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How do you keep your house?

Hi Everybody :hello:

I have a funny question for those who have your house already on the market.

Do you keep your house spic & span all the time or do you do it just before a viewing???

I'm in the process of getting mine 'ready' for marketing and have kept it almost gleaming since before we had the valuers in, its never been this tidy EVER! and its killing me....

Whats your views?

Katy x
If you dont ask you dont get to know....
Sealed pot no277
«1

Comments

  • sooz
    sooz Posts: 4,560 Forumite
    Try to keep it tidy at all times, as you might not always be informed when a viewer is coming.
    Have a massive clear out now, to make it easier to keep it tidy. You don't want to transfer all that useless clutter to your new place, so you might as well get rid of it not.
    Use storage effectively :D Fill the dishwasher. It is a convenient place to store dirty dishes. If necessary use the car. It's very good for stashing your ironing basket, just before a viewing.
    If you have children (or men), flush the toilet, & wipe the seat & surrounding splash zone.
    Do not, under any circumstances, deliberately bake bread, apple pies, or make coffee. Your viewers will just laugh :rotfl:
  • babyharry5
    babyharry5 Posts: 258 Forumite
    We have just had an offer on ours after almost a year and 33 viewings! The first few months the house was spotless and I was absolutely cream crackered.
    Then, after a few months have passed, you start to relax a bit, and blitz it before someone comes round to view.
    Then after about 6 months you get to the stage where you dont give a sh&t and they can view it no matter what!
    didn't seem to matter to our buyers - they purchased when the house, and us ( hangovers) were at our worst! lol
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 12,492 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Mine is spotless and spic and span all the time. All we have to do for a viewing is to decorate our bed and remove ourselves. I put all cloths and flannels etc in the washing machine and my car boot is full of stored stuff

    It too is killing me and we now have our cooked main meal in the evening instead of lunchtime
  • not_loaded
    not_loaded Posts: 1,187 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    In general we keep it as smart as we can, but for the day-to-day clutter, we use our ‘system’, which is to have a small plastic crate or cardboard box in each key room. In this you keep things like half-squeezed toothpaste tubes, gooey shampoo bottles etc.

    When you have a viewing, these boxes are thrown in a cupboard in their respective rooms out of sight. When the viewers leave, the boxes come out again. It works well for us. :)
  • pmlindyloo
    pmlindyloo Posts: 13,095 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I couldn't believe it when I saw this thread - I was going to start one about the same thing!

    Our house has been on the market for just two weeks and I am fed up already keeping it tidy and clean! We've had 2 viewings and I was out for both of them leaving dh to cope. My greatest fear was that he would leave the loo seat up! (that drives me mad)

    Some good ideas already here. My tip is to have clean pillow cases tucked in the bedside cabinet and whip them over the 'old ones' when someone is coming to view and then take them off again when they've gone! Neurotic or what?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    sooz wrote: »
    Do not, under any circumstances, deliberately bake bread, apple pies, or make coffee. Your viewers will just laugh :rotfl:

    They won't laugh if you make coffee and OFFER THEM A CUP OR TWO.....
  • sooz
    sooz Posts: 4,560 Forumite
    You should be out. :D
  • skintchick
    skintchick Posts: 15,114 Forumite
    Debt-free and Proud!
    WE blitz ours before a viewing. Cannot possibly keep it tidy all the time, let alone spotless, not with a baby.

    We did declutter a bit but not much. Had two offers so must have worked.

    I told the EA no viewings without 24 hours' notice so we have time to clean and tidy.
    :cool: DFW Nerd Club member 023...DFD 9.2.2007 :cool:
    :heartpuls married 21 6 08 :A Angel babies' birth dates 3.10.08 * 4.3.11 * 11.11.11 * 17.3.12 * 2.7.12 :heart2: My live baby's birth date 22 7 09 :heart2: I'm due another baby at the end of July 2014! :j
  • jonewer
    jonewer Posts: 1,485 Forumite
    Well, the house I live in is being sold. It belongs to my aunt and my dad. We keep it cleaner than they would so dont bother tidying up for viewings because they are both filthy slobs (both live in africa and are a bit lost without a maid coming in 3x a week to clean up after them)
    Mortgage debt - [STRIKE]£8,811.47 [/STRIKE] Paid off!
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I used to spend 2 hours before a viewing sorting it all out. On paper it was a 6-bed house, but I was living and working (from home) in one room .... so for a viewing I had to move things about so it looked like a house again each time ...
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