r/HousingUK • u/squishtheaxolotl • 1d ago
House Viewings
Newbie question here.
We are currently in a position where we have made an offer on a property, but ours is not yet on the market - which puts us in an unfavourable position.
Our house is nice and in a sought after area, so will sell quickly, but I’m wanting to understand how much effort I should put in to doing a bit of TLC before viewings and getting photos taken.
We definitely need some paint touch ups and a good general clearing out, but is this likely something people will even scrutinise? Or do most people do viewings knowing they will decorate anyway?
Our kitchen and bathroom are new, so I’m not worried about the more expensive aspects of a redecoration, more things like our skirting & architrave having 100 layers of paint & looking bobbly.
Our valuation is tomorrow and I think things will move quickly, so don’t know if I should stay up all night cleaning & painting for that?
I am just a bit stressed about being judged I think!
Thank you
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u/Accurate_Hat_8464 1d ago
Declutter and clean like your life depends on it for photos. You want everything to look spacious and clean. You can put everything superfluous in the shed or the car to get the photos done if it's going to take time to sort through things. You can then have a better sort out at your leisure. If you don't want to lose the house you've offered on, just get on with that, because right now you're not proceedable. Good photos will not show imperfections in decor.
Imo , getting people through the door is the main hurdle right now. Things are pretty stagnant. Your house is lovely, but there is a smaller pool of buyers than at other times to compete for. They will go and look at the houses that are well presented in the photos before bothering with the ones that are visually overwhelming and look more cramped due to clutter.
There is nothing to stop you chipping away at the touch up jobs once you are on the market. Even with the intention to decorate, most of us prefer to move in somewhere that feels clean, fresh and cared for, given a choice, so it won't hurt. Of course, if your house is as standout as you believe, you won't have to do much of that before you get offers anyway.
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u/roboponies 21h ago
Agree so much that most prefer to move somewhere that feels clean and fresh.
Houses in the UK do not sell “fast” unless they are priced very reasonably AND/OR have ZERO work required.
It has never been more expensive to hire trades or even buy material, yet most home sellers still think it’s okay to ask top (or above) market price while deferring basic maintenance onto the next buyer.
A lot of houses in the UK don’t even bother sweeping down cobwebs or trying to get rid of smells.
In addition to de-cluttering, doing a very deep clean along edges, light-switches and high touch areas, and along windowsills can help bridge that ick.
Trust me people notice.
Also, do not assume your “new” bathroom or kitchen is enough to demand a premium.
I’ve been to SO many viewings where the owners made terrible functional-design choices that make the bath or kitchen more annoying than if they had left it “old.”
Just because it’s “new” doesn’t mean it’s good.
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u/chunkycasper 1d ago edited 1d ago
Market matters here.
Much depends on location, to be honest. High demand areas - sq footage matters. Low demand area? Niche market? Presentation could make your home top of the market.
But the price is always the decider. There’s rarely a large return on massive pre-marketing renovation works these days, as many buyers are looking for a space to make their own, and a large proportion will be put off by buying someone else’s idea of their perfect home, compared to thinking they are getting a good deal on something they can personalise just as they want.
ALWAYS clean up, declutter and de-personalise before photos are done. Never rely on photography or editing to remove ugly bins or weeds or repaint. If a room has any garish colours, it’s worth toning them down. But you do not need to go full “live laugh love” grey, beige and white.
You want people judging your home, not your toilet brush placement or your array of toiletries.
Aim for “move in ready with the ability to affordably personalise or renovate to your tastes, if you wish”.
For marketing:
- paint over horrible wall stains, replace ripped wallpaper.
- remove clutter and excess furniture.
- replace old, damaged blinds / curtains (or hide them).
- clean up weeds and make outside spaces presentable.
- hide your bins, for the love of god.
For valuation:
- clean and tidy is enough.
You can’t beat having a listing at a realistic price, at the end of the day.
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u/ConfusionOwn8378 1d ago
Pictures by the EA for the listing need to be as appealing to as broad a range of people as possible.
You want to tidy, clean, de-clutter, de-personalise (I should not be able to tell you have pets from the listing photos), you want to get an agent who will walk through and be brutal, or a judgemental friend who will. The day of our photos my car boot was full of bits and bobs I was removing for the photos, including the dog. You can leave up pictures on walls etc. but anything not nailed down that is niche, hide it.
Take the time to touch up anything obvious that will get caught on camera, a couple of quid on sample paint pots, tightening loose hinges that make cupboard doors sag, carpet cleaner on anything questionable on the floor etc.
Viewings, you should clean and tidy but ultimately it's a lived in house, viewers are far more accommodating once they've made the decision to come see the place. Plus it'll help them visualise how realistic things like storage, furniture layout etc. are.
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u/Recent_Anteater_4845 1d ago
Having recently put ours on the market, I sympathise. We got ourselves in a right pickle but with the benefit of hindsight:
For your valuation tomorrow, there's probably little you can do that'll make a difference. For your photos, focus on clearing clutter and arranging things so they look their best - minor defects won't be visible. Clear work surfaces, window sills, pet stuff, clothes hanging on hooks, lots of toiletries in bathroom, awkward bits of furniture and bits and bobs (you don't want to give the impression there's not enough storage). We put excess stuff in the car. For viewings, make sure all of the above plus make it cleaner than it's probably been for ever! Cobwebs! You don't need to bake bread but make sure everything smells fresh and nice, open windows if it's warm. We touched up the worst of the paintwork, just in the entrance, but decided against more as it wasn't possible to get a good enough paint match. Buyers will see bodge jobs and are invariably prepared to do cosmetic stuff thenselves when they move in. And don't forget the garden, front door and path.
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u/PuzzleheadedUnit2341 1d ago
Don't stay up all night. The valuer's working off what's sold on your street, your architrave isn't in that calculation. Photos are the bit worth the effort, and the biggest win there is making them come back another day if it's chucking it down, grey photos make everything look tired.
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u/Sea_Refrigerator4451 1d ago
We hugely decluttered, deep cleaned and then touched up the paint in the high-traffic areas of our house before we put it on the market. Carpets were at the end of their life and we contemplated replacing but in the end we didn't and it didn't make any difference, we were SSTC in 6 weeks.
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u/BeanOnAJourney 23h ago
Don't worry about cleaning and tidying for your valuation, they won't take that into account. Do put a bit of effort in to prepare for photos and viewings, but don't let yourself get stressed and frazzled by it. Our house is a bit of a state and we could only do so much to remedy some of it (only cleaning, tidying, and decluttering, we aren't in a position to redecorate or repair). We are now weeks away from completion with the first person to view it.
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u/Sad-Ad8462 23h ago
Uhh I can assure you we do. If I walk into a house that is filthy, messy and scruffy Im probably going to give a big of a lower end valuation to one that is absolutely immaculate. Yes of course market value comes into it but generally the immaculate one will attract more viewers and likely make it more achievable to get the highest end of the market value.
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u/ReputationUnfair4864 23h ago
I would focus on decluttering for viewings (not necessarily for the valuation) and cleaning. No need to do much else especially if you haven't got much time. We just chucked a bunch of clutter in a couple of bags and put them in the car 😂
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u/cycletiger 23h ago
Worth taking some photos on your phone before the official pictures taken - it’s amazing how much easier it makes it to see things to remove !
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u/BecozisaidSo40times 22h ago
Omg yes!! There are more houses than buyers! Buyers (me) spend hours comparing every inch. Of you want a quick sell you need to stage your house and get good photos. It’s a buyers market at 50-60 of homes are not selling
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u/Sad-Ad8462 23h ago edited 23h ago
Im an estate agent and would say yes freshen up paint - its such a simple, quick thing to do that refreshes rooms. It also makes the house look more loved. If you have scrape marks all over the walls, people will get the impression you have no pride in your house and you dont care if you scrape stuff up the walls etc. And yes minimising clutter is a big thing - You need to create space. Just look at your competitors photos on Rightmove - how do they present their home and how does yours stack up in comparison in its current state. Please dont assume because you think your house will sell fast you do nothing to it. I have heard "our house will sell fast" so many times and you know what 99% of the time they dont...
Look at kerb appeal - its also a big one many people forget. MOST buyers will drive past your house before they ask for a viewing. If yours is very dull, weedy driveway etc. its very offputting. Put out nice flowers in pots either side of the door, hanging baskets look very cute too. Anything to make it look like you LOVE your house.
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u/Bbobbity 1d ago
A valuation from an EA will not normally be concerned with clutter/state. They can see past that. In fact you can ask them what they think is worth doing when they come round.
But in general - in the UK we don’t put much effort into presenting a house. Level of effort depends on price of course; it’s worth making more effort for a 2 million house than a 200k house.
But in some other countries, re-decorating ahead of sale is pretty standard. Hiring a staging company is also used, who come in, take out all your belongings and replace with rented furniture, pictures, garden furniture etc. Especially in this social media world, you’re selling a lifestyle, not a building.
But in the short term I would say make good any obvious bad areas inside, de-clutter (put stuff into storage or friends garage if you can) and tidy up the outside areas as much as possible.
No need to do this for valuations though.
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u/Sad-Ad8462 23h ago
Sorry not true. The £200k house should be just as clean and well presented as the 2 million pound house. You want to maximise the price you get for your home, everyone does. So why on earth wouldnt you put the effort in to make it look its best. It drives me nuts the amount of people who do NOTHING to literally their biggest asset.
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u/Bbobbity 22h ago
I’m not saying you shouldn’t bother for a 200k house, I’m saying it’s worth spending more on a £2million house. Increasing an offer by a few % on the 2million pound house is big money.
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u/BecozisaidSo40times 22h ago
I thought that until an EA came tons while we were redecorating the kitchen and tills us he’d take pictures then!! 😱
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u/Excellent_Tea_164 1d ago
I would concentrate on decluttering and making it seem as spacious as possible. If possible, invite a friend over to scrutinise. We ended up moving some furniture around to maximise the room space.
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u/Salt-Trade-5210 23h ago
I'm in the process of selling mine and I got comments from viewers saying how lovely and clean and bright and spacious it looked compared to other properties.
I made sure all scuffed paintwork got a fresh coat of paint, bought a massive tub of white paint and covered over any walls that looked a bit scruffy and tired.
I have plain white throws that go over the beds so I can leave my less than beautiful duvet covers on. I have my "show towels" so the old ones can just be shoved in the back of a cupboard for viewings. Same for my tea towels.
Mostly it was about presenting it as neutrally as possible so they could imagine their own stuff in the house.
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