Smoke free & pet free house

mini

Hi

My latest idea in an attempt to sell our house, would people think I'm being funny if I describe the house as smoke free & pet free house, I was looking on ebay & wouldn't consider buying from someone who didn't say they were smoke free, but I wouldn't want to put animal lovers/smokers off buying my house, if they want to buy it they can turn it into an animal sanctuary if they like.

I'd welcome people's opinion on this, mad bad or good idea, oh I could have a poll

mini

nelly_2

Pretty much everyone re decorates and carpets a house when they move in so I dont think it would be such a major point tbh.

slater14

mini,

How long has you house been on the market?

Have you tried the "forbidden words"......REDUCE THE PRICE?

I appreciate it is your home/investment but I honestly feel all this tinkering around the edges that sellers are trying at the moment is rather futile in the face of what is glaringly obvious. House prices (not just yours!) are overvalued by as much as 50% for no apparent reason.

This will "correct" and if I was selling I'd be making some pretty positive moves to get closer to buyers before that day arrives. Lose 10-15% today is better than 50% tomorrow (!)

mini

'we' have been on the market for almost 4 months, not many houses are moving round here & none anywhere near our price, we have reduced the price but interestingly one of the houses we were interested in have put theirs UP by £25,000 :eek: I think opinion around here is divided between the people who actually want to move & the fantasy sellers. My favourite advert at the meoment is ahouse "priced to sell" at £40,000 more than the same house across the road.


I was interested in others opinions as I would like to know if a house was pet free/smoke free before I viewed it, but I can be rather fussy

Bun

I think that as long as you take all the suggestions given here on board it is a good idea. It would obviously depend on what your floorings etc are like - pet free will help towards selling an entirely carpeted house which would be expensive to do if say you had allergies or asthma, but not as much if wooden flooring throughout. What I would say is that stating you are no smoking can only help. The last flat we moved into was fine when we viewed and the curtains etc had been cleaned, but by the time we moved in the walls were brown, and the smell of the carpets (most of which we had to replace) was awful. That's without cigarette burns which are hidden by furniture when you view.

Spendless

Don't think it would make any difference to people coming to view it but might mean people are more likely to be interested/put in an offer if it is clean and means no re-decorating.

I wouldn't be put off a house purely because someone did smoke or have pets, it would depend on the house. Some people only smoke in one room for example or stand at the door.

Pennywise

I would certainly appreciate knowing that a house was smoke and pet free - and I would be more likely to view it.

I've lost count of the number of houses I've viewed which wasted both my time and the agent/vendors, because I simply would never buy a house where there was anything more than "occasional" smoking or clean pets.

As it was, we bought a house where a dog and cat had lived. The dog was restricted to the garage (hurrah!!) but the cat had free run of the house. It took ages to vacuum all the cat hairs out of every nook and cranny - the worst bits were between the radiator panels. The garage was a complete write off as it absolutely stank of wet dog and we had to completely clear it and jet wash it all down.

It's a bit like cars. You can never get rid of the smell of wet dog and chain smoking from a car, however long you own it and however well you try to clean it.

But I'm afraid I have to agree with the others - probably a price reduction would have more effect!

margaretclare

Hi

Not that I'm on the market to buy a house - but if I was, I'd certainly look more favourably at one that was smoke-free and pet-free!

If/when ours ever comes to be sold it can certainly be advertised as smoke-free, pet-free, but preferably, we'd like the new owners to keep our wildlife garden! One of the reasons why we won't have cats is because of our wild birds. Anyone who's read Chris Baines' book 'Making a Wildlife Garden' will know what I mean because we've used his book when developing the garden. Oh, and probably ours is unsuitable for anyone with very small children, because of the wildlife pond.

Aunty Margaret

mini

Thanks everybody, I understand the point on redecorating but that would take a while unless you don't ant to move in right away. I'd love new carpet where necessary but i also want to live in for a while whilst I plan it out. Thanks for the flea story, I have started itching in advance!

Given that I am on day 4 waiting for the estate agent to call me back maybe they're mad busy:rotfl:

mini

Bun

Oh dear, forgot about fleas. Also as the owner of cats, any accidents can start to smell again in hot weather however well they are cleaned. View on a cool day you are fine, move in when it's hot and it hits you!Biological washing powder does it (vet recommended) but it's another hassle you don't need!