Online House Hunter: Tidy-up and sell-up | Alan Cleaver | Independent Property Blogs

Online House Hunter: Tidy-up and sell-up | Alan Cleaver | Independent Property Blogs

I KNOW I’m not the only house-buyer who has been astounded at the poor presentation of some homes I have had to visit in the past. When tens of thousands of pounds are resting on a deal being clinched, how hard can it be to spend half-an-hour tidying up – yet alone a few hundred pounds painting and decorating.

When I last moved home I spent nearly £3,000 on new carpets and other items to persuade potential buyers that this was the house for them. And that was at a time when the market was far more buoyant than it is now. The fact the people who eventually bought our house ripped out the carpets in favour of bare floorboards was rather galling but I suspect they soon learned how noisy and cold the house could be without carpets.

To compound the mistakes of the untidy homeowner, estate agents seem to come over all shy when they visit to take pictures ...