Open for inspection - Selling our home to build.

Hi all,

well my husband and I have just signed papers to sell our home. We'll be having an open house inspection/walkthrough next weekend. Inbetween that time I need to organize the house so it looks good and to make interested people put in an offer.

Does anyone have any tips for me on what I can do with my house.

We have made the gardens pretty but they are very low maintenance which is great. Decluttered the house and cupboards. We are getting window cleaners in and someoneto scrub the bathrooms.
(I would do it myself but I have two babies and my husband works away)

is there anything anyone would suggest I do to make my home more invitingfor potential buyers?

I will update and possibly post pictures when I figure out how!

Thanks

Hi Cooped07,

There's plenty of things you can do to make your home more inviting. First of all, make sure you've got all the lights turned on giving the house a nice bright feel (this includes table lamps, the range hood, etc). Brew some coffee just before the open house, or bake a cake... I find the fresh aroma creates a very homely feel, and is more personal than simply spraying some Glen 20 Lay out your favourite book atop a throw-blanket, neatly draped over an armchair. Show potential buyers just how peaceful your home is, and how easy it is to unwind and relax.

You could also leave some background music playing; it doesn't need to be on very loud, but it will help to disguise other noises from neighbours, the street traffic and so on.

Good luck!!

Declutter declutter declutter. Those were the only words I heard from RE agents.

Things we did

*tidied garden
* patched up paintwork where needed
* got the main living areas carpet cleaned (depserately needed it or I wouldn't have bothered)
* we were using the 4th bedroom as a play room, we converted it into another bedroom with a spare single bed we had ****** around in the garage
* tried to find the balance between homely and de-personalised
* turned on all the lights
* air con on for hot days with OFI
* cleaned windows
* wiped out showers and vanities so no water marks
* made sure no doors squeaked and that everything was sturdy and wouldn't fall off in people's hands.

** microwaves and fridges are good for emergency storage, as are toploading washing machines, clothes dryers that don't have a clear door and cars.

Ours had 3 offers in the first 2 weeks and sold in the 3rd week smack bang in the middle of the price range (for $145k more than we bought it for). All up we spent maybe $400 on paint, carpet cleaning and mulch. I chose not to do the baking thing, I just had a fresh clean smell. But that's just me, I prefer the smell of clean washing over anything else.

Thank you for your replies. We just had the real estate photographers in today taking photos of our house. I have never cleaned so quickly in all my life but i know they'll turn out great. I decluttered everything for the photos and will hopefully keep it like that till the end of the open inspections. Wont be easy with my husband being gone for work with a 2yr old & 5 month old.

I will have sutle smells of pot purie (from Barbara's home & gift) it isn't too full on and smells so fresh & clean & only in 2 spots of the home. Will have easter eggs on display with real estate lady letting people know they can take them.. Cadbury of course!

Here's hoping we can sell up soon and get building ASAP!

Thank you..

I hope you sell quickly - keeping the house pristine when you live in it is stressful, especially with children! I agree with Mimi79 about hiding mess in the washing machine, it saved me many times. People look in cupboards.... I also used to do a quick run-around before an inspection and toss any random stuff into a washing basket, put it in the car boot and take it with us while the prospective buyers looked through the house.

My favourite "secret weapon" was a bottle of McClintock's vanilla fridge wipe. Spray it on benches and vanities and wipe over and your house smells fabulous. Easier than baking a cake, same effect.

Haaa.. I have taken advantage of my washing machine, dryer & microwave. They are all packed with EVERYTHING from matchbox cars to yesterdays clothes & baby toys!

Here's hopeing we have someone come through today who wants to buy!

I am sick of the cleaning already!

Declutter is definitely number one...
Clean gutters
Open curtains...let as much natural light in as possible
Weed garden
Eucalyptus oil is fabulous for giving your home a fresh, clean smell
Stand out the front of your home and ask yourself if you'd stop to look further.

Everyone's already given great advice Cooped07.
The only thing I personally wouldn't do is the baked cakes/brewed coffee thing. I feel it's just a tad cheesy for my taste (no offense, that's just me). And it wouldn't endear me to a house, but on the same token, if I really loved a house that had done that for the OFI's, it wouldn;t stop me from buying it (or would it???). All that stuff was big a few years ago but it's a bit passe now.
IN general, I just reckon don't go overboard with 'smells' - vanilla sprays and even eucalyptus can be quite strong so you just need a little dab here and there (not major sprays before leaving the house).
That's just me, sometimes things can be overkill, I reckon. Just a nice neat, tidy, clean, de-cluttered home that someone can see themselves living in is the key.

Oh, and back to say.... apparently making sure the front door is clean and the entrance area clean and sweeping outside paths and having neat lawn edges is also good.

And good job doing this all by yourself with your two little ones. We will probably be putting our house on the market when my now 16month old is about 2 and my yet unborn bub will be about 5 months so will be in the same boat (except my DH will be around ).

Good luck.

Ooh glad I stumbled across this thread. We have agents coming in 4 days and we are preparing our house for inspections. It is hard as we are in a new build area and it means competing with display homes.

I was wondering whether to fragrance the house. I have 3 kids 7 4 and 8 months and will need to clean the night before and get out early on inspection days so it stays clean so any fragrance would have to be a subtle lingering one.

Does anyone know how much window cleaners cost for a 24sq house?

Hi.. We officially sold our house. Thank you to all that responded.

Penny-Goodluck in finding agents. I fragrances my house with 'curls' from Barbara's Home & Gift. It was a green tea smell & it was ever so subtle. I used them decoratively with candles in the bathrooms & in the main living areas. They were mentioned as being beautiful by many of the people who came through.

For a 3 bedroom house we were quoted $150 to clean windows.. I ended up doing them myself, a a couplE of windows at a time a few days before open inspection. That was a month ago & they are still clean so I am glad I didn't fork out the money!

Goodluck

Congratulations on selling your home I hope you enjoy choosing everything for your new home.

Is Barbara's Home & Gift an online store

Thanks Penny.. Well I bought the smelly curlys from the store but as I have googled & found out that it is just a South Australian store. On our second weekend open we burned a subtle smelling candle from dusk & our agent blew it out when she left. Fresh Linen smell is GREAT. The first person who came through ended up putting in the best offer & bought the house!