House stagers. Do we have them in the uk?

no pets here, airy rooms and a good idea re the bed throw, I just ordered one very large bed throw with excellent reviews, will not break the bank but might save my back. I have 2 x 3` singles side by side with tall matching headboards. This throw, which looks luxurious, will fit over both beds together and match the headboards. I already have pale cream posh pillow cases. It was a choice between a pale pink and a mink throw and the mink looked pale enough. Will be big enough to throw over my large sofa after I move

I am never moving again, hate every minute of this selling malarky. How do I tell people that this house has nothing wrong with it, no hidden defects, everything is well maintained, it is cheap to run, my neighbours are lovely. I have had several viewings and a few wanted to offer but had not sold their own

Craftyone The throw sounds good and as you say you can use it when you move.

I so agree selling and moving is a nightmare.

I wish you luck

IT sounds as if you've done everything you can to optimise the chance of a sale craftyone. I love the idea of the mink throw, sounds great over the two beds, and would love one for my sofa. Can I be cheeky and ask where you got it from?

lazigirl, saw it on qvc as I have had a good few nice bedding items from them. Then went on ebay and got the same one new without tags, a bit cheaper
www.qvcuk.com/Alison-Cork-Velvet-Scroll-Embroidered-Bedspread.product.807850.html

My EA discussed stuff with me just now via e mail. She is putting it down to the political situation and agrees with me re my price reduction plan. First stage is a `secret` reduction ie not on public sites and then march will be the final and public bargain reduction. It is already at a good price and someone will be getting a bargain but c`est la vie. I need to draw a line across and get settled pdq.

I am leaving top notch stuff with the house such as new miele appliances. I made a big mistake in getting the new kitchen when I did but the designer was here the morning my husband died. I carried on with widows brain because I was never going to move. It cost an absolute packet my top range final kitchen, the one I wanted all my life and now to be given away but so be it. I need to move on, to be near shops and buses

I can see that these things may well work, but really can't understand buyers who can't see beyond the superficial. Especially if they're influenced by furnishings/pictures, etc. that will be gone anyway.

Personally, if I were buying, I'd welcome a bit of clutter/avocado bathroom/swirly carpet, etc - things that put other buyers right off, so you're much more likely to be able to negotiate on price.

Dd2's house was a probate sale - incredibly dated decor and lots of personal stuff, but clean and cared for, and obviously loved. No need for 'stylists' or - my pet irritation - all those stupid cushions on beds, that you just have to sling off at night! Have just been staying at an AirBnB with half a dozen of the pesky things!

I think all the things that other gransnetters have mentioned are helpful, especially having everything clean, uncluttered and tidy, and windows sparkling.

I think probably house doctors/stagers go a step further than that and can suggest some relatively inexpensive ways of making big differences to a house's saleability. I'm not sure how much they cost but I reckon if it's a few hundred it may well be worth it.

Watching those TV shows like "Selling Houses" I've thought that the best thing you can do is to remove all the personal stuff - family portraits on the walls , ornaments from your travels etc. Such a simple thing but I can see how that would allow people to see themselves in the house.

When we sold my mother's house the agent said to just remove everything but a few items of appropriate furniture in each room, and get it professionally cleaned. We sold on the first day, so something was done right !

I too can see past clutter, saw plenty when I was viewing houses, what did put me right off were filth especially in bathrooms, no bathroom ventilation and signs and smells of pets

I also removed all the family photos and crafted ornaments, the house needs to be neutral and sparkling because it is the first impression that counts, the first few seconds. Stella is right and that is why I will be removing 2/3 of my house asap, just leaving enough to show the potential uses for each room. I have a large open plan kitchen/dining/ living area and utility and 2 small rooms downstairs and 4 bedrooms, en suite and bathroom upstairs. I will be completely emptying 2 or 3 bedrooms and then minimalising the furniture in the rest of the downstairs space.

Quite honestly some houses were filthy with barely made beds, filthy carpets and obvious work needed to be done. There are people out there, like me, who just want move in ready with perhaps only a paint job needed

I need to keep up with it now that EA is aware again and I will be expecting more appointments, more deep cleaning but a little every day, the en suite today. A steam clean around the base too

I am living in the 5th home we have owned. The 1st we bought was a tiny, old but refurbished maisonette..so clean, plai & empty. We soon filled it with stuff. It was filled with stuff when we sold it & moved to a 2bed 30's semi with purple walls and wood effect wall paper applied horizontally! When we sold that it was almost 100% Laura Ashley? The Edwardian house we went to next was a probate sale & needed a full refurb. We moved on from there having put in a new kichen & bathroom...but not a loft extension or side return..which the buyers did. We bought an empty but newly refurbed Edwardian place.. eventually added an extension ..for the DGC to play in! Sold it..as seen & lived in... to buy our current home which was a busy family house. We have totally changed and extended it. Not planning to move again.

I was an estate agent for 30 years so valued and sold thousands of houses. In a busy week I might value 30 houses. I would say that 70% of them were dirty.

It always surprised me that people made so little effort when their house was to be valued. I came to the conclusion that they didn't actually see the dirt or smell the stale smell in the house. Some were so filthy my feet would stick to the carpet or I would slip on the grease on the kitchen floor.

When I went into a clean house it was so refreshing. I must say the cleanliness or otherwise had nothing to do with the price of the house. Some of the most expensive were the dirtiest.

Framilode Did you find that dirtiness in a house made it less easy to sell?
When we moved here 30 years ago, we looked at several houses. One was well-priced and suitable in most respects. But the garden was littered with piles of dog poo and I wouldn’t even consider buying it.

I am always amazed that potential buyers cannot see past the bad decor, dirt or whatever. As though they cannot even visualise the house empty.

When we sold our last house and downsized the young couple who bought it asked that we leave almost everything behind (they were happy to pay) as they wanted it to look exactly as it did. Even down to the matching bed linen, curtains and mural I had in the littlest bedroom for my then 2 young grandaughter's. They didn't even have any children but said they were "trying" and "wanted their baby to have this exact room" .

I think some people are definitely swayed by decor, cleanliness and clutter, particularly in a slow market and not everyone approaches house buying with their practical and sensible hats on. When we were house hunting one house smelt so badly that I had the smell in my nose all day, and would never have bought it for fear of the smell having seeped into the fabric of the house. I have lived in 12 houses since I've been married, so have viewed & sold plenty. Thanks for the info crafty

I can see past clutter and other people’s decor but dirt and grime is something else.
When we bought our present house, the vendors successfully disguised the fact that they smoked. The house smelled clean & fresh when we viewed it but when we moved in, it reeked of cigarettes.
It took me a week shampooing all the carpets before the smell went.

JaneAinsworth a well presented clean house will always sell more easily. Of course a house in poor condition will sell provided it is reflected in the house. The problem is when people are selling an old banger and want a Rolls Royce price.

Should say price not house.

I once rented a house to a professional couple (she was a trainee church minister, he was an accountant) and when I came to sell it I got a call from the estate agent to tell me that it was too dirty for him to be able to market it! I called the couple to tell them I would be on the next train and when I arrived I was appalled; to say the house was dirty was the understatement of the year - it was filthy. Yet the chap had the gall to tell me that it had been cleaned to 'within an inch if its life'!

I cleaned it as best I could within the limited time I had and fortunately it was a seller's market so it was sold very quickly to a young woman who was doing a full refurb on it. To appease my shame I sent her a bouquet of flowers when she collected the keys.

It is not so much the obvious dirt eg like at the bottom of shower doors but the fact that the seller did not clean in any great depth, I could not take the picture of bed bugs and cat fleas out of my head. Child clutter etc, I did not mind at all

Another load has gone out today, good bedding but I am being ruthless, each bed needs one winter and one summer set and s* d the lifelong collection of quality white cottons that take an age to iron. What I have kept is minimum iron. Always having an eye on my future, making it easier

The study has also had a shifty, it was being used to store packed boxes and they are now neat and tidy in my roomy hall and at a stroke, the study looks bigger. It has been oh so easy to slip backwards through the winter quiet period. Must do similar in my garden store, a very big insulated building

I wish the last stage before exchange was over, that last bit of paper from the council, having adopted a small length of narrow road, the bit that the sewers run under. I believe that it is usually utilities that cause delays

Thankfully, shifting boxes today, I realised that I was sensible, that no box is too heavy for me

janea we once bought a house which had a strange smell. In fact, we thought their dog had peed on the quality carpets. Shampooing did not get rid of the smell and we had to spend money we could ill afford on new carpets.

DH and I are serial house renovators, and have taken on houses with major structural problems, but I have a red line - and that is the previous occupiers being smokers.

The first time I dealt with cigarette smoke was when we were executors to some relations. I repainted the living ceiling three times with thick ceiling paint, but the staining came through within a fortnight. Whoever bought it, obviously didn't look too closely at the ceilings.

The second time was with DS. The flat looked like a smoker's pub that hadn't been decorated for 20 years, but it was cheap. We owned the flat for 9 years. For the first five we had to redecorate throughout every year to mask the nicotine. After that it was just the very large hall that needed to be redecorated every year until we sold it.

DH and I are serial house renovators, and have taken on houses with major structural problems, but I have a red line - and that is the previous occupiers being smokers

I don't blame you M0nica My mum and dad were given an LA (adapted) bungalow to rent. It was a case of take it or leave it. It was absolutely filthy and the previous tenant had been a heavy smoker confined to one room. I scrubbed, stripped (yucky brown nicotine dripped on my head from the ceilings) , painted, wallpapered and my son ripped up every floor covering and still the smell lingered.

Years later and despite my dad liking to have the windows open the back room still has a lingering smell....gross.

that throw came yesterday and is stunning, I would give it 5 stars. Massive and good quality. I will eventually cut it down to recover the sofa seats. Will give it a trial run on the beds tonight as I have yet another viewing tomorrow. Unexpected viewing, so just raced around, cleaning windows etc. Luckily the basic cleaning was already done, I stuffed things into drawers etc. Really good house airing tomorrow and jobe is done

I reached the point of being blase about these viewings, like a friend said, it will happen when it happens

One piece of utilities paperwork to be provided on the new build and I`ll sign the buying docs. I had a bit of a sleepless night, solicitors, like surveyors cover their backs ie provide info but no advice or opinion .The buying pack is an inch thick, wish my husband was here to go through it, all the drawings and words but that is life. All I can do is trust the developer, who is several years older than me and old school, I liked him, he never once fobbed me off

gosh, another viewing on monday

So stressful, keeping the house clean and fresh

In my experience the majority of house viewers can't see past what is presented to them. If I had £10 for every viewer who said they didn't like the wallpaper or the furniture I would be pretty well off.

Is there anything that Americans can’t make money out of?
I’m setting myself up as a Happy Houser. You just pay me £50 monthly and I tell you the rules to make life in your home just heavenly eg
1. Paint the front door pink.
2. Dance naked in front of the windows.
3. Buy massive flower arrangements (from me) for every room.
You will soon wonder how you managed without me.