Arghh! Anaglypta - I have before now taken down a whole ceiling as quicker and easier than dealing with that stuff!
I love the homes with swirly orange carpets and floral green armchairs still in place with non-matching (perhaps dusky pink) flouncy curtains. And then you spot a brown or green coloured bathroom suite! Then a so-called conservatory added (plastic of course) with shitty plastic chairs installed looking out onto a dirty patio and unkept grass beyond.
Actually what really surprises me is that estate agents are mostly so poor at suggesting/helping owners to make their homes look better for pictures. So many spare rooms full of crap are shown, often with a bed has been piled high with stuff and bed cover thrown over it. You want buyers to look at the house, not the collections of frogs/teddies/cupboards full of Capodimonte! Take down the 'orrible posters in kids bedrooms! Remove that computer gaming set up and chair!
Not all do it - friends of mine put their house up for sale last year and the agent spent hours insisting that every room was presented well... stuff moved out, fresh flowers around and so on. It made a real difference, despite their house actually being rather lovely all of the time anyway.