Comment by wodenokoto
5 hours ago
> why would you clean them when you're about to sell the house?
So they look good and the potential buyer sees something that looks to be in good condition and working well.
5 hours ago
> why would you clean them when you're about to sell the house?
So they look good and the potential buyer sees something that looks to be in good condition and working well.
I would generalise this a little: The problem with buying a complex item is information inequality. The seller knows more about it than the potential buyer. When inspecting the item, the buyer therefore looks for signs of hidden defects or for evidence that the item is in good condition overall. In this way, cleanliness becomes a proxy for the general condition of the object. Similar mechanisms are at work elsewhere too. Take job applications, for example. A sloppy application is a red flag, even if the applicant’s references are excellent.
"Information inequality" is known as "risk". Risk is inherent in any transaction. That factors into the price: one is willing to pay less the more risk there is, and will pay more for less risk.
OT: a friend of mine recently bought a house. They were surprised to learn at closing that the seller had financed their solar panels and that wasn’t apart of the home purchase.
So they had to negotiate who was going to pay off the solar panel, and this all had to be completed before home sale.
I've heard it's pretty standard, their real estate agent should know that (and tell them about it on their first visit).
I'd expect solicitors to find liabilities like that. How did it end?
The "before closing" does a lot of work here. It sounds like the seller made the disclosure when they were legally required to. This is pretty common in large purchases. First the buyer and seller agree in principle, then they perform their due diligence. Sometimes sales fall through at that last step.
If, hypothetically, the seller never disclosed the financing, then that would be an issue between the seller and the financer. At most, the buyer would need to allow the financer access to retrieve their property. The financer could then sue the seller for the buy-out cost and/or breach of contract.
As an aside, at least around here (USA), if you see a house with solar panels, it is a good assumption that they are financed.
Exactly the same reason you should probably clean the rest of the house when you're selling it.
Theoretically, the price of the house before cleaning should be equal to the value if the house after cleaning, minus whatever the cleaning costs. In reality, you'll get much less for your house without cleaning it, because human emotions.
We had a contractor doing repairs before we sold our house. Without being asked he took an orbital sander to the wooden hand railings along the stairs to the front door and said "people really notice this".
A family came for the tour and before walking in the father put his hand on the rail, looked up at the house, and said "this place seems well maintained". Then they bought the house after a small pleasant (for us) bidding war.
The contractor earned his high rate and then some.
A real estate agent told me that a customer decides to buy/not buy a house as soon as they put their hand on the front door knob. If he decides to buy, he'll look at the rest of the house looking for a reason not to.
I.e. putting in an expensive door knob is a good plan!
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> because human emotions.
If I tour a house with pet urine stains all over the carpet, it's only logical to conclude that the owner is likely not maintaining the rest of the house to a very high standard.
It’s not just emotions, it’s a sign that, when presented with something annoying that you should do but not strictly required, it shows that you pushed through and did it anyway.
It doesn’t prove that you’ve been generally on top of things for the lifetime of the house but the inverse situation where you couldn’t clean one time for guests sure doesn’t.
There are other reasonable interpretations of such things. More precisely, one may simply care in different ratios about various things than is typical. For example, one may be fastidious with replacing furnace filters and water heater anode rods while not caring about their lawn beyond city or hoa mandates.
Having recently bought a house, I love thinking about things that increase perceived value relative to cost (more so because they're nice to have, not because we plan to sell any time soon).
A few things we changed right away: - new mailbox (replacing a rusted 30+ year old one) - lots of landscaping work (the majority of which I can do myself) - installed a wine fridge (I always felt it gave the sense that the kitchen was upgraded when we were touring places) - replaced old door knobs with modern matte black levers; ~$50 each
The house was built in 1968, so it's been interesting to think about all of the small things that make it feel dated that can be changed for not much money.
To add a few more: it's similarly easy to swap cabinet handles, vent covers, outlet wall plates. Fresh caulk is nice too, even if it's a bit sloppy, still beats stained or cracked caulk.
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Trump wrote in one of his books that a person selling their car that does not detail it beforehand is a fool.
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> you'll get much less for your house without cleaning it, because human emotions
It's not because of emotions. It's because it correlates with other neglect that may be less obvious.
A good real estate agent has a rolodex of various contractors that can fix up a house to ready it for sale.
Cleaning the house doesn't retroactively fix the neglect though. It just makes the house look cared for to the lizard brain.
It's not just emotions, it's also a matter of time and uncertainty.
I was in a buying situation where my old lease was expiring soon, I had a second kid on the way, and the last thing I'd have wanted is to buy a place where I'd have contractors milling around for weeks or months to make various repairs. I was willing to pay a hefty premium for a place that's in a move-in condition.
I don't think this extends to "you'll get $10k less if you don't vacuum", but it's a common courtesy on a million-dollar transaction to maybe not leave a mess.
Being rational about this (i.e., buying a dirty or otherwise manageably flawed house) is a great way to save or make money in markets where the majority of the cost is the building.
> In reality, you'll get much less for your house without cleaning it, because human emotions.
It's trust, because if the previous owners can't even bother cleaning it up, what else might their neglect have done to the house? Maybe I'll need to change the house wiring, verify if any new paint job is hiding mold or infiltration... All that is the cost of uncertainty and uncertainty grows with distrust.
> because human emotions
A messy, shabby looking home also signals that the previous owners were likely not diligent in taking care of their property.
This simple procedure increases the selling price of everything. Just a fact.
See also why houses are often painted when being staged for selling just so that the new purchaser can paint immediately after with their preferred colour. Wasteful but it works.
I spend €125 on an interior decorator and another €500 in furniture and decorations after to make my condo more cozy. And then another €300 for professional photos and drone shots.
The photos looked like those fancy interior magazines. I will never know if it is because of my effort and investment but I’m certain that it attracted a lot of attention. People really want a move-in ready home that looks like the magazines.
People often confuse "irrational" with "rational on inference given incomplete information"
This is the latter.
See also: stereotype accuracy
It's perfectly rational to assume someone who didn't bother to clean the house before selling probably didn't take good care of the house in other, less visible ways.
A patchwork of eg new paint is a good signal they're covering something up too
Also you don't need anything fancy when washing them, their surface is just glass.
I agree. Doesn't matter what you sell, you will get a higher price if it is cleaned and tidy when presented to the market - because the kinds of people who pay higher prices are looking for clean and tidy things.
> because the kinds of people who pay higher prices are looking for clean and tidy things.
I'd say it's also "because the kind of people who clean and tidy things also maintain them"
Exactly. "Is it clean and tidy right now" is a decent proxy for "Has this been properly taken care of in the past"
Obviously it's not infallible. But even if the owner only cleaned their stuff now that they are selling it that still tells you they are the type of person to take action where it's beneficial
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Definitely. On the other side, if you can't even bother to clean it before you sell it, I have no reason to believe you've put any effort in maintaining it.
Cleaning in general is also usually a core part of maintaining something. Dirt and grime lead to wear and tear.
See also "staging":
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_staging
Why is it written like that lmao
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