I have a new listing, which I have been waiting for months to list, but it's still cluttered! At first they told me to give them some time to clean it up but it did not happen. The gentleman is busy & the wife is ill.
I'm thinking of going over today to get another document (it's a short sale) & tell him I'm going to take some pics & move some stuff around.
Have you listed a cluttered home? All my listings have been neat.
All suggestions welcome.

In my opinion a short sale is all about the price. Sure it would be nice to have it cleaner, but if the price is right it will sell despite the clutter.

Don

This is the key. Price. I have beautifully decorated homes...that sit.

A decluttered home may sell faster than the exact same home full of crap...but I've found that when you get buyers "in" the house, unless the clutter is almost dangerous - overpowering - it isn't as big a problem as it is in PICTURES...often it looks worse in pictures than it does in real life.

I once showed a home that literally had paths between piles and piles of books, clothes, boxes....that was bad and we couldn't WAIT to get out of the house (the clutter was compounded by Ma and Pa Kettle themselves, sprawled on the sofa and in the recliner smoking cigarettes, watching the boob tube...even had beer. It couldn't have been a better "HOw not to sell your home" if it had been planned....)

I actually sold a multi-unit property one time where one of the tenants was a hoarder...there was so much stuff in there, her daughter wouldn't allow her to use the stove...too much possibility of a fire consuming the place. It was like what Perky describes...mere paths through the stuff. There was one room we didn't even realize was there because we couldn't see it. But it did sell.

Ha ha...the biggest problem with cluttered listings is snapping good enough pictures to entice buyers to come look at it. But as Perky says above, even beautifully decorated homes sit. Marketing an attractive price is the biggest key for many homes!

We had a "hoarder house" burn to the ground about a block away from me a few months ago. I've never seen a house go up in flames so quickly. The fire dangers are very, very real.

On topic...

The reality is that a house that shows poorly sells for less. If I bring a buyer to a house that's loaded with trash, I immediately have two serious concerns. First, if they can't clean up their junk, how much upkeep/maintenance have the sellers been doing to the property? Second, what kind of vermin problem is my buyer going to discover? Both are entirely legitimate reasons, I think, for offering a lower price than if the junk was simply not there.

If the sellers aren't going to be cooperative, then I think at some point the onus does fall on you as the agent to do (within reason) what you can to make the house presentable. The seller may or not may appreciate the effort, but I do know agents who have wound up vacuuming/sweeping/mopping, making beds, or even doing complete trash-outs themselves (or at least paying for it out of their own pockets). Is it annoying? Absolutely. Does it help sell the house? Probably. I would consider this to be going well above and beyond the call of duty, but I like to think that it really helps grease the referral wheels...

Of course, if the sellers are outright resistant to doing any of the work themselves (or to your "interfering" with how they live by doing anything yourself), then there's really not much you can do. However, it's still your responsibility to explain to them how this is going to impact the sale of their house.

(I might also try to explain, in as politely a way as possible, the potential liability of the owners if a potential buyer or their agent were to trip/slip/fall as a result of the clutter.)

The problem with short sales is that the owners don't care. They make it hard to view. Some don't care to clean. Most listing no matter their status are about price right now. You just need a buyer who can see through the clutter.

Its a short sale. The owners will make nothing anyway. Just price for the problem. A lot of sellers have good intentions (they will do this...and that...etc) but many never actually do all those things.
Most will clean though.
But some will not or wont get around to it. So what. PRICE fixes that too.
Its time sensitive. Forget about wasting more time waiting for them to clean and just adjust your price price for an as is sale.
BTW - You will never in one million years find me cleaning a clients house. EVER.
I did have hubby patch hole in a vacant once a few days prior to close because the appraiser wouldnt let the loan fund without it, but it was a very nice commission and I charged the short selling lender for the service.
I mean if it came down to wrapping the deal up I might consider hiring someone for some small thing TO CLOSE, but I do not clean homes or move furniture or contribute financially to getting homes market ready. I will tell sellers what they should/should not do and how doing so /not doing so will affect their price. But I will not do it for them.

So much clutter an entire doorway was hidden?? Yikes!! Are you sure they meant to contact you and not these guys?? http://www.aetv.com/hoarders/index.jsp

And it sold with all the clutter? You must be quite the negotiator!