Guerrilla Window Cleaning

A Plymouth mum turned guerrilla window cleaner to tackle her neighbour's filthy house - because it was putting people off buying her home.

Plymouth mum turns guerrilla cleaner after neighbour's filthy window put off potential home buyers - A Plymouth mum turned guerrilla window cleaner to tackle her neighbour's filthy house - because it was putting people off buying her home. Sue Pearce had had her home on Hill Park Crescent in Plymouth on the market for eight months, and couldn't understand why it wasn't selling.

It was a remark from one potential buyer that gave her a clue, and prompted her to take action. Sue said: "We were looking to move and had had the house on the market for a good eight months, but had very little in the way of viewings. "One couple that did come to have a look around were joking with me about the appearance of next door - it has always been quite a grubby looking house - and were asking if our neighbours were ‘rough’, as they had young children and wanted a nice area.

"I don’t know why, but it ended up playing on my mind, so I thought I’d try and ask my neighbour to spruce its appearance up. "It was only that house that was REALLY bad. I wouldn’t have done it under normal circumstances. "We hadn’t talked to him much before that and I think he took it amiss as he’s elderly and didn’t want to be climbing ladders.

"In the end, I though the easiest thing was for me to just go ahead and do it myself. "It’s like that saying ‘if you want something doing…’ I think at first, my neighbour felt insulted, but it got the job done as the house is now sold. "We haven’t moved far away and actually saw him at the supermarket not so long ago and I think he sees the funny side of it now as we had a good chat."

Family friend Phillip, who owns londoncleaningsystem, said: "This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of guerrilla window cleaning. It appears to be an increasing trend in London and the surrounding areas. We just hope that it won’t grow to a point where we are all out of a job!"

Dirty Windows Are Big Turn-off For House Buyers

Dirty windows can be a big turn-off for prospective buyers.

Dirty windows? House hunters may shy away: Little things mean a lot, especially to a real estate agent who is trying to sell one listing among many. Two things that may seem little but are really not so trifling when it comes to selling a house: keeping it neat for appointments, and washing the windows.

"The marketplace is monopolized by first-time buyers as well as empty-nesters," said Mark Wade, who sells houses in Center City for Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Fox & Roach Realtors. "Both sets of buyers have one thing in common," Wade said. "They look for turnkey properties; therefore, condition is king, and a strong showing ability is the key to value in Center City."

That's true everywhere else, as well, and it has a lot to do with the way prospective buyers tour a house for sale. "People tend to spend no more than 10 to 20 minutes going through a house," said Leonore Spinelli, an agent with Century 21 Alliance in Moorestown who is a residential interior designer and "virtual stager." "They are looking at the space and flow of the home," Spinelli said. "If the house is well-kept overall, they may not notice that windows that have not been cleaned recently."

But, she added, "cobwebs, bugs in windows, and dirty screens may be indications that the home has not been cared for in other areas. These are peeves of mine when showing a home." Marilou Buffum, associate broker with BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors in Chestnut Hill, said she doesn't notice windows "unless they are awful." However, "the difference between clean and not clean is dramatic," she said.

Clean windows are most important in the fall, when the colors of the leaves shine through and "you can see that they are dirty," Buffum said. Dominik Palaszewski is "chief cleaning officer" of Sofian Cleaning Services L.L.C. in Philadelphia, which he and his wife started 11 years ago as a house cleaning service, "but we were finding great demand for window-washing, so we added it on to the business."

Sofian has a special program for real estate agents for cleaning and maintaining listings while they are on the market, Palaszewski said. Windows should be washed at least twice a year, he said. In the high-rise condominiums of Center City, that is the usual routine, area agents said. Yet twice a year is rare for most houses. Windows in the city tend to get very dirty from dust, grit, and vehicle exhaust, while at properties with many trees pollen gets stuck to windows and makes them tough to clean, Palaszewski said.

Joanne Davidow, vice president of BHHS Fox & Roach and manager of the Rittenhouse Hotel office, said keeping old windows clean can be a chore. If you can't replace your windows, make sure they operate properly, Davidow said, because buyers demand that even older double-hung models work.

If a client has old windows, Lisa Fazio of Weichert Realtors in Jenkintown said, "I open and close every [one] so a home inspector won't pick it up, even though a window painted shut is considered a cosmetic item."

To wash windows, Palaszewski said, he and his crew often must use a knife to break through layers of paint that have been applied over the years. Not only does he wash the windows inside and out, but he cleans the frames and the bottom ledge, which tends to get the dirtiest, routinely. Storm windows are washed, as well, he said, and the screens are cleaned, too.

A rambling house with 30 double-hung windows and storms will take a full day to clean, while the same number of new windows will take half a day, he said. Sofian charges $8 for a new window, $12 to $15 for a double-hung, Palaszewski said, adding that his prices "are pretty standard."