Messy storage spaces are scaring off home buyers, with experts warning clutter can make house hunters fear mould, leaks and hidden defects.
Home sellers are being urged to look beyond kitchens, bathrooms and living rooms when preparing for sale, as buyers increasingly inspect laundries, cupboards, garages and side yards for signs a property has been poorly maintained.
Frame Finance director Imogen Alexy said cluttered areas could quickly shift from a cosmetic issue to a serious red flag.
RELATED: Doctor’s housing plan hits Albo roadblock
Portelli’s $99 wild grocery gamble shocks shoppers
Cluttered garages, sheds, wardrobes and storage spaces can make buyers fear a home has hidden problems before they even make an offer. Picture: Adobe iStock
Aussie home with doomsday bunker eyes $1.1m sale
“I’d probably be concerned about how they looked after their home in general,” Ms Alexy said.
“One of the biggest things with clutter is you don’t know what’s beneath it.
“If there’s a lot of things still in the home, it’s really, really tricky to tell what the condition is underneath everything.”
Ms Alexy said buyers could struggle to imagine themselves in a property if key spaces were packed with someone else’s belongings.
“If it was between that and another property that was well staged, had space that I could visualise my furniture and my stuff in, then I would definitely lean towards the home that had more space and ability to visualise,” she said.
Experts say clutter is no longer just a presentation issue, with buyers increasingly wondering what mess might be hiding. Picture: Mums Angels Cleaning Service
Clean, usable storage can help buyers understand how a home functions, instead of forcing them to look past someone else’s belongings. Picture: Getty
She said messy garages and sheds could also make buyers wonder whether bigger problems were being hidden.
Rising damp, roof leaks, mould, stained carpets and other damage could be harder to detect when floors, walls and access points were blocked by old furniture, boxes, tools or junk.
“I think rising damp is a big one,” Ms Alexy said.
“If there’s any roof leaks, that’s something you can see in garages.”
She said some properties were so full of belongings that building inspectors had been unable to safely access key parts of the home.
“I’ve had some situations where people have had so much clutter in the property that the inspectors have not been able to get into the manhole and check out the roof, because it hasn’t been safe,” she said.
“That, to me, would put me off buying a property because there are just too many unknowns.”
Frame Finance director Imogen Alexy said cluttered spaces could make buyers question how well a home had been maintained.
Ms Alexy said buyers were also becoming more informed through TikTok, Instagram and online videos from building and pest inspectors.
“We get fed a lot more information than we would have previously had on properties,” she said.
“The things that go viral are always the horror stories.”
Multi-award-winning interior designer Greg Natale said vendors needed to be ruthless before taking a home to market.
“When you are selling a property, you’ve got to declutter everything,” Mr Natale said.
Messy garages, cupboards and side areas can make it harder for buyers to inspect walls, floors and access points properly.
“The garage has got to look incredible. It’s got to look like a showroom. The laundry, everything.”
Mr Natale said bulky beds, heavy wooden furniture and large chests of drawers were among the common items making homes feel heavier than they needed to.
“It’s just stuff that’s not needed,” he said.
“I see it all the time.”
He said while some buyers could see past clutter, many could not.
“Most people can’t see past things,” he said.
Multi-award-winning interior designer Greg Natale said vendors needed to be ruthless before taking a home to market. Picture: Supplied
Kitchen storage should feel calm, clean and functional, with buyers likely to open cupboards and imagine how they would live in the space. Picture: iStock
Mr Natale said sellers should pay particular attention to wardrobes, bookshelves and surfaces before photography and open homes.
He said matching coat hangers, colour-blocked clothing and simplified bookshelves could help make a home feel calmer.
“Just have all the surfaces clean,” he said.
“Put everything away, put stuff in boxes, or sometimes you just have to be ruthless and just get rid of old stuff.
“Just think of it like a showroom.”
Manhari Recycling founder and chief executive Maddy Gupta said many households were sitting on unwanted metal items that still held recycling value.
Manhari Recycling founder and chief executive Maddy Gupta said old appliances, tools, shelving, wiring, metal furniture and household scrap were often thrown away or left to rust, despite holding recycling value.
“People don’t realise how much metal they have in their homes,” Mr Gupta said.
“Over time, it builds up and across multiple households, it becomes significant.”
Mr Gupta said vendors preparing for sale should consider whether unwanted metal items could be recycled rather than left in backyards, sheds or hard rubbish piles.
Greg Natale said sellers should think of their home like a showroom, with every surface clean and unnecessary items packed away. Picture: Neutral Bay House, Greg Natale
A tidy study can help buyers picture a calm work-from-home zone, while clutter risks making the room feel smaller and less useful. Picture: iStock
“This value is sitting in backyards, garages and hard rubbish piles across the country,” he said.
“People just need to work together.”
He said apartment blocks, streets, sports clubs and community groups could pool metal waste to create enough volume for collection.
“If a street, apartment block or neighbourhood sets up a shared recycling bin or collection point for metal, suddenly the economics change,” Mr Gupta said.
Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.
MORE: Portelli’s wild 22pc flex against 7-Eleven
200 Aus stores: El Jannah denies sad rumour
New Vic retail hub’s plan to stop $277m spending leak
david.bonaddio@news.com.au
English (US) · 