have decided to put house on the market... What can I do to make it stick out, look appealing compared to neighbours

[Julezboo]

ok so theres 4/5 houses for sale on this row. I know our next door neighbour has had hers up for sale 2/3 times already and failed to sell it but she has got it up at a stupid price. Most houses on this row go for 79 -80k mark shes asking for £90k so she is pushing it. We are on a main road, garden is teired so rubbish.

We are in the middle or replacing the cupboard doors int he kitchen and re doing the bathroom and basically modernising it but We really need to seel to be able to move closer to the school

Take lots and lots of your own photos to make sure you have the best ones and not the snaps taken in three minutes flat by the agents. Make them put lots of photos on the rightmove listing. Make sure they point out any good features in the rightmove listing.

Clean up the outside to ensure curb appeal. Maybe a couple of bay trees or something in planters. Clean windows.

Pack away things which are very personal (and which you can live without for a while). Take down photos on walls (although a couple in frames on a sideboard or something are fine). Pack away excess toys. Neutralise any bright colours which might not appeal to the masses. Get a couple of nice plants to accessorise.
Put out your posh toiletries.

Hope.

thanks... Will be a few weeks before we contact estate agents so was hoping to get it done. We bought house of MIL last year so there is still alot of blues and greens which I despise.

What colour would you reccommend for hallway (first point of view!)

Agree with what has been said about toning down bright colours, tidying excess toys etc. Tidy gardens and sheds too.

Wouldn't assume that neighbours house is overvalued. We sold out last one for £125,000 all others on the street only ever reached £85,000

Kerb appeal - it will get people interested in yours more than the others. Hanging baskets , pots , tidy borders/shrubs and swept path to give easy access. imnside keep as much light as possible coming in , keep woindows clean and clutter free, tie back curtains, amintian sight lines from entrance door of room to windows. If repainting go for neutral walls and add colour with furnishings.

Agree about kerb appeal, makes so much difference, couple of window boxes, couple of those little tree things in nice pots either side of the front door ( at horticultural ignorance but you know what I mean).

Clear away all your crap from the bathroom when taking photos and having viewings. Only have piles of newly laundered nicely folded towels and posh new unused toiletries on display, as if you were a hotel.

Paint hall fresh white. Neutral and looks fresh, clean and nice blank canvass.

Definitely kerb appeal - polish door furniture, nice pot plants, sweep dead leaves off path etc.

Have been looking at houses myself and tbh I don't think clutter matters too much - I am buying the house not the tat in it. I will be bringing my own tat.

Have a good answer to why you want to sell. Do not break down in tears and say "It's all so personal". If it is, think of something else!

Get rid of mildew in bathroom.
Paint over it or something!

Would not have done bathroom or kitchen.
Next person will be ripping it out anyway.

Finish off all the jobs that need doing, people either want to buy a wreck or something already done - very few would entertain somebody elses unfinished jobs.

Work out who you are selling to - first time buyers, families etc and stage accordingly - first time buyers aspirational coffee table magazines, pictures of young pre children couple having that fab life, informal dinner parties with friends etc etc. Families generally toy free with a sprinkling of childrens toys to make it look possible but tidy.

Avoid cliches - bread in oven, coffee pot on the go all look contrived and like you are trying too hard. Far better to go for clean and fresh.

Tidy garden, clean windows, fresh bedlinen, vase of fresh flowers and especially at this time of year create or smarten up the place where you have your garden table and chairs.

will think of more.....

oh and shiny , fingerprint free chrome/brass fittings and taps

thanks all, its not personal we need to move closer to the school to save petrol. Its a good school and we are a good ten min drive away !

We need to replace kitchen cupboards as they are sagging at the bottom and the doors are revolting. I know I wouldnt have bought this house had it been a stranger and we werent getting it for £20k less than it was worth. I think MIL lives with her head in blue/green clouds!

not redoing whole bathroom just painting and putting new floor down.

Garden will be our big down fall, its a jungle. We have had 5 people come to do us a quote and no one will ring us back! I have one more persont to try today, got the number off a friend!

pray

Um..... save petrol? You're spending how many thousands of pounds moving house to save a few quid on petrol?? Surely there are other reasons?

We sold ours in a week when the house next door had been on for ages, and this was only in January. First, ours was a better house - next door needed lots of work, and even though ours wasn't perfect, it looked smarter. We painted the kitchen cupboards, and took down the mishmash of cupboards on one wall of the small galley kitchen and put up frosted glass shelves instead, with plates and glasses neatly displayed. We dismantled quite a lot of furniture and put it in a kindly neighbour's garage so you could walk freely around all the rooms. I boxed up a full bookcase of books and put them in the loft to make the spare room look bigger, and moved a wardrobe and chest of drawers in there from the master bedroom, which made the spare room more bedroomy and the master look MASSIVE. We decluttered ruthlessly and made sure the place was sparkling, kept the garden furniture in situ on the deck (in Jan! But it worked as we talked it up as a nice sitting-out spot) and threw away bagfulls of stuff. It was hard work, but worth it.

Wash your car! Sounds daft, but we're househunting at the moment and if the car looks really run down then I can't help but wonder if the owners have let the house get run down too (and then done a quick cover-up job).

clam I know it sounds daft lol, we live a good 10 min drive from the school but I also have to take DP to work, so I spend 3 hours a day roughly driving and we are litrally filling our car up with £60 a week

There is other reasons but the main one being I would rather move 5 mins away from school, with a decent flat garden for the boys and be able to walk to the school and back. We are out in the stick in the valley... It was MIL's house and whenever she visits treat it as hers. I just dont feel like its mine iykwm??

main reason is the location though

Ive spent today decluttering the kitchen and bathroom (bathroom is huge!) Tomorrow will do the bedrooms

Definately tackle the garden - esp over the summer - clear everything & put some garden furniture out = extra room!

Agree with the point about thinking about your buyer - whose likely to buy your house - singles, young family etc - then tailor to fit.

Declutter EVERYTHING. Then declutter some more.

lol quattro - south wales! Not far from cardiff...

Got a man coming about the garden tomorrow so fingers crossed!

you're moving house to save 10 minutes travelling time a day?? Surely if you want to save money traveling then you should look at moving closer to DHs work and moving schools, he looks for a new job closer, or you explore other ways of gettign to work?

With the cost of moving it will take you years to "make back" the money you have to spend???

I know we wont save money, going for a larger house. Thats not the main reason, i hate driving, its not just ten minutes, we leave the house at ten to 8 i dont get home till half 9, then i do it all again come half 2 and its alot of driving in one day. The garden is useless for kids and tbh its was our stepping stone onto the property ladder We got it for cheap.

DP works in a very expensive area so no way we could afford to move there. Its only one junction down so he could take the car to work, I am happy to walk places and catch buses