Badly shown properties

[ymu]

Another mystery ailment (although it’s of design, not showing) that we’ve come across in two flats (one of which was asking a hefty price) is making conversions where the kitchen is too small for a fridge! In the expensive one, the owners had the fridge in the corner of their lounge, which was really offputting. The other flat was empty, newly decorated, and looked good until one realised there was nowhere in the kitchen to put a fridge! That’s a pretty major issue not to consider in your layout.

Heh. I bought a flat like this - fridge in the living room and no space for a washing machine.

Stupid thing was it cost me £60 to have the cabinets rearranged to make space in the kitchen for the fridge and £20 to have the necessary plumbing put in under the stairs for the washing machine. They also had the sitting room as a bedroom because the bedroom was thought to be too small for a double bed plus furniture - also a complete load of cack with a futon and a hanging rail. I don't understand developers who are so greedy they make the rooms that small, yet they are too stupid to make the best of it.

I sold it 2 years later via the same agent I bought it from - he was positively beaming at me when he came to look round.

 

[Cloo]

Yeah, sometimes there are simple answers that just don't occur to people!

 

[cyberfairy]

Have to admit-hope none of you come to look at my house and peer in toilet bowl etc! House up for sale, in process of moving and sometimes you can't keep it tidy, I have boxes and bags everywhere and gasp, even mates coming over as I'm going to be leaving them all soon and want to see them as much as I can before I go.
I thought people could see beyond that sort of thing and have recently hated feeling like I am sneered at in my own house by random strangers.
Some people just turned up the other day without an appointment and demanded to look around.
It works both ways you know! If someone is moving, it is a very stressful and busy time and they can't do everything. If they're tenants, then don't really see why they should give up their life and keep someone elses house immaculate so they can be made homeless and someone else can make a killing. Personally, would keep stuff tidy if poss but not everyone else would and feel some sympathy if not empathy for that sort of mind.

 

[zoltan]

I once had the hots for a run down Deco house in the Tulse Hill area - a few years ago.

the ownwer was selling, but his barking wife refused to leave - its had been up for sale for about 3 years

She appeared at the door on the first viewing with her unkempt pubic fur hanging out of her piss stained nightie - she was about 65 years old

I went upstairs and there was a fresh human shite and a pool of steaming piss on one of the bedroom floors.

there were turds of all descriptions littering the plave and the toilet was overflowing with toilet paper and flies.

turns out she was actually compos mentis, but had employed this tactic to discourage the sale of the place for 3 years.Her husband was trying to divorce her and had decamoped to Italy a couple of years earlier .

by the 3rd viewing, she had accepted the game was up an acted normally, no poos in the living room etc .Unfort the discobery of a rusting and leaking 2000 gallon heating oil tank buried in the garden meant it would not happen for me......

 

[lintin]

well my house is quite nice after all the work i put into it; when the estate came to view i could see the $ signs, as he admired my house and told me he only charged 2% commision. needless to say i didnt take up his offer. i would say to first time buyers, dont panic and dont necessarily pay a small fortune to get on the property ladder, you may regret it very quickly. I believe their will be a downturn , like in the US, and that its only a matter of time.

 

[Cloo]

It works both ways you know! If someone is moving, it is a very stressful and busy time and they can't do everything. If they're tenants, then don't really see why they should give up their life and keep someone elses house immaculate so they can be made homeless and someone else can make a killing. Personally, would keep stuff tidy if poss but not everyone else would and feel some sympathy if not empathy for that sort of mind.

Absolutely... as I said, my house in Walthamstow was in a total mess, but I could appreciate that the owners had had a deal fall through and were in poor health, so couldn't be expected to present an immaculate house.

The flat we saw at the weekend was presented with a few preventable problems that it didn't occur to the vendor were problems, like a room being unviewable and extra people being in an already crowded space; it would have only taken one or two people popping out for an hour or so to give a better impression. I didn't get the impression the owner was unable to make the effort, just he was inexperienced. Everything else on the market in recent weeks has vanished, but not his place - and it was evident why.

 

[cyberfairy]

Absolutely... as I said, my house in Walthamstow was in a total mess, but I could appreciate that the owners had had a deal fall through and were in poor health, so couldn't be expected to present an immaculate house.

The flat we saw at the weekend was presented with a few preventable problems that it didn't occur to the vendor were problems, like a room being unviewable and extra people being in an already crowded space; it would have only taken one or two people popping out for an hour or so to give a better impression. I didn't get the impression the owner was unable to make the effort, just he was inexperienced. Everything else on the market in recent weeks has vanished, but not his place - and it was evident why.

I agree but then again, I have mates staying this weekend to help me move and have several viewings this weekend. Mates are coming a fair way and I will not be seeing them again for ages and do not want to tell them to fuck off as they may clutter the place up. It's still 'my' house, my last weekend in Bath and I don't see a a couple of goths on laptops on the sofa will make people go 'oh, my god, I'm not buying this house!'
My mum has bought so many houses in various states and she looks at the walls, the ceiling, the garden, potential cracks and subsidence, not how the owners or tenants are being impractible or messy. A few people in a room do not make a difference-in fact can help with assessing room size! Seen empty houses that look huge but then when too late, realise how small they actually are-a 'lived in' room makes you realise how small a house can be with all the furniture in etc.
I am somewhat sensitive as working tons, trying to move and to be honest, don't see how vacuuming the house everyday will make a difference apart from make me even more knackered and stressed.

 

[Cloo]

It's true... the sheer amount of furniture cluttering up my house when I first saw it (they had their kids stuff in there while they were moving) gave a good indication of size!

I'm not bothered by places not being immaculate, but I'd prefer not to see them as a tip - but one can and does always make allowances, eg for someone who's got lots of kids and so on.

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

I agree but then again, I have mates staying this weekend to help me move and have several viewings this weekend. Mates are coming a fair way and I will not be seeing them again for ages and do not want to tell them to fuck off as they may clutter the place up. It's still 'my' house, my last weekend in Bath and I don't see a a couple of goths on laptops on the sofa will make people go 'oh, my god, I'm not buying this house!'
My mum has bought so many houses in various states and she looks at the walls, the ceiling, the garden, potential cracks and subsidence, not how the owners or tenants are being impractible or messy. A few people in a room do not make a difference-in fact can help with assessing room size! Seen empty houses that look huge but then when too late, realise how small they actually are-a 'lived in' room makes you realise how small a house can be with all the furniture in etc.
I am somewhat sensitive as working tons, trying to move and to be honest, don't see how vacuuming the house everyday will make a difference apart from make me even more knackered and stressed.

BUt if you want to sell it, asking your mates to pop out for 1/2 hour ( or all of you decamping to the pub) is a small price to pay.
It might be your home but it depends what you want, for it to stay your home or to sell it to someone else and have the ££
If you want to sell it you have to make it appealing to people and being faced with loads of people can be intimidating for a buyer ( as ive already described)

and no matter what your mum looks at, many buyers do look at whats already there, what sort of condition its in- all aspects of it( esp if you intend carpets etc to be included) and so yes it does help to vacate the place and swing the hoover round before you go out.

If your mates are your priority this weekend, reschedule your viewings rather than have buyers round and think Ohh err yeah umm lots of people here, lots of clutter, dirty carpet etc and never come back again. Buyers also want somewhere thats been looked after by its present owner, clutter, bad decor, dirty carpets suggest you dont care if they come round, you dont care what your place looks like when you are trying to sell... so what else dont you care about re-upkeep.
If its tidy and clean then it gives them impression its been well cared for

 

[cyberfairy]

BUt if you want to sell it, asking your mates to pop out for 1/2 hour ( or all of you decamping to the pub) is a small price to pay.
It might be your home but it depends what you want, for it to stay your home or to sell it to someone else and have the ££
If you want to sell it you have to make it appealing to people and being faced with loads of people can be intimidating for a buyer ( as ive already described)

and no matter what your mum looks at, many buyers do look at whats already there, what sort of condition its in- all aspects of it( esp if you intend carpets etc to be included) and so yes it does help to vacate the place and swing the hoover round before you go out.

If your mates are your priority this weekend, reschedule your viewings rather than have buyers round and think Ohh err yeah umm lots of people here, lots of clutter, dirty carpet etc and never come back again. Buyers also want somewhere thats been looked after by its present owner, clutter, bad decor, dirty carpets suggest you dont care if they come round, you dont care what your place looks like when you are trying to sell... so what else dont you care about re-upkeep.
If its tidy and clean then it gives them impression its been well cared for

Nah, sod it-cheers for advice but if people don't want to buy a house cos there's people in it, it's slightly messy and the carpet is dirty then I don't want them to have it. It's not technically my house but my mums and she is pretty antognistic to people who mutter on about carpets then offer fifteen grand less and is not hugely bothered about it selling immediately.
I think the house will sell quick as it is a lovely house in a lovely area-I adore it and don't really want a moron living in it who might have been put off by a furry carpet rather than see the lovely views and garden. Their loss

 

[lintin]

i see that the gherkin has just been sold, that hsbc might be selling its building in canary wharf, and a crowd from dubai pulled out of a big london property deal....wonder whats up ?