Help! Selling and first house viewings this weekend... any tips?

[thirtyplusone]

Hello

Our house is going on the market Thursday and we have viewings booked in for it this weekend.

Very in demand type property in Walthamstow and hoping for a quick offer as we've found and offered on our dream property.

Never sold a property before so what are the key things we need to do?

New doormat purchased!
Transforming the second bedroom back from office to bedroom set up.
Flowers?
Clutter free or 'homely'?
Hide all evidence of the dog?

Thank you

Tidy, clean, declutter. Tidy, clean, declutter. Declutter. Clean.

Minimal evidence of dog is acceptable IMO but take it for a walk and ensure no doggy smell.

Well (using my extensive knowledge of watching Phil and Amanda Lambe)

..... They say de- personalise but still leave it looking stylish. So not tonnes of personal photos but a nice picture, fresh plant or flowers.

Personally I would clean very thoroughly - especially windows and kitchen and bathroom.

But it sounds like it is a seller anyway in a good area.

We've recently sold our house after an open day...
I spent about two weeks de cluttering, even cupboards, because if your cupboards and shelves are all neat and tidy then it makes them think you have loads of storage..
we still have about 3 big boxes of junk in the loft 🙈
I also got a cleaner to come round the day before to do a one off clean! Was amazing!
Fresh flowers, my parter insisted we buy a pineapple ......
And remove stuff under the bed!
I remember viewing a house and thinking 'well if there's loads of stuff under the bed then they obviously don't have enough storage!

It was such hard work, especially with a toddler to look after but it was worth it because we sold for way over our asking price and I'm sure the fact the house has genuinely never looked so amazing really helped! X
Good luck

Tidy, clean. Assuming you've already de-cluttered and neutralised? No garish feature walls etc? If possible leave the dog and his paraphernalia elsewhere.

Are you doing the viewings yourself?

Good luck.

Clean and tidy, hoovered,
Kitchen surfaces - clear of stuff apart from kettle, toaster etc
Bins emptied
No,stale,food or,dogs smell
Grass cut, paths swept
No mess in the bedrooms, beds made,

Homely is fine, providing the house is basically clean and tidy. Sometimes I think a house that looks too,perfect is off putting.

Oh thank you, great advice. The pineapple 🍍 😂

We f&b'd the walls last month so no worries there. Nice new shelves up and books suitably arranged.

We're away this weekend so agent viewings unfortunately but I'll do any moving forward. we viewed the property we are after with the owners and it was lovely to be able to learn more about the area and property.

Hydrangeas? Unlikely to wilt over the weekend!

We painted, decluttered extensively, had the conservatory/Windows/driveway /carpets professionally cleaned and tidied to showroom condition. Sold in 4 days for full asking price. Was worth it!

I am jealous of those who have sold recently.

We are taking ours off the market as its so slow here!

Make sure the outside looks good. Some bright bedding plants in pots make all the difference.

We used to put things in the car, eg our footstool , to make it look bigger.

Fresh flowers and fruit in a basket. Kitchen surfaces clear and I used to tidy the cats bowls away. They were a bit miffed about that! We put loads of stuff in the loft and sheds too. We have baskets under the bed, I think thats ok. We hid the printer and laptop. It really looked like a homely show home.

Super clean everywhere. Doors closed so you get a reveal when they open them. Lights on in dark corners. Toilet seats down!

We had 2 full asking price, one 5k over and one 10k under. Unfortunately our sellers pulled out on exchange day and our buyer wouldnt wait for us to find somewhere else to buy. Good luck!

Pulled out on exchange day!!!! How awful for you. What on earth.

Top printer advice. Enormous things that they are.

Out of interest Loveka, how did you choose between your offers. I assume there is more to it than highest bidder.

@thirtyplusone
The estate agent will know info about the different buyers
I.e
They are first time buyers, no chain, cash buyers, etc
We went with first time buyers as that means a shorter chain, they happened to be the highest offer

We chose the one that was proceedable. She didnt have anything to sell so no chain.
The one over asking hadn't had an offer on his flat.

You can never tell though. The woman we went with turned out to be a bit strange. She wouldn't wait even 1 day for us to find somewhere else, and had been very demanding throughout, constantly threatening to pull out if she didnt get her own way.

I wish we had accepted the lower offer from first time buyers!

Clear all your surfaces and get a couple of scent diffusers. Must make a difference because my buyers made a point of mentioning how lovely my house smelled!