Dirty kitchens and dirty bathrooms are the biggest buyer turn-offs

New research from Rightmove reveals that potential buyers rate dirty kitchens and dirty bathrooms as their top two home-hunting turn-offs when searching for property.

The research, carried out as part of Rightmove’s Market Intelligence campaign, provides an insight into areas of home presentation that sellers should pay particular attention to as the autumn selling season approaches. Buyers were asked to rank how off-putting they found a range of factors when visiting a property for a viewing, with ‘dirty kitchen’ and ‘dirty bathroom’ rated as the most offensive to their tastes by 26% and 28% of respondents respectively.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside comments:


“Kitchens and bathrooms are two of the most personal and well-used areas of the home. Many potential buyers will try to imagine themselves living in the property during a viewing and having their senses offended by a lack of cleanliness or hygiene can be a real barrier. Ironically however, cleaning up the kitchen and bathroom to give a sparkling finish can cost far less than other aspects in need of a home makeover.”

Rightmove asked prospective buyers to rank seven problems areas of the home on a scale of one to ten, with one being the most offensive when it comes to home-hunting. The importance of ‘dirt-busting’ continues with ‘dirty internal decoration’ the third ranked biggest buyer deterrent by 16% of respondents. The area found least off-putting was an ‘internal colour scheme offensive to your tastes’, with just 4% of respondents ranking this at number one on the scale.

Shipside adds:


“There are some important lessons here for sellers as property presentation is a crucial element in the selling process, alongside how a property is priced and promoted. Our market intelligence shows that those keen to sell and achieve the best price should get the Marigolds on before each viewing. If feasible in this current tough market, sellers should try and cover all bases and make sure all rooms and the outside of their property create the best possible first impression.”

Rightmove’s Market Intelligence campaign is currently live and features a cutting-edge HTML5 interactive video which takes users on a journey around their local housing market, detailing local house price trends, rental market yields and property presentation tips along the way.

For further details please visit: www.rightmove.co.uk/intelligence