Moving - to Fill or Not to Fill

[Diplomatico]

Hello,

Moving house in a few weeks. Do people generally fill holes from pictures, TV in wall, mirrors etc?

Or do you leave the fixing in place and ride off into the sunset.

We don’t have the paint for every room. So can’t paint over all of the holes we fill if that’s the consensus.

What has everyone else done?

[devnull]

Put it this way,

Yesterday my neighbour of 5 years moved out and spent a good proportion scrubbing the house from top to bottom.

At 9pm last night, I was on the verge of giving the new owners a mouthy introduction as they decided it would be an excellent idea to rip off all the fixtures and dot ‘n dab plasterboard from 7 to 9pm.

I wouldn’t worry. Just don’t leave it filthy. People will always want to make changes.

[PrinceRupert]

I very much doubt anyone does this. Our vendors didn't even bother to clean, it was filthy.

[sherman]

I wouldnt bother.
My current house still had most of the picture hooks in place. They were in good spots so we just reused them and hung our pictures up.
Painting or paper stripping I wouldnt bother as they will change the decor too.

[Belle427]

I always make sure it's clean and tidy, nothing else.
Most people just leave their mess behind.

[bobtail4x4]

I was called to an almost new house that had no insulation.
the first owners had taken all the light fittings not just bulbs and rolled up and bagged the loft insulation.

[Teddy Lop]

Leave it. Give it a thorough air and clean to leave it nice and fresh. They'll work out their decor.

[mike9009]

I agree leave it.

Once when we moved, the prior owner decided to start cleaning the house, ten minutes before we were due to move in. Two hours later she let us in. Gawd I was annoyed but she thought she was doing us a favour....arrrgghhhhh!

[DonkeyApple]

Diplomatico said:

Hello,

Moving house in a few weeks. Do people generally fill holes from pictures, TV in wall, mirrors etc?

Or do you leave the fixing in place and ride off into the sunset.

We don’t have the paint for every room. So can’t paint over all of the holes we fill if that’s the consensus.

What has everyone else done?

I generally leave picture fixings in place but will fill any holes. I don’t then decorate to blend in.

I’ve always had the property cleaned once all our stuff is out because a lot of buyers seem to move in immediately. We took four days sterilising the latest property before moving our stuff in

[Diplomatico]

Leave them in it is.

What if a downlighter bulb has blown. Would you replace or leave?

[miniman]

Diplomatico said:

Leave them in it is.

What if a downlighter bulb has blown. Would you replace or leave?

It was working when you switched the lights off for the last time, wasn't it?

[Carbon Sasquatch]

I wouldn’t leave someone with no light in a room, but if it’s one of several, then I’d just leave it.

I work on the logic that the new owner is likely to replace pretty much everything, so replacing stuff is a waste of time.

[DoubleD]

Belle427 said:

Most people just leave their mess behind.

Do they? How do you know that?

[sherman]

Diplomatico said:

Leave them in it is.

What if a downlighter bulb has blown. Would you replace or leave?

I had changed most of the light fittings in my house within the first month.
It was full of cheap gu10 light bars.

[pghstochaj]

I’ve only left one house but I filled, sanded, filled, sanded and painted twice. I wanted to leave it how I hoped to find my new house. I was of course disappointed. They did remove their fittings but left the wall plugs and used a fork to do the filling. And no paint or note of what colour it is.

[silversurfer1]

when my sale goes through i will fill and blend in any holes, have the carpets professionally cleaned and leave the place mint.

I treat people how i like to be treated and believe in karma.

SS

[h0b0]

I’m with you. I treat my house with respect and make every effort to keep it in as new condition. When I seek a house the new owners will be presented with no holes in the walls and all paint blemishes repainted.

[drmike37]

I'm not sure I'd be very upset about picture hooks etc. I've always left them. It gives you somewhere to store your pictures while you decide where they go!

We have always, however, left the place empty and thoroughly cleaned. Last time we left a bottle of something and a couple of glasses. I like to think it will have been appreciated, but the new people might have thrown them away? I just figure that coming to a clean new house and a ready bottle of fizz would be nice. Either that or we felt a bit bad about the bidding war.....

[Gareth79]

Who pulls a picture hook out to take with them though? Really?

[Diplomatico]

The house is like new. SWMBO is still doing touch ups with the paint we have. We won’t be getting the carpet professionally cleaned - that’s an expense and a job we could do without.

I can’t see us ever going into a house and not fully redecorating and getting new carpets. That’s how you get your own smell in it. So with that in mind I’m not sure we should be putting so much effort in. But I guess people are different and the new owner may not think like that.