Putting house on market

[SittingNextToIt]

We are aiming to put our house on market this spring - does aiming to go online in early March maximise the season we get till things slow down in August? Will instruct agents and aim for pictures end feb/early March.

Can someone advise on preparing the house? - so far we have -

1. Got a massive Chambers skip before Christmas and ruthlessly skipped a huge amount of stuff and donated loads to charities and basically a 6 cubic yard skip was filled. So clutter is largely gone.

1. Will ask out regular weekly cleaners to do a deep clean (wash walls, clean skirting boards and such) just before it goes online

1. DH repainting the en-suite which looks tired

1. DH cleaning weeding and pressure washing front and back slabs and patio

1. Doing further de clutter especially kids toys and such.

House is not very "full" in general owing to said Chambers skip...

However - there are certain things we cannot do -

1. Kitchen and bathrooms are good but tired - obviously we aren't going to put new things in at this stage

1. Garden is not a manicured landscaped thing - mid size garden with lawn - again - can't now do major stuff with it

1. Finally - for viewings and pictures do we entirely strip the place of all evidence of life? I mean sure we won't have cluttered kitchen worktops when we can put the toaster and utensils away and obviously we will hide the big bins outside the house and keep driveway clear of cars - but do we need to take down all pictures and have absolutely bare walls?

Any other advice?

Just make sure it’s really clean and tidy for viewings. Exactly like you’ve said clear kitchen worktops etc put personal bits in drawers etc but don’t need to take pictures off walls or anything like that. Good luck

Thanks! Any other tips anyone ?

I know where I am that there are loads of buyers ready to buy properties and it's so infuriating that people are holding back until spring. What do you envisage spring to mean in terms of which months and which ends of those months?

Hi. We will launch at the start of March. It's always been our plan to do so and we don't see a reason to change things - timelines are what's right for our family.

You don’t need to take pictures off walls. But do remove fridge magnets if you have loads, and also reduce clutter in the bathroom - put as much out of sight as you can. And make sure beds have neat, nice-looking bedding on them.

Sorry OP - slightly projecting there as we are scratching around for a rental because we stupidly agreed to go into rented thinking it would be very short term not expecting the market to be dead.

We sold in September. We declutterred on a massive scale - it felt empty. We paid a gardener to sort the front garden out and my DP worked on the back garden. We have a very large garden so keeping that maintained was like a part time job. We touched up some paintwork although not much. We also had our oven professionally cleaned.

Our feedback was consistently- it's immaculate and the garden is amazing. We ended up with one rubbish offer in the first week and then 3 offers in one week at asking. Took us 4 weeks to sell.

I should say we were selling ours as ready to move into with absolutely nothing to do so it needed to be immaculate and look maintained.

I just reduce some of the personal stuff and remove / put in a drawer bathroom items (sponges / toothbrushes etc). Bathmats off floors and evidence of pets gone as much as possible.

We sold last year. Over 120 things on the walls!
A good estate agent photographer will remove anything on the day...a bad one won't.

I wouldn't take pictures off the wall, but I would clear surfaces - so if you have a mantle piece or a sideboard for example, I'd take any pictures off there so it's clear.

Depending on how long the pictures have been on the wall, the paint behind the picture can be a slightly different colour to what's around it, so better to just leave it.

Oh we had all of our pictures up. Didn't try to de-personalise it. We have a 6 year old so her room looked very much like a kids room with too many toys.

I wouldn’t take things off the walls, with the exception of school photos of children. Not sure why but it feels identifying to have large photos of them in their uniform. It sounds like you have already done a big clear out. We put ours on in May and moved in December, on the day of photos I took things like the hoover, dog beds etc and stuck them in the car. The estate agent moved a few things like the dish drainer.

My tip would be to make sure all the lights are on and the curtains open wide to get lots of light in. Stand in the doorway of each room and try to look at it from a fresh perspective and move anything that blocks the view of the room.

The de clutter will make it so much easier when you actually move also! I agree with spring being a good time because of the garden coming to life x

I was advised to do nothing to try touch up, it was a project house though.
I was advised to leave pictures up due to marks left if removed.
For the photos I had everything away, so no 'life' apparent and photographer/EA surprised I had managed so well. I had left a couple of perfume bottles out and electric toothbrush - both hidden by photographer- I'd not realised how unlived in it had to appear but the photographer sorts these small bits you might forget or not realise. I went and bought new toilet cleaner as I thought I must have ran out and not remembered that, puzzling, but found recently it in the hot water tank cupboard so guess stuff can get just shoved away randomly!
I kept it like this for viewings but these were done in sets so just 2 days not random. My stuff has now reappeared in the house and there's a buyer viewing booked in - hoping he's not too disappointed! EA says he's warned him.

This is my late parents' home by the way. I can't abide stuff, but not to the extent the photographer couldn't!

Thanks everyone!

I think we will leave pictures up but very useful tips so far are too clear surfaces (sideboards, panels, bathrooms, windowsills).

I keep thinking of the fact that we didn't put in new bathrooms and kitchens. But we were never going to be in this house forever and it was always an interim home before move for final forever home in 2025 so we never could justify the investment. Anyway - nothing to be done about that now!

Can I ask what you advise in kids' bedrooms? We will strip their walls of their various certificates and posters. But what about things like DD's dolls house or bookcase and DS's rack of games and - well I mean those two bedrooms are very obviously bedrooms of primary aged children and we can't exactly make them look like - I don't know - offices or something!

Another random question - are there such things as bedspreads people use? The country where I'm from has things called "bedcovers" which are embroidered/themed large covers you neatly cover beds with so that sheets etc not visible - hard to explain. I always find it weird to leave sheets and duvets on the beds. Is there an equivalent to a "bedcover" that you all recommend for our bed which is super king size and then DS and DD respective single beds which are covered in Star Wars and Paw Patrol bedding respectively?

You could stick some spring flowering bulbs in the garden, I think as long as you did it in the next week you haven’t missed the window would add some cheer. And book a window cleaner if you haven’t had one in a while! Also if something is called a bedroom, I’d make sure there’s a bed in it.

Otherwise sounds great to me! You’ve already done more than most than the houses we viewed 😅

For viewings you have to get the balance of living in the place day-to-day vs making it presentable. In a quiet market, your house might be on for weeks or months. Whilst I hear the PP comment about a bedroom having a bed in it, that wasn't practical in our case because we both WFH and need 2 dedicated offices for calls (not just a desk in a corner of a room). Likewise, if you have children, you have to be realistic about what you can remove from eyesight for every single viewing.

Focus on the easy stuff - decluttering, removing unnecessary nik naks such as non-wall mounted pictures and ornaments and ensure the front of the house and garden is presentable. We bought new plants and kept on top of weeding so there was constant colour and the garden looked like a great entertaining space. We are generally tidy and have cleaners in every week so the house always looked presentable.

We were told not to bother repainting or doing any bigger jobs. If you haven't already replaced the kitchen / bathroom etc. when you come to sell, you may as well suck it up and price accordingly as you won't get the money back. I'm sure there are some exceptions to that rule, but for rooms that are just a bit tired I don't think it's worth going to town.

It sounds like you are storming ahead with the decluttering and I honestly think that's the most important thing you can do.

One thing you can do is take photos of each room from various angles then rearrange the furniture and take the photos again. And do it all again if need be. That way you can see what is highlighted, what ought to be and what is that shouldn't be. Take photos standing, sitting and standing on a footstool for differing perspectives if you want to get really anal about the whole thing.

Swap furniture from different rooms perhaps, show off a good view, create a cosy nook. If you have a fireplace, either light it or put something light in it. I loathe the look of a dark hole.

Re the beds, if the kids are in single beds, buy a plain double quilt cover in a neutral colour and drape that over, same with yours. It will be fine.

If you are still in doubt, try to remember what the photos of the house looked like before you viewed it. It attracted your interest and then you bought it!

It is a waste to put new bathroom/kitchen in - they may not like it and it is nice too to put your own stamp on the house and they can justify a new bathroom if it's older but harder if it's new.
My EA tells of his super expensive beautiful and fairly new flooring that he saw in a skip a week after buyer moved in!
I know you want to get it perfect but honestly some states of some houses don't worry - yours sounds very cared for and lovely.

It sounds like you’ve done an amazing job preparing already! Listing in early March is a great idea. Here are a few additional tips for prepping your home:
Keep decor balanced: You don’t need to strip the house entirely of personal touches.
Kitchen and bathrooms: Since these are good but a bit tired, focus on cleanliness and small updates like replacing worn-out grout, adding fresh towels, or updating handles on cabinets.
Your efforts so far are impressive and will make a big difference in attracting buyers!

Apart from the decluttering, we were advised to remove family photos, remove the tea towel, put away toiletries apart from ‘posh’ perfume on the dressing table. Pretty much leave it styled as they do with show homes.

We bought white towels, which came out for viewings, had fresh flowers in the hall and made sure everything sparkled. It’s a pain in the wotsit, but hopefully you sell quickly and can relax a bit.

I always tidy up scuffed walls and woodwork with paint, easy job but looks so much neater and less tired.