Sweary parrots and the perils of house viewing
Scary gnomes, spooky statues, smelly pets, giant pigeon lofts and foul-mouthed parrots… these are some of the off-putting things estate agents and potential buyers have had to contend with while trying to make a property look its best at a viewing.
I have come across quite a few myself while house-hunting recently, including:
neighbours who breed giant, savage-looking dogs;
a two-storey concrete pigeon loft in the back garden;
a hairdressing studio in the rear garden.
The dogs were a deal-breaker; the studio wasn’t as it could be converted.
We initially went sale agreed on a house we called ‘the pigeon house’ – so dominating was the loft – but pulled out later, mainly because of that factor (the cost of demolition would have been significant).
It was taken off the market and came back on at a considerably reduced price and recently sold.
I’ve also been put off by a host of religious paraphernalia, a garden completely overgrown by six-foothigh brambles and weeds and many, many botched efforts at DIY.
The oddest was where someone had drilled a hole in the middle of the ceiling from where a TV cable dangled bizarrely.
The worst are botched kitchen extensions, often with the home’s main loo next to the cooking area. Eeughh!
I asked some of the estate agents I met on my journey for their experiences. Adam Clarke of Lisney wins the prize for the most unusual pricekiller.
‘I had difficulty selling a house a few years ago which was rented,’ he told me.
It didn’t help that the tenants had a ‘foul-mouthed parrot who used to shout expletives during the viewings’. Surprisingly in this era of political correctness, offensive pictures of naked women have also been left on the walls of bedrooms. Some vendors don’t bother removing rubbish from their garden and leave wires hanging out of doorbells, broken glass in windows and don’t even clean the toilets. Neighbours may be entitled to sit outside their homes drinking beer – but it won’t inspire confidence in buyers either, said Adam. Guy Doherty of Sherry FitzGerald’s Sutton office in Dublin recently showed me a home featuring a little army of gnomes in the back garden.
It didn’t quite make the asking price, although it’s not clear if the gnomes (No.11 in the list of no-nos) were an issue.
I didn’t particularly mind but other buyers apparently do.
‘It has just been cleared out by the new buyer. I didn’t see if the gnomes were thrown out,’ he said.
Another recent house sale handled by Guy involved a home full of religious paraphernalia.
Having just viewed a horror movie with a religious theme, one viewer declared there was no way he was going to buy it.
However, maybe he should have reconsidered… if other buyers feel the same way, the price won’t reflect the home’s true value.