tips on open days to show our house

March2012

we are having an open day for our house . anyone experience of this. would you have one or two open days? thanks

DRP

Book one and depending on interest, book another if required?

dimbo61

Are you ready for an open day ?
Decluttered and clean, coffee in the kitchen, garden looking tidy?
Baking bread in the oven
Can you walk into every room and the garage and not think TIP and packed full of boxes
Any repair or painting jobs that need doing

Flyingpig

Expect them to open every cupboard door, and go in the loft. I didn't expect people to look at my untidy airing cupboard and cringed the first time a viewer did it (it's tidy now haha). You will get stupid feedback too from people that viewed it on a whim to be nosey, that make up excuses why they don't want to buy your house because they didn't want to buy it in the first place. Make sure everything is super tidy and clean. One thing I over looked on the cleaning was to wipe the doors over. Good luck!

mrsmazza

Just make sure everything is really clean. Move clutter out the way. Make sure house smells nice,.
We had an open day, we went out and left agent to it.
Much easier way to sell. We had 2 offers .

dc197

Lights or lamps in gloomy corners turned on.
Impressive features such as under-counter or in-cupboard lights turned on.
Smelling good.
Weeds on drive gone.
Your cars gone.
Evidence of pets gone.

DigForVictory

+1 for clean it to above visiting employer/mother-in-law standards, get out & leave it to the agent for the day!

Cars gone (just sensible), pets gone (helps sell to those with allergies) & children *definitely* gone.
(a) how do you explain all these strangers, (b) how do you keep your children safe & (c) would you trust your children not to come out with some memorable remark? [I wouldn't.]

You are selling a house, they're invading your home - much much better to be elsewhere!

dc197

Perhaps not so relevant in June, but it might help to ensure the house is warm, rads on, hot water in tank. People like to know that the boiler works, people run taps to check for pressure etc. Would be good to have it at its best.

If any devices make clunking noises, etc, fix them or ensure they won't autinatically turn on during the viewings.

StumpyPumpy

There is an "article" about this on Rightmove:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/articles/new-research-reveals-the-cleaning-secrets-behind-how-to-make-selling-your-house-easier
Sponsored by Vileda so as expected it talks about cleaning, but they did use eye-tracking goggles to see where house viewers looked.

In summary:

Don't shove things in cupboards: The study showed 80% of respondents looked in cupboards to see how big the storage space was.

Cooking bread and brewing coffee is over-rated (everyone knows this trick and they pay little attention to it though obviously you don't want the kitchen "smelling nasty") but make sure your windows are clean - 95% of people looked out of the windows.

More people look up at ceilings than down at floors and surfaces, so worry more about clearing cobwebs and decluttering than spit and polishing.

And get rid of all signs, sights and smells of pets!


SP

p.s. contrary to the advice above, I personally would try to hide all signs of "under counter lights" as I think they make a kitchen look really chavvy and they immediately make me think about the actual functionality of it: "But Wayne, if we spend the money getting good worktops, we can't afford the halogens that will light up my cute little toes while I'm heating up the Pop Tarts"

But that is just my view, people are allowed to be different... for the time being.