you have sold

I can never understand why potential buyers say 'Oh, I couldn't live with that wallpaper' - as if it is a permanent fixture. Surely most people like to decorate to their own taste as soon as possible.
I did learn quite a lot from The House Doctor when I came to sell my daughter's house for her - for example, if a job needs doing, get it done and don't have to apologise for anything.

Fortunately I don't have to decluter as that is part of every day life for me, I hate it. I think that's why I love white walls with nice pictures and wall hangings. I have picked up a few masks on my travels.
Looking around me now ( I'm having a rest from the hall ceiling ) I notice I'm big on mirrors as well, lol.

I did ask an estate agent friend why they didn't point out potential problems with a house when it comes to making people want to buy it, and she said they have to be very careful not to criticise someones pride and joy. What I don't understand are awful photos of properties on right move [one was of a downstairs loo and just showed all the pipework]. Thankfully some people can see beyond dated decors or my son and daughter would never have found suitable homes [but they do love transforming properties].

I agree decor can easily be changed. But given two very similar properties one neutrally decorated and one with purple walls I'd go for the neutral one.

So says the person who bought a house with scary Muppet wallpaper and lurid pink paint in the box room and chocolate brown paint work in the kitchen

I think the sensible view is that if you really want to sell your house, you need to attract as many viewers as possible especially in the age of internet house buying. Its easy to disregard houses that will need you to roll up your selves the minute you move in if you have neither time, energy or extra money.

I have been shown around houses with inches of grease on the cooker top, dirty laundry in heaps in kitchen floor and carpets that need throwing out. On most occasions the vendors have seemed genuinely chuffed with their homes and could not understand why no one was following up their initial viewing.

So yes, vendors should make an effort to ensure their homes are clean and tidy and unless they are marketing it as being 'full of potential' they do need to ensure the décor is at least of this century.

There used to be one London estate agent who made a point of being ruthlessly honest about the houses he was selling. He became very successful! IN France, the seller is obliged to reveal any hidden fault (vices caches) an can be sued if they appear after the purchase.

My daughter has just sold her house in New Zealand, without an agent, at $5,000 over the asking price. She put loads of photos of the house and gardens on Trademe, and invited all the people who wanted to view to come at the same time, when they telephoned. Open House is popular in New Zealand, where the owner disappears and the agent shows people round, but they get a fair number of people who just like looking round other people's houses! She just let them in and left them to wander round. ( I always hated it when the seller stayed with me all the time, pointing out the best features. ) Two people made offers at once.
She has come a long way since her first little house in Chester, which cost £14,000 30 years ago!

I followed House Doctor's advice when selling - declutter, pack it away, depersonalise etc and we sold to the first person who came through the door. She did not notice the fact that the garden was not at all sunny...
Did the same thing recently when letting our house out. Complete purge. Magnolia with white gloss from top to bottom. First couple who saw it wanted it.
I have viewed some horrors in my time. All walls orange was one. And the Nigerian family who had all their curtains closed (which is their norm) - the estate agent obviously did not have the gumption to tell them to open the curtains for viewing. doh.

My MiL once bought a very nice house cheaply as it was rejected by lots of other potential buyers. There was a black AGA in the kitchen which turned out to be blue ! Took them two weeks (staying in a B&B) to get it all livable in.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2316309.stm

This news item about "estate agent speak" rang a bell with me - and I expect a lot of other GNers who have been enticed by a glowing description, only to be sorely disappointed.

When you go house hunting the estate agent always gives you house details, including room dimensions. So how cluttered or badly or unattractively decorated a house is irrelevant the measurements tell you how big the room is - and most people redecorate after moving house.

Most of my family have done very well from being able to see through the clutter to the house beneath. Such houses are usually £10,000 to £20,000 cheaper than comparable properties and usually require little more than a coat of paint and some new curtains to get them up to scratch.

Even though estate agents provide the dimensions of rooms, many people find it difficult to visualise what their furniture would look like or whether their king-size bed would fit in.

When my house in London was on the market there was one couple who wandered around admiring the pictures and the bed linen.

I helped a friend to house hunt last year and I needed sunglasses for some houses, the kitchen and bathroom tiles were just so lurid as were some kitchen units. She would not have bought because of the cost of replacing them. Changing wall paper and repainting are different.

Tell you what estate agents rarely give you - whether the house faces north or south! It was important to me as I left a house with a north facing garden which I didn't like, and wanted one that faced south!
You can't change that.....

We had friends who bought a lovely georgian town house in Truro. It had belonged to an architect who had apparently been very fond of black and purple walls and silver ceilings!!! Once they had gone through it with gallons of white paint it was back to lovely.

Some people do seem to be unable to see through other peoples' furnishings and imagine a room as they would arrange it themselves. I always like the ones who throw fits about the House Doctor's ideas and say they couldn't possibly live with them - when the whole idea is that they won't have to because they'll have sold the house

A good tip: a joint of beef (or lamb) roasting away in the oven is bound to sell any house!

Alieoxon I learned that lesson with my first bedsitter which had only one window facing North and big old trees. I used to hang out of the sash window to see IF the sun was shining.

Unless the potential buyers are vegetarians, Margaret! They always used to say that an aroma of freshly brewed coffee would help to sell a house as would the enticing smell of bread baking.

If I remember right, I used cake!