Tips on tarting up a house to sell

lawrie28

get a pro photographer in to do the rightmove photos, cos your EA will be awful.

And make sure you put the toilet seats down for them.

Davesnave

get a pro photographer in to do the rightmove photos, cos your EA will be awful.

And make sure you put the toilet seats down for them.

Not all EAs are awful photographers. I know one who has a SLR and knows how to use it. However, I also remember the lady EA who came to shoot a house for me last year, who got her high heel stuck, fell over and broke the camera. That gave me all the excuse I needed to do the photos myself. Looking at the cheap object she had been toting, that was certainly a good move.... oh and I put the seat down - good feng shui apparently.

elliewelly_2

Doozergirl wrote: »

Turn the light on in every room when conducting viewings and make sur ethe place is immaculately clean for every viewing. Freeze yourslef by opening all the windows beforehand for a while.

How would freezing yourself help? (No rude answers please!)

Optikal

elliewelly wrote: »

How would freezing yourself help? (No rude answers please!)

Open all the windows and get rid of the everyday house smells. Every persons house has its ownsmell, whether we like to admit it or not. Opening every window wide open for a good hours or so freshens the air circulation and makes indoor/outdoor temps more balanced when entering a property.

Personally, i hate going to other peoples houses and opening the door to a rush of sweaty heat from their heating being on all night.

Icey77

I once went to see a flat that had been all tarted up - the decor was lovely. Not so lovely, however, was the dirty underwear left on the bathroom and bedroom floors :silenced:

waggys

Take any clutter from your OH's house and temporarily put it in your rented accomodation until you have time to dispose of it on ebay etc. Likewise, if you have nicer furniture/accessories in your flat; swap them around with his so that you are dressing the house to sell. Bring colour in with accessories or an accent wall.

Make sure you clean the toilet and taps so that you can't see limescale (use white vinegar to get rid of limescale, its much cheaper than things like viakall etc). Light switches and doorhandles are other areas that get neglected when it comes to cleaning. If you put a couple of drops of vanilla essence on a baking tray in the oven and turn the oven on really low it leaves a lovely cooking smell.
If parking is difficult in the neighbourhood, get your partner to park further away so that your viewers can park easily.

dubsey

All excellent advice. For the photos double check everything, the times I've seen rightmove pics with washing over a radiator or stuff on top of wardrobes. We filled my mum and mils homes with stuff to de-clutter before we even had an estate agent round.

On viewing days put everything in the car if necessary. I put the kitchen bin(yuk) in the garage, the laundry basket, cat beds and food bowls all in my car and then parked it up the road a bit.

Make sure you have at least three EAs round to give you a valuation and check on the internet for actual sold prices for similar houses in your area. The last thing you want is to go on at a ridiculous price and be stuck there forever.

puddy

interesting and important point about the cat beds and bowls, ive got two house cats, so they come with bowls of food and litter trays, urg, so will need to put them outside somehow when people come round and hope the cat doesnt poop on the carpet right in the middle of a viewing!. have just fed the cats tonight and it reminded me that cat food really pongs, urgh, think they will lose some weight during the selling period...

LillyJ

I went round to view a house where there was a dog. They went to the trouble of the wife taking the dog out for a walk (wouldn't have mattered, I love dogs and have one myself), but had failed to clear up the multiple puddles of dog wee.

It wasn't like the dog had just done one wee before I arrived and they hadn't had time to clear it up, there was loads of puddles, all varying in how old they looked! The house stank, the wardrobes had no doors on them, and all their clothes were on show, there was dirty washing everywhere, and then to top it off the vendor told me the garage was more of a liabillity than anything as it was falling down.

I wiped my feet on the way out.

SquatNow

The best way to tart a house up it to make it 10% cheaper than anything else of the same type in the same area.

10% off now might get a sale, whereas 10% off in a month might only match everyone else (reduced) prices.