Tracy Kellett spearheads anti 'house-doctoring' backlash

Tracy Kellett of home finders BDI Property Search is spearheading an anti-house-doctoring backlash. She buys hundreds of homes for her clients every year and knows has observed that they are increasingly seeing through vendors attempts to ‘stage’ their homes.

She says: “You can spot a house-doctored house a mile off – and most clients now think they look sterile and soulless. Telltale signs include three-quarter size beds and sofas to make rooms look bigger, tables ready laid with wine glasses and serviettes, coffee and bread smells permeating from the kitchen, smelly candles dotted around – especially in the toilet, never-read art books stashed on the coffee table, curtains that don’t close because they’re only there temporarily to dress window; baskets of painstakingly arranged fruit in the kitchen”.

Comments from clients:
Two well-off London doctor clients felt that they ‘weren’t posh enough’ to live in a staged home that Tracy took them to view.

A family with three boisterous children were put off from buying a perfect family home in Hertfordshire because of its white walls, carpets and sofas and because there was no signs of family life. All the toys and games were hidden away. ‘Our kids would wreck this place,” they said.