Is the pre-owned property you bought clean enough?
Clean.
It’s a subjective term that we all have a visual of, in our minds.
I’ve walked into client’s homes where they apologize for the lack of cleanliness of their homes while I’m amazed anyone could keep a home so neat and tidy.
I have had the opposite experience with properties listed as clean, shows 10/10 and have had to instruct people not to take off their shoes.
So where am I going?
I recently received a call from another agent who complained that the sellers left the empty property in “…terrible condition. Not the worst I have seen, but not good.” When I approached the sellers, they were shocked and sent me pictures of how they left it. Of course, so did the agent.
Even the pictures told a different tale.
But the real question is, did the buyer and/or the buyer’s agent have a real beef?
In my opinion it comes down to expectations.
If a buyer expects to walk into a pre-owned property and have it to look like a never-lived-in house, that is unreasonable.
If it happens, good on the sellers and lucky for the buyer. If not, as long as seller items aren’t left behind and the property is mostly tidy, then you’d be in line with expectations as a buyer of a pre-owned home.
Whenever we have moved into a new home, we have a full expectation that we will clean, the kitchen and bathrooms at the very least, to our own standards. If a buyer expects showhome cleanliness, then that is the fault of the buyer’s agent.
Agents need to stop giving unreasonable expectations to the buyers as well as encouraging them in their own unreasonable expectations.
I have seen homes that have had professional cleaning done where the buyer is shockingly disappointed. I have witnessed agents try to insist on getting a home professionally cleaned only to complain that it wasn’t done until the receipts were provided.
Clean is relative and subjective. As an agent, we need to tell buyers to expect to do some cleaning when they arrive and be pleasantly surprised if possession day is otherwise.
Then again, agents hate to have even the most minute of disappointments on their hands. I get that. But if we want to escape disappointment, we need to stop promising things we cannot deliver.
Like a perfect home when they move in.