What Turns You Off Buying

[grandmoon]

a house.  Friend has had her house on the market for sometime now and they haven't had even one offer.

So what would turn you off buying a house so we can check and improve her chances of a sale.

[*lady*godiva*]

What an agent should do and what they do do, are sometimes two different things

This lady isn't even getting an offer, so it would appear that her agent is either not advising her correctly, not marketing her home favourably or is incapable of selling a condom to a prostitute.

[amber-eyed-girl]

I have seen clutter like that. Unfortunately, it is usually the elderly, who do not have the finances to store a lifetime of furniture and personal items.

Again, I think the flowers thing gets back to whether the majority of people are sensible or not when looking at a house.
Emotions are not meant to enter into it, but they do.

A house near me sold recently, where the winning bidder just had to have it because his wife admired the hall furniture. They put an offer in for that, too. Frantic bidding 🙂

She just liked the "feel" of the hallway...unfathomable really.

[polksaladallie]

I took the agent's advice and removed clutter, excess furniture, family photographs, kept most of kitchen benches and sink almost bare, put clean folded towels in the bathroom, and it sold after 20 minutes on the first OFI day.

Also, change the spiel on the internet, some agents can't do it without sounding blerk.

[lurker172602]

My advice is simply from our own experience. Sure some people can see past things but why not make it easier for them? Except for the professional photos nothing on my list costs anything except a bit of foresight and effort.

We had our home valued for sale, then, after spending a bit of cash and a lot of elbow grease, sold it for 50k above the original valuation, within 2 weeks of going on the market, using the same agent. I'd do the same again if it meant increasing the sale price by that much.

[grandmoon]

I spoke to the Real estate agent and he gave me a list of things that he felt were needed to be done (he had previously give the list to her son).  He is arranging to have the gardener they used to come and tidy up the garden and trim the hedges.  We have packed 12 boxes of photos and nick nacks.   I have taken down the heave curtains to be dry cleaned and washed the net curtains.

The agent told me that when I go in there to go as a buyer rather than a friend, now I know what he meant.

[amber-eyed-girl]

That's fantastic 🙂

You are a kind and generous friend. Good luck to the home owner 🙂

The agent sounds like he was doing the right thing, too, if he had a list and was happy to organise any work.

[grandmoon]

Yes he is very nice.  He said he got the idea that her family aren't happy about her selling the house. After I took the curtains down I could see what he was talking about.  Tomorrow I will get a couple of friends and we will go and wash the windows for her, and take some more boxes to fill.

[ashjoma]

Clutter

I went and had a look at a unit as an investment property, last week

The tenants had just moved in in the last week, but what a mess.  I was stepping over their stuff on the floor - and they knew I was coming over

another unit was just plain flithy.   Spilt food all over the stove, curtains all closed which made the place look dingy and dark.

[bluecat*dancing]

Before we bought this house it had tenants. When I looked through it with an estate agent, there were stripped dope plants in the sunroom and someone asleep in the master bedroom. with another house, the owner was in the shower and invited me in. lol.

Has the house been on the market for a long time. Our first home was on the market for a few months[ it was during that time when interest rates jumped from 13% to 18%. We took it off the market for a few weeks, then had it relisted and it was sold within a couple of weeks.

My advice would be to declutter because even though buyers can usually disregard it, it will still be an impediment if they have to imagine the clutter isn't there.

What not to do : http://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com/

[azureline**]

I am considering downsizing sometime soon so have been to a few open houses locally.

The house near me has been on the market for about 6 months, lots of interest but no offers, clean, neat. I suspect it has fibro of a questionable age in the laundry. It has been a 1 owner for about 20 to 25 years and all original. Good price though.

Across the street a house was $10,000 less and sold in 3 weeks. More modern but filthy! Indoor cats and litter boxes in every room and the smell was horrendous. The tenants were home and lounging about watching tv.

I noticed things like the gardens, the fences, the mouldy grout in the bathr