About to go on the market. I need a list of what needs doing!

[notnowbernard]

What should I be doing to prepare for a sell?

Tia!

We planned to do all sorts, repaint, totally declutter etc. in the end the house we wanted came on the market sooner than we were ready so we just had a general tidy and stuck it on the market. It sold in 3 days. My mate reckoned that if someone liked the house they would like it no matter what and see beyond your decor / clutter (within reason!).

finish all outstanding DIY. Check 'kerb appeal' and freshen up if necessary. Big declutter and throw out - not only does this look better, it makes the big clean-up before viewings much easier.

if you have pets, find somewhere to feed and house them out of sight. If you smoke in the house, stop and have a deep clean.

arm yourself with information that buyers want to know - running costs are the main one.

good luck.

Ah yes we did spruce up the front garden and repaint the fence.

Apart from the usual stuff, attention to detail always helps - shiny taps, smarten up the grout round the bath/shower, pull the curtains right back for maximum daylight, put the heating on if it is a cold day, put the lights on if it is a dull day. I would even go as far as replacing light bulbs with higher wattage bulbs if necessary.

Great ideas, thanks. Like the lightbulb one!

When I sold my previous place, it was like a show room...LOL
Everything was washed and put away each night.
I never bought so much window cleaner, I was spraying and wiping!!!

Fresh flowers will make the place look good, lamps that come on during the day on a timer, had a large bowl full of fake fruits that looked like they were on streroids, and declutter, you, may think it's homely but other ppl will think it's junk and clutter ..... you want to make the place feel as big as possible.

Space...

Will need to shove toys under beds!

Get a friend to come round and look at it objectively (like a buyer would). That'll help you to see all the stuff that you've long stopped noticing.

I am now looking for a house (after a long time of being on the other side as a seller) and for me I would pay particular attention to cleanliness of things like doors, skirting boards, light switches, kitchens, bathrooms, windows. Finish off any minor DIY jobs. Show that your house has been cared for and well maintained. As cheungowen said above, I too have never been through so much window cleaner, flowers and fruit.

I will need to hide wires

Bung crap under beds

Have done recent painting in preparation

Must tidy front and back gardens

CuddyMum I'm really interested to know why you will be so interested in the cleanliness of doors etc? For me that's not what I looked at ... those things don't have much impact on what the house is actually like, and you can do it your own way easily once you've moved in.

ISeeSmallPe

Wen we sold our house I borrowed loads of staging bits and pieces from my DP and DSis to make our house look better. Things like pictures mirrors etc. their houses looked rubbish for a few weeks but ours sold really quickly

gutters etc are a very good point, also age and maintenance of boiler.

People can see past your clutter, but I saw a few houses where there was SO MUCH JUNK that I wondered if they were actually serious about moving. Months on, it seems that they weren't...

ISeeSmallPeople has expanded on my need to see clean paintwork :)

Best advice we had for our house was to make sure all of the children's things and toys were in their room only- the rest of the house, you would hardly know children lived here. Because we knew we would be likely to sell to FTBs without children, otherwise people wouldn't be able to imagine living here otherwise. Plus what everyone else said about decluttering and cleaning. We repainted most of the woodwork as it had really yellowed, thus making it feel freshly done. We sold in 10 days.