your top 5 things to do before viewings

[foolonthehill]

I am a lone parent of 4DC working as a childminder. My house is small and completely full of kids stuff from birth to teens.

The decor is OK but not pristine
The house is clean but very lived in.

in 8 days time I have full day of viewings (lucky me)...given how little time I have, and that I have to both entertain my own DC and everyone else's for half term....what are your top 5 things I should do?

Put as much clutter, including excess furniture, in temporary storage as you can - even if it means renting self store for a couple of months.

Clean thoroughly, especially bathroom and kitchen - pay someone if you really don't have time.

Any vile coloured walls might benefit from a lick of neutral paint.

Never sold before but can speak as a buyer.
Air the house & neutralise any homey smells.

The more floor & ceiling is visible, the larger the house looks. Stack, remove, reorganise stuff.

Lived in look is welcome but prefer it to be neutral colours & themes. No gaudy reds/greens/blues in living/dining. Try to redecorate one room if needed.

Try to provide a lot of 'walking about' space for viewers.

thanks pirate.
Fortunately my taste is towards the neutral end of the spectrum....as I don't think getting the paintbrushes our with a load of toddlers around would be wise. Probably worth washing down the walls though as that should dry in the night.

Obviously all tasks will have to be done whilst children are asleep or fastened down......which means working overnight probably.

a good clean will be topof the list.

Friends of mine filled their car with the contents of the children's playroom and parked it around the corner. I don't know if that would be an option with some of the kids stuff.

Yes..I have large car and that is a good idea!

Definitely air out the house. Keep surfaces with the minimum of stuff on them.

Good idea about hiding clutter in the boot of the car

Shine your taps. Water marks on any makes the place look more tired.

Every room should have a defined purpose, you are selling a lifestyle too.

Don't forget kerb appeal. Don't leave any dead plants knocking about in the front garden, it ends up looking shabby.

No dirty dishes in the sink and definitely no teenagers having a lie in!
This did happen to us during one viewing, moving creature under the duvet with the curtains closed.

Light and warm. Make sure all your curtains/blinds are wide open and remove as much stuff as possible from in front of windows. Have your heating (but low) for the viewings and spray polish behind the radiators (the heat spreads the clean smell).

Once the DC are in bed, walk out to the kerb with notepad in hand. Walk to the house as if you're viewing.

What do you see, no excuses to yourself just make an honest list. Are there weeds on the drive, does the door need a lick of paint/ clean, does the doorbell work, is the doormat in need of a good shake, is the hall light or dark as you open the door, does it smell okay etc etc.

Walk around as if you don't know the layout, what do you expect to see vs what do you see?

Once you've done the whole house (improvising on sleeping children rooms) take your list and go through the things you could do something about. Now prioritise those. Just work through the ones in priority order until you run out of time. Theres always more that can be done, just make sure you've done the biggest ones.

My thoughts are first impression then kitchen and bathroom being clean are biggies.

I've deffinately done the car round the corner full of stuff, clean tea towels and hand towels just for viewings, lots of fresh flowers for scent and appeal. Depending on where you are things like daffodils are cheap and if you can cut some small leafy branches off garden shrubs can easily be bulked to fill a vase attractively.

Remove all towels from bathrooms/bedrooms...one fresh dry clean towel only on each towel rail. Slightly damp towels don't smell fresh and are off putting.

Flush toilets and put lids down.

Remove part opened packets of tampons, empty loo roll tubes, part used tubes of canesten etc etc, we all use these personal items but the clutter is not appealing on a viewing.

Focus on cleaning and decluttering the hall/porch or the first room in the house, in particular piles of shoes, unopened mail, bits of grit or mud.

If possible get the agent to do viewings, remove yourself, and all pets/kids to make the house look more spacious.

thanks all.

good pointers.

I'm off to cut the grass before it rains again and then the hallway is my designated task in between ferrying DC around. No one is allowed more than one pair of shoes this week!!!!

I used to have a special duvet cover that I kept for viewings. Also used to do the loading the car up and moving it away from the house. Clean the windows. If you have pets put them, and their food bowls/bedding out of sight for the viewings. Good luck, hope you get an offer.

Declutter as much as you can - use the car, hide stuff in cupboards, under beds etc.

Focus on the entrance, the first room they will see, and then bathroom and kitchen - everywhere else should be tidy and vacuumed if poss

No dog shit on the floor! Yes - this really happened to us (twice!) when we were viewing properties.

yuk!!!

Have the windows cleaned inside and out
Wash down front door and outside paintwork
Put some colourful windowboxes on windowsills
Get the dustbins out of sight

Inside keep it very tidy (remove all clutter - big plastic boxes and bung under stairs/iin shed/in car).

Sparkling clean - do damp towels/flannels around, etc.
Fresh flowers in strategic places

Plain white bedspreads over the beds - you can pick them up quite cheaply from places like TK Max.

Good luck

That should have read no damp towels.

For me personally I'd go with;

1. Throw all clutter in the car, including wardrobe clutter, any cupboards brimming with stuff, just get as much out of the house as you're able. One of our things was storage and looking back the clever deceiving vendors must have done the same as the storage looked amazing. Now I see we have too much crap didn't see it in proper use.

1. Air the house out and spray some cotton balls with lavender and pop in radiators turned on low to circulate the calming but muted smell.

1. Get as much floor space visible as possible.

1. Clean walls, floors and skirting and anything on show, nip into each room and polish everything taps, baths, toilets, windowsills, fridge, washing machine, windows, oven, etc.

1. Get out, the house will seem bigger the less people in it.

Good luck!

thanks.

what is you opinion on musical instruments?

Currently we have 1 piano, 2 violins, a cello a double bass, 2 guitars and a ukelele...all in use. They are neat and tidy but obviously very present.

Depends if you have room for them

I do my best to generally keep the house tidy and clean while it is up for sale but if I don't get much notice of a viewing most important is:
Tidy anything that shouldn't be on the floor
No dirty dishes
No laundry/ironing on show
Romove pet bowls / cat litter
Beds to be made, curtains wide open and some windows.

The last house I sold I chucked the kids in the garden for every viewing with instructions to play. It worked - the buyers commented on what a lovely garden for children to enjoy.

Double bass stands behind a chair...looks stunning...in my opinion. Smaller instruments live on shelves next to the piano. music stands are a PITA but easy to fold away. Cello is always in the way...might have to go in the car if the weather is not too hot.

Think my main problem is going to be the rising tide of paper that flows around every schjool child....might have to empty a drawer and use it as a stuff drawer....