House sale advice and hand hold

[PriOn1]

I’m hoping to put my house on the market next week.

Any tips on how to prepare and things to avoid would be much appreciated.

I’m in Norway, so probably mostly general on pitfalls not to fall into, rather than legal advice.

Very nervous and worried it won’t sell as it was on the market a long time before I bought it and I’m not completely sure why it took so long.

The normal reason properties take a long time to sell is that they are overpriced initially so people wait for the price to come down, or they are quirky in some way. We were once selling a converted barn in a city centre and that took ages to sell. I learnt from that only to buy properties in future that were more mainstream.

Anyway, in terms of preperation I always think the main thing you can do is to declutter. Make the place look as tidy & uncluttered as possible. We normally fill our car with loads of our general clutter before every viewing so the rooms look better. We empty the house of people and dog and let the estate agent get on with their job.

Agree with declutter - also clean everything, windows, blinds, skirting boards etc so the place looks sparkly and well cared for. Touch up any obvious scuffs, give carpets a deep clean. None of this is expensive and although you could argue a buyer may want to change things anyway, it will give the impression that it’s not something that needs to be done immediately. Also think about the first impression, front door and garden or driveway and spruce up if necessary so that the house looks attractive from the outside. I cancelled a viewing after a drive by when I saw peeling paint on the front door, overgrown garden and overflowing bins.

Take a look at the listings on finn.no to see how they are staged, and whether there are any ideas you could use (am assuming you speak Norwegian, of course!). Also look at the kinds of features that are emphasised in your area.

I am a Finn obsessive!

Also out in the middle of nowhere, so my area is difficult to assess. I got the eiendomsmegler/estate agent I wanted though. I was worried she might have been on holiday, so I’m hoping that’s a good start!

We normally fill our car with loads of our general clutter before every viewing so the rooms look better.

This sounds good. Normally everyone in Norway views in a set time one afternoon, so it doesn’t happen too often.

clean everything, windows, blinds, skirting boards etc

Good you reminded me of the windows. I could easily forget and there are lots of dog nose marks on one of them! Touching up…. there is quite a bit of that to be done and I will get on with it shortly.

The estate agent was optimistic. The house is cheaper than most in the area and she said because of rising interest rates, there might be more people interested. I hope she’s right.