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I'm not above buying from sloppy owners if the price is right and the house has the attributes that I want.
I once bought a lovely red brick house (rare in Phoenix) where I could smell the pet urine in the carpet, all the bedroom walls were painted in different colors and one bedroom had carpet over furring strips on the wall.
It was on a third of an acre with a large side yard and I got it at a nice discount. The owners were already out.
We replaced the carpet, took down the carpet wall, repainted the entire entire interior, remodeled the kitchen and both bathrooms. We were there for 11 years.
When your house is on the market and you are eager to sell, do you keep your house "show" ready?
You know; cleaned up, no garbage laying around, kitchen and floors clean, bathroom clean no dirty clothes
laying around for potential buyers to see?
When I say "show" ready, I don't mean spotless to pass the white glove test, LOL.
I mean you still have to live in it and whatnot.
But you know, you've quickly swept, taken out the garbage, put away the dirty dishes, hidden the dirty clothes, etc...
Has anyone ever walked into a house that turned you off?
Yes, I did keep it clean since I told my realtor to let me have a 2-hr notice for prospective buyers (though I only had one guy ask for a same-day showing).
I actually never walked into a house that turned me off (though the dirty diaper would be hard to get past; I just would not be able to stay in that room for very long and might, if applicable, ask for a second showing); I was always able to look past the clutter/mess to what I would be able to do with the house. This may have helped me with the second home I bought since it was an estate sale and when I went to the showing it was fairly cluttered (the daughters were still clearing it out).
It makes me happier actually to see homes like that because it does seem to me that cleaner, neater homes "show" better; it must be some sort of psychological impact on most people that doesn't work on me. So if the home that's a mess is one I like then that may mean I have a better shot that there's not that many offers on it as there may have been were it a cleaner home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rational1
You're buying a house, not the seller's life style.
A messy house that shows badly can be a buying opportunity for someone who can see past the surface. Especially these days when perfect houses incite bidding wars.
Exactly! But I'm glad that it seems (by this thread too) that not many people see it that way!
Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthofHere
A messy house to the point the OP mentioned could also mean lack of maintenance and not worth making an offer only to have the inspector tell you all the problems with it that will cost tens of thousands to fix.
That's a good point. I've never seen a house in such a state as what the OP described. Thankfully the estate home I purchased was an extremely well-built house with which I've had no major problems. Would have loved to keep that house if it weren't on a busy road, but I closed my garden business and was dying to move somewhere quiet.
If the house were in that sort of disarray (as in the OP), it would have to be one that's perfect for me; I could see past the uncleanliness, but yes the thought that it wasn't maintained well would enter my mind (but then, if the inspection pulled up some issues, those could be brought up to either be fixed or deducted from the price so that I could fix them, which I would not be adverse to doing).
Last edited by Basiliximab; 12-19-2021 at 05:41 AM..
I live "show ready" normally. haha. Seriously, people comment that my house is always clean. I don't allow clutter, I don't allow dishes to sit in the sink, stuff on the floors, everything is wiped down after use (sinks, kitchen counters, etc, etc). My dog sheds a lot so I am always swiffering and dusting to clean up hair. Beds are made every morning. To be fair, my daughter's bedroom (to me) is a mess. Her friends think it looks clean. I just shut the door.
When we list the house, she's going to have to keep her room a little more neat. No clothes on the floor and she will need to keep dirty coffee cups out of her room. The dog is moving out and living with my mom when the house is on the market. Not just for cleanliness, but also to make it easier for people to tour the house. My dog is going to gain weigh... my mom feeds her too many snacks and doesn't walk her 3 miles a day like do. The dog isn't going to want to come back to me after the easy life. haha
I think I used to be a bit OCD about cleaning and orderliness. When I was a teenager I vacuumed and dusted my bedroom every two days. My books were in order based on the Dewy Decimal system and my music was organized alphabetically by artist. I cleaned the windows weekly. Much to the amusement of my parents, I would get "frustrated" every now and then and totally clean and scrub the whole house. Going to college and having to deal with a room mate kind of helped me to step back a lot. But I've always been clean and orderly oriented. I can't go to bed at night knowing there is a mess in the house.
I really don't know how or why people try to sell their houses as bad as you described. Yuck. Yeah, that would turn me off too I think. Dog poop in the house? Wow!
I am the same way. I like things to be neat and orderly. So I could show my home at any time if it were for sale. I have also walked out when looking at a home and it was dirty.
<snip> could also mean lack of maintenance and not worth making an offer only to have the inspector tell you all the problems with it that will cost tens of thousands to fix.
This is where my state of mind was when I saw the 2nd house.
If this house looks like this when they know a potential buyer is coming to see the home, how does it look
when they don't have any appointments lined up???
If there is this much hair (and it was a lot!) in the sink which can clog up the pipes, what else have they flushed down the drain??
I saw a house once that had motor oil dripping out a clean out plug in a basement!
If they left dog poop on the carpet, do they let their pet just pee wherever and sprinkle some deodorizer on the carpet?
In spite of one (unchosen) Realtor who said that I really must paint my honey oak kitchen cabinets white, put in granite counter tops and vinyl plank flooring...
When I recently sold my 29 year old house that I had not renovated, I just emptied it out and had it professionally cleaned.
It looked used, but very clean. I had all the windows washed, the tile countertops and grout cleaned up and the carpet was professionally cleaned so there were no lingering odors from our dogs.
The house was on the market for one week. It had 20 showings and I received 8 offers. The winning offer was 14% over the list price.
When you tour a home and you see it left in a mess as you describe, you can assume that the homeowner has been equally delinquent about the things that REALLY matter, the upkeep of the house itself. It would make me look a lot harder at the deferred maintenance (roof, electrical, HVAC, plumbing and so on). Floors and carpets can be cleaned. But taking care of a lot of deferred maintenance of the primary systems could mean some big expenses down the road.
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If you want top dollar the home has to "sparkle." No dirt in corners, anywhere. Clear windows, clean screens. Spotless. Fresh paint. CLEAN, preferably newer furniture and window covers. Immacuate yard. Matching ceiling fans. New hardware.
It also has to pass inspection, so everything better work. Anything you leave imperfect an inspector will pounce on to show the buyer he's on the job. This means clean the AC "A" frame and no corrosion on pipe connections, etc..
Best IMO is to move out and stage the property.
Obviously there is a price point to this. A hundred year old junker in the hood isn't going be worth bothering to get too fancy, whereas a half million dollar average price home will sell faster and for more money if it's clean and orderly.
When your house is on the market and you are eager to sell, do you keep your house "show" ready?
When we sold our house in 2011, we did.
For 6+ months. Thru 26 open houses and 63 showings.
It was staged and we only one chair we could actually sit in.
Spotless. Even with 2 cats.
We did not fry any food during that time. We cleaned every day.
Sometimes we only got a few minutes warning about a showing.
Our departure record was 12 minutes. With the 2 cats in their crates.
I last sold in 2014 and yes, I left my house showing ready every morning. Even back then, it was a hot market (and completely out of control now) and I never knew when I left the house if a showing would be scheduled. My house was on the market about 2.5 weeks if I recall, and I think there ended up being a showing all but 1 day before going under contract, so I never had to feel like I had wasted the effort.
I do not live in a showing ready house on a regular basis, as much as I might like to, so I'm glad it was a fairly short process to sell. I had also gotten rid of a lot of stuff and had also started to box up a fair amount that was neatly stored in the garage until I moved out.
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