branv
<font color=blue>The safety feature in my parents
- Joined
- May 20, 2005
- Messages
- 3,891
I definitely agree about the odor issue.
But one thing that really turns me off are bathrooms and kitchen that aren't pristine for showing. I mean, I don't even like to see towels that have clearly been used hanging on the rack, toothbrushes and hairy hairbrushes on the counter. Just gross, and inevitably you can tell that the bathroom is normally nasty because the baseboards (which everyone forgets) are covered in hair and dirt. Sinks with dirty dishes, food smeared microwaves. I have to wonder if that's what they consider "show ready", what did that house normally look like with regular use. And then that makes me think about poor maintenance and bugs.
And if I see clean floors, but baseboards in living areas are covered in pet fur, I start thinking about fleas.
Don't get me wrong, I'm hardly little Miss Perfect Tidy. But I know what truly clean is, and that's what a house up for market needs to be. If that's the best someone can do, then their everyday treatment of that house could be really awful.
One thing I've noticed with model homes -- they have curtains, but not blinds. Plus the windows are sparkling clean. And it really does make the home look bigger and brighter. If we sell this home, I'll probably remove the blinds and put them in the garage. I'll tell the realtor to let any potential buyers know that blinds are included, but have been removed "for cleaning."
One other tip: tidy up your closets and cabinets. People will look inside to see what the storage is like, and if it's crammed full, they'll get the impression there isn't enough storage for them either. Take out and store everything you absolutely don't need for daily living,leaving enough to look lived in. Organize the kitchen cabinets to look pretty. Sometimes the little things make bigger psychological impacts than people realize.
But one thing that really turns me off are bathrooms and kitchen that aren't pristine for showing. I mean, I don't even like to see towels that have clearly been used hanging on the rack, toothbrushes and hairy hairbrushes on the counter. Just gross, and inevitably you can tell that the bathroom is normally nasty because the baseboards (which everyone forgets) are covered in hair and dirt. Sinks with dirty dishes, food smeared microwaves. I have to wonder if that's what they consider "show ready", what did that house normally look like with regular use. And then that makes me think about poor maintenance and bugs.
And if I see clean floors, but baseboards in living areas are covered in pet fur, I start thinking about fleas.
Don't get me wrong, I'm hardly little Miss Perfect Tidy. But I know what truly clean is, and that's what a house up for market needs to be. If that's the best someone can do, then their everyday treatment of that house could be really awful.
One thing I've noticed with model homes -- they have curtains, but not blinds. Plus the windows are sparkling clean. And it really does make the home look bigger and brighter. If we sell this home, I'll probably remove the blinds and put them in the garage. I'll tell the realtor to let any potential buyers know that blinds are included, but have been removed "for cleaning."
One other tip: tidy up your closets and cabinets. People will look inside to see what the storage is like, and if it's crammed full, they'll get the impression there isn't enough storage for them either. Take out and store everything you absolutely don't need for daily living,leaving enough to look lived in. Organize the kitchen cabinets to look pretty. Sometimes the little things make bigger psychological impacts than people realize.