I was on a real estate hunt a few years ago and visited too many residential properties that must have been occupied by the worst slobs in North America.
One home had a kitchen that was the domicile for a small army of ants. Another had a significant water stain on the kitchen ceiling and an attic room that reeked of cigarette smoke – the agent told me the resident used this space to relieve his tobacco habit.
Another home had a dining area that was so grimy that I felt unclean walking through the room. Things were so awful in that space that I used my index finger to write “Clean Me” on the glass of the dirty Tiffany chandelier that barely illuminated the room. Another home was in a decent state on the inside, but the exterior was overgrown with weeds that came waist high.
There were other examples of slovenly homes, but the thought of running a sorry inventory of those places is not a memory I wish to plumb. While I don’t expect every home I visit to be a candidate for Architectural Digest, at the same time I should not have expected the filthy surroundings I visited.
This situation would never be encouraged in any other sales-focused sector. No boutique would ever sell dresses that were soiled with stains, and no auto dealer would ever put forth a vehicle with a cracked windshield and dented fenders. So why would a real estate agent allow a seller to open their homes to buyers with ants in the kitchen and the stench of cigarette smoke enveloping a room?
I can’t imagine what went wrong in these cases. Was the real estate agent uncomfortable asking their client to clean up ahead of the arrival of prospective buyers? Or did the agent see nothing wrong with the properties in question? The latter might have been the case with the water-stained ceiling property – the agent called me two days after my visit and too-eagerly informed me that the house was taken.
Well, either my standards are too snobbishly high or the W.C. Fields crack about a sucker being born every minute has grains of truth to it.
Here is a question I have for the real estate professionals out there: Have you found yourself in a situation where your client’s home is something of a mess? And if so, how do you respond? Are you diplomatic about the absence of cleanliness in the residence and suggest a bit of vacuuming and dusting could help with the ka-ching factor? Or do you say nothing and hope for the best?
After all, with inventory still at historic lows, perhaps some people are so eager to buy anything that they will sacrifice spiffiness and try to rush a purchase on anything, regardless of its state of dust and grime.
Feel free to share your experiences in the comments section below. I am curious to hear how real estate professionals deal with this matter.
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
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Some clients have no idea where to start. But we can always recommend a professional cleaner. In the same “bad optics” quadrant – dark, amateur photos, usually by the agent using their cell phone. I can understand it occasionally on a very-low-price property, but when it is listed for $250K, $500K and up – spend the $ and have a professional create great images. Does it make sense to suggest the client drop the price $10K after 45 lackluster days on the market, due to bad optics, when $300 on cleaning and $300 on photography (even if paid by agent) would have solved it all?
I am very interested also. We usually send an assistant in to encourage them what to fix and clean obvious defects. We tell them to get the most price for their home, it will have to be refreshed. We have an army of cleaners, handyman and contractors that we send if they allow us to. I would love to hear how other agents say it politely.
When on a listing appointment, an agent has to be careful not to insult the seller by pointing out what’s obvious to most people but invisible to the homeowners who often can’t see the forest (mess) for the trees. Diplomacy is important. Candor can result in not getting the listing. In some cases, that’s not a bad thing.
Some people (like myself) obtain debilitating health problems that go on for years. I for one cannot stand what my home and yard look like, but I am unable to do anything about it. Maybe you could try to garner some assistance for the homeowners as opposed to looking down your perfect-person-nose at them.
As a listing agent, I have paid for carpet cleaners, planted empty flower beds/pots, Swiffered floors, Windexed windows and Bon Amied and CLR ed sinks.
Not ideal use of my time, but I’m confident that a well cleaned home is far more appealing to buyers.
Lack of maintenance/neglect, interior or exterior, just signals buyers that
the seller is not able to manage the status quo and creates an impression of deferred maintenance/seller distress resulting in lower quality offers, which just means more work as an agent after an offer is made.
I practiced real estate for 20 years as a broker with Coldwell Banker in Beverly Hills. I sold homes on the West Side of Los Angeles, including Westwood, Brentwood, the Pacific Palisades and Beverly Hills. There were times when a client was a poor housekeeper, did not clean the kitchen or make his bed. I would request that the house be neat and clean for my showings, but I pointed out that I did not make beds or clean kitchens. So, if the client did not care to clean up after himself, that was his problem, not mine. Some of those homes sold anyway based on location, square footage or floor plan. But they generally took longer to sell and did not fetch a premium.
I have paid for professional cleaning and I know at least one other realtor who does the same. It made MY client angry, but at least the house was really clean and staged for the photos and it sold within days, (prior to the current market, when things moved much more slowly) so it didn’t have time to get dirty again until we were well on our way to a successful sale.
I suggest hiring a cleaning service which will be paid out of escrow. If House doesn’t sell or sells below a certain price I pay. of course a minimum listing period and a price I am comfortable with is required
My heart goes out to you. I have a relative in the same situation, but I explained to her that dust, uncleanliness, and clutter can lead to additional health issues. She refused to have someone come in and clean for her – didn’t want strangers in her house! Hopefully if you ever place your house on the market you will have a cleaning company assist.
In the course of selling real estate for 27 years, I have had two hoarder listings. One was an affordable house located on one of the most spectacular streets in my state, home to TV personalities, rock stars and hedge fund founders. The woman was morbidly obese but still got out daily to go the bakery. We could not even consider interior photos, although the outside was quite presentable. It wasn’t just the junk, the real problem was the cats. She would not help or budge. We sold it to a 24 year old fellow who was going to roll up his sleeves for 40% less than a tidy house would have sold for.
The second was an estate sale for out-of-state daughters who were fighting over the will. I hired a clean-out company, estate sale people and did a good amount of cleaning and tossing myself.
I’ve been a realtor since 1994. I’ve experienced quite a bit over the years…when I feel I cannot sell a property under its current condition for at least the market price I let the owner know. I suggest options, which many of you have mentioned already. If owner refuses to work with me I cannot provide them with my possible best service. I have rolled up my sleeves many times to give a helping hand BUT only if they are making an effort to do what’s needed to be done. When I have acquired a clients that are less capable than others to remedy their situation/condition I will contribute more than 100%…and that, I contribute to just caring and helping another in need.