Selling a house on the Head
Many Howth houses have been in one family for decades, so when one comes up for sale, the people selling it are often adult children or executors, and they're dealing with a full house, a garden on a slope and an estate agent who would like it all ready for photographs as soon as possible.
That's the work this page is about: getting a Howth home ready for the valuer, the photographer, the viewings and the closing, and handing it over empty. The practical side of steps, slopes and loading on the Head is covered on our main page about house clearance in Howth.
Not every sale follows a death. Plenty of owners sell a big house on the hill to move somewhere smaller and flatter, closer to family or the shops. Then the order is simple: decide what's going to the new place, let the removals company take it, and we clear everything left behind so the house can be photographed straight away.
Photographs matter more than usual here. Howth houses sell on light, space and the view from the windows, and heavy curtains, crowded rooms and a conservatory used as a store all hide that. Clearing doesn't have to mean stripping every room bare; a few good pieces can stay to show the scale of a room, and we come back for them after sale agreed.
Contents worth a second look first
A house lived in for forty or fifty years can hold things worth far more than their size suggests: paintings, prints, silver, clocks, good mahogany furniture, a first edition among the paperbacks. We clear houses; we don't value them. So before we arrive:
- Ask an auctioneer or valuer to walk through. It's far better done before a clearance than after one.
- Let them take what they're selling. Then book us for the next day.
- Agree what the family keeps. Mark it, or move it to one room.
- Tell us about anything fragile. A grandfather clock or a glass cabinet needs a different plan.
Anything you've marked stays where it is, and we open every drawer and box before it leaves, setting aside papers, photographs, jewellery and cash.
spotless.ieProbate on a long-held family home
When the owner has died, the executor decides what happens and when, usually with the solicitor. Some families clear early, because a full house standing empty is a worry; others wait until the grant of probate comes through and the sale is under way. Either way, we can work in stages: personal things and valuables first, then furniture, then the attic, the garage and the garden.
Our bereavement house clearance page explains how we work with families, and the guide to how bereavement clearance works covers executors and probate in more detail. If a parent's home had become very full, we clear it patiently and without comment; see hoarder clearance.
The garden is part of the sale
On the Head, buyers see the garden before they see the house. Terraced beds gone wild, a greenhouse with broken panes, a rotten shed and years of cuttings behind it all count against a listing. We clear the garden contents along with the house, take down sheds that are past saving, and remove green waste; see garden clearance.
Getting a Howth home ready to sell? Send photos of each room, the attic, the garden and the approach on WhatsApp, with the date you're working to. We'll reply with a fixed price.
Closing day: handing over an empty house
The buyer's solicitor expects the house empty on closing, and that includes the places people forget: the loft, the cupboard under the stairs, the shed at the bottom of the garden, the boat gear in the garage. We plan to finish a few days before closing, walk through every room and outbuilding at the end, and send photos to you or the solicitor.
Keys go back to whoever you choose, whether that's you, the estate agent or the solicitor's office. If an apartment near the harbour is part of the estate, see apartment clearance for how we handle lifts and management companies.
A house nobody's living in
Between the funeral and the sale, a Howth house can sit empty for months. A few things are worth sorting early: tell the insurer the house is unoccupied, because many policies change once it is; keep the heating ticking over in winter; and get the post redirected. If we spot a leak, damp or a window that won't close while we're working, we'll tell you the same day.
We collect under waste collection permit NWCPO-25-13287-01 and are fully insured on every job. For the full range of property work, see property clearance, and for the rest of the county, house clearance in Dublin.
