House tips for selling home???

[B3LM]

Does anyone have any tips for preparing and showing your home? We put a "for sale" sign in the yard two days ago and I've had 4 phone calls. Two families are coming to look at it tonight. I've been cleaning all day and I'm exhausted!

I know to turn the lights (and lamps) on, play light music, remove all clutter, and light candles. Anything else?

Any tips are appreciated!
Beth

 

[LisaTx]

Sounds like you're right on track, Beth. I'll just send some good luck your way.

 

[AZKathy]

Bake some cookies right before so the odor is still lingering in the home; nothing like fresh baked cookies!

If you have to, rent a storage unit and store a lot of stuff in it while trying to sell. The less in the closets, the bigger they look. The less in the home of clutter and excess pictureson the walls, the bigger it looks.

Good luck!

 

[WillR]

I remember reading some tips in a book (Dress your House for Success - I think) that included:

Taking a camera and shooting a roll of film as you walk into the house - that way you can develop the roll and objectively see what others are seeing.

Get rid of not just clutter but things that are too personal like tons of family photos or special collections - people have to be able to see themselves in your space and removing some of the stuff that made it yours helps.

We had a bowl of lollipops out for the kids - gave the parents a few more minutes to look around.

We printed out fact sheets not only about the house but stressing the positives of the neighborhood and school system.

If you use rooms for specific things (I had a art studio) considering giving them a quick makeover so they are more "Standard" rooms - again so people can imagine themseleves in the house.

Fresh flowers - can't beat them.

We had displays everywhere - place settings on the dining room table, fancy little soaps and candles in the bathroom (looked great - way too much work for me to keep up with to live like that).

We sold our house on our own - had the first offer the weekend of the first open house. We were totally convinced the right people would find our house and they did

Good luck

 

[B3LM]

Great tips!
Thank you!

Beth

 

[Lars624]

Our real estate lady suggested we remove all magnets from the fridge. It actually made a big difference.

 

[B3LM]

Oh I hear you on the magnets! I filled a whole shoebox with the magnets and pictures that were on our fridge. It looks really nice now. I probably should have done that a long time ago.

Thanks for all the great tips! We had 3 families come through tonight and two of them are very interested. I'm crossing my fingers that we get a contract tomorrow!

Beth

 

[eeyore0062]

Good luck! We will be going through the same thing next year, so reading those suggestions was really helpful!

 

[JohnTBap]

Bury a small statue of St Joseph upside down in the backyard. When the house sells, dig him up and give him a place of honor in your new home.

 

[mamajoan]

JTB, re: St Joseph, where did you hear that suggestion? I find it interesting. St. Joseph is my favorite saint.

As for selling homes, Clean, bright, shiny, no clutter, no odd smells, curb appeal- flowers, great lawn, clean windows, good paint, park your vehicles away from your home so there is more street parking. Have a list of schools, YMCA's, Parks, etc available.
If you have had your inspections completed, you may want to set those out too. Good Luck!

 

[JohnTBap]

Info on St Joseph

 

[mamajoan]

Thanks JTB, that is certainly a new one for me. I always like to learn something new.

 

[Lars624]

We've lived in our house for 8 years and are only the 2nd family to own this home. Last summer the kids were messing around in the front bush bed and came running in with St. Joseph saying they found him buried upside down. I didn't know what we were supposed to do with him as we weren't the ones who put him there so we just put him back.

 

[rbuzzotta]

We just finished painting all the walls and woodwork in our house. I will have to get my carpets cleaned next week.

Our house goes on the market when we return from WDW!!! Aug. 18!!

 

[Tony-NJ]

When we were showing our Condo - we burned a couple of candles - some people do not like the smells!!! We only had 2 burning in different area's of the house, but someone let us know how much they hated it!

 

[melk]

I've heard that you should bake bread before showing the house, it creates a very inviting smell (mmmm...). I hope you have success in selling your home, we'll be going through this next spring!

 

[perdidobay]

Bathrooms that are clean and smell fresh are a big thing....if your towels and bathmats are worn get a few nice new ones to put out for showings and make sure clutter on the sinktop is removed... wipe things down with clorox so the room smells really clean...about strong candles, while you may really love vanilla, etc...to someone else it may smell like grandma's home before she died .... clean is the smell you want in your home.

 

[CarolG]

In addition to info on schools, etc., many people want to know about utilities. Make a list of what you paid over the past year for electricity, gas, water, trash pickup, and come up with a average monthly cost for each one. Some people want to know what the highest and lowest bills are, too.

They also may want to know what the current property taxes are.

 

[llfowl]

I wouldn't recommend the candles either. They trigger my asthma and I don't think that I am the only asthmatic out there. I like the bake cookies and bread idea because the smell isn't as strong.

Good Luck!

Lori