Advice on preparing house for sale

[Jayne40]

Hi, I’m new and would appreciate any advice. I’m going to be selling my house and I’m really anxious and nervous about it. The idea of having photos on the internet (I know necessary) and been judged is a real worry.

anyway I don’t have much of a budget due to financial challenges so I’m wondering where to prioritize and what you look for when looking for a new home so that I can improve my chances of selling quickly.

I don’t really know where to start I guess.

What do you look for when moving?

what could add value at limited cost?

thanks in advance

The only thing that's truly adds value is making the living space bigger, i.e. extending or converting the loft. Good property developers use furniture/fittings that are fashionable and have mass appeal. Make sure the place is clean and tidy. Any obvious maintenance/DIY jobs - get them done. If you have very personal taste in decor then neutralise it. Make sure any outside space is clean and tidy. You don't need to do more than that.

On a budget......

Clean and exceptionally tidy
Neutralise any whacky coloured paintwork
Flowers in a vase
Sunny day
Some spring flowers in pots at patio
A standard bay tree/lavender at front door
Mowed lawn
Well made beds, coordinating bedding with room decor as best you can from what you own
Curtains tidily pulled back
Hide bins from photos

De-clutter massively
De-personalise
Clean any stained carpet/rugs
Touch up chipped/dirty paint
Wash down kitchen cupboards
If you have a garage, make sure you can get a car in it!
Tidy up garden if you have one, maybe some pots with flowers by the front door.
New door mat
Clean down wooden/upvc windows and door frames.
Jet wash patio/drive if you have them.
(Obviously, you can pay people to do most of the above)
Good luck

Clutter is always the thing that puts me off a house, not just personal things like photos or trinkets but also appliances out on the sides etc. Whenever I see things out, it always makes me think that there can't possibly be enough storage. So get as much as you can decluttered and out of the house, and the rest hidden.

Here’s what we did when we sold our house a few years ago:

We boxed up the majority of our stuff and hired a storage unit - this made a huge difference!

We replaced all of the light bulbs in the house with bright LED ones.

Finished the small DIY jobs we never got round to.

Gave everywhere a coat of paint.

Bought some prints / rugs / cushions etc.

Put down new bathroom flooring (on top of the existing flooring) and replaced the bedroom carpets.

If you’re anxious, Mn is the wrong place to ask, as a lot of posters appear to labour under the delusion that it’s a tidiness/house staging competition about being ‘visitor-ready’. In reality, most people will only ‘judge’ your house based on price, location, floor plan, parking etc, ie on its potential suitability for them.

Declutter, give the house a good clean, renew visibly scuffed areas of paintwork, make sure the garden is well-presented, do any repairs needed, and supervise the photos being taken. I’ve sold several houses and that’s all I’ve ever done. Only if it were a difficult sale would I bother doing anything further.

Declutter. Remove furniture if you have to. Anything that blocks you moving through or room it looks like it’s been squashed in. Remove anything that looks like overflow storage (boxes on top of wardrobes), says you don’t have enough space. Remove everything except essentials (kettle) from kitchen surfaces. Be ruthless and depersonalise everywhere.
Clean, clean, clean. Touch up paint if it needs it. Tidy garden. Be prepared to live very tidily for a while until you sell.

I have walked out of viewings where houses/rooms were so clutteredthat you could barely move/get from one end of the room to another.
Also, it will help you get started on packing up to move.
A really thorough clean will always help

Rent quality furniture and a professional decorator for staging.

Remember you still need to live in the house whilst it is on the market so don't drastically change things! I've 'sold' 6 houses and each time only kept it very clean and tidy for viewings.
Basic things you need to remember - Make sure toilet seats and lids are down, towels neatly folded and beds made - I did buy large throws for the beds as it covered a multitude of sins especially if you cba to iron your duvet covers every day. Put clean and dirty clothes away, make sure all cupboard doors are closed. Wipe down the kitchen surfaces and put all cloths, rubber gloves, clean/dirty crockery out of sight.

The OP has said she’s on a tight budget, so the most important things are to declutter, then look around and declutter again. If you’re moving, there’s no point in taking things with you that you don’t want or need, so better to remove them now.

Ensure everything is as clean as possible, including the outside and if you have some money flowers and plants in tubs look attractive and are portable.

If you can afford it and the house needs it, retouch or redo paintwork.

Wow thank you everyone for the advice I do feel a bit better with all this advice and that it’s achieveable.

i think the declutter thing is essential I don’t know why I keep so much stuff

We’re the same. Always hold on to things just in case.

As I said upthread, we boxed everything up, and rented a storage unit. One year later, when we were settled in our new house and had done a bit of renovating, we got it all out of storage. It basically went straight out of the van and to the charity shop or the skip! So we’d paid a year’s worth of storage fees for nothing, essentially.

I think this is what I’m thinking about not just getting the house ready but as I’m moving to a different city how much do I want to hold on to? When realistically I want a fresh start after 20 years of living a life I wasn’t happy with

Things get put in cupboards or drawers and not thought about. When you do consider what you actually want and need, it’s amazing how much you can get rid of.

Have a browse on rightmove in your area to see what attracts your attention and also what makes you not want to view a property. For me it needs to feel "liveable" e.g. if you're selling a 3 bed family house I don't think it needs to be decluttered to the extent that there's no toys in the kid bedrooms, but it needs to be obvious that there's enough space for storage for them. The same with things like ironing boards and vacuum cleaners and kitchen counters being full of anything but the essentials (kettle, toaster, airfryer only not piles of water bottles or kids lunch boxes etc).

Randomly picked an area and some examples.

1. this isn't to my decor taste and there's a few nicknacks around but you can see that there's a good space for seating in the living room and a coffee table if you wanted to add one. Likewise the double bedrooms have space for a bed and 2 bedside tables and there's a good amount of wardrobe space. The front garden could do with a bit of curb appeal but it looks like a decent 3 bed semi which has been well maintained and has scope to personal to my taste. No overly "wanky" arty estate agent photos to detract from the true picture of the house. I think it's a decent example of a lived in, family home without being staged as a show home.
   3 bedroom semi-detached house for sale in The Drive, Alwoodley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS17

2. ok it's a rental property but this screams cluttered and "this house isn't big enough"! 7 bedroom terraced house for sale in Buckingham Mount, Leeds, LS6

Also get your agent to label the photos so that match the room descriptions on the floor plan and make sure your floor plan has room dimensions on it.

You could always throw in a free estate agent as an added incentive to buy...

I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/148578971

Clean and tidy is the main thing here. Definitely take the opportunity to be ruthless with getting rid of stuff. When we were getting ready to move I made sure I actually handled every single item in my house. Emptied out every cupboard, sorted it through, and got rid asap. It took time but it meant I really thought, do I want to pack this up, move it and unpack it again? It was ridiculous how much stuff was just sitting there. So do it well now and save the hassle later.

Quick sale, well, I would say make sure the online listing is accurate and decent. Good photos that actually look like your home. A floor plan with measurements on. Pictures of every room, garden, front etc. Details of anything relevant like parking, maintenance charges, any work done recently like boiler, kitchen, bathroom etc. What you want is for the people who actually come to view to be serious about your property. They should already know the layout, number of bedrooms and rough size. Hundreds of viewers wanting a 3 double bed house with parking will not be impressed if it turns out one room is a box room, for example. Wide angle pictures can make rooms look very out of proportion and give the online viewer a false impression. So be honest and avoid the time wasters. And be very realistic about price. The changes to stamp duty may mean things might be a little slow right now unless you’re well priced.

Good luck! It will be worth it once it’s done.

Declutter and paint if necessary. Remove anything twee.

Identify all the good point your house has, no matter how small. You want to highlight these.

Take photos of each room from all angles.

Rearrange the furniture, remove a few pieces if necessary.

Take pictures again.

Do you have a dark spot? Bring in a lamp and switch it on. A grotty chair? Throw a sheet and some colour over it.

If you have a patch of sunshine, put a comfy chair in there with a book or newspaper and perhaps a small table.

If you have a fire place, light the fire.

A bit of greenery.

If you have a dining table, set it nicely.

This is amazing thanks so much @MiddleAgedDread

Taking photos now is a great idea then I can see what I’m working with I didn’t think of this, I so glad I posted

In addition - I neutralised two former teenage bedrooms too more calming colours, replaced the carpet in my daughters bedroom and the stairs. All looking very manky.
Something I think is important is that you know what purpose each room has and is set out accordingly. So clearly designated area for eating, my convervatory was setout as another sitting room and study looked like you could work from it! I say this as when I was looking at houses earlier this year, there was so much clutter and lack of dining room table that you wondered how the house would work from a practical point of view.

I had photos done on Monday and I didn't have a great deal of money to update the house before I sell. I want to keep as much as possible for my new house.

I decluttered all my cupboards and then on the day put pretty much anything else that was out into the cupboards. The only thing he got me to move on the day was the soap dispenser/food caddy that I had out on the kitchen counter. Have a look at some others that are selling and see what they look like. You'll notice that the best presented ones are almost bare.

My living room and kitchen could have done with a lick of paint but I just haven't had the opportunity so I bought a pack of those magic sponges and wiped away as much marks as I could. When I asked the estate agent about any scuffs left over they said not to worry as they were small enough not to be picked up on.

I bought some white bedspreads so that the patterns weren't too busy.

I tidied up the garden and bought cheap bedding plants to bring a bit of colour. I also bought some daffodils and had a couple of vases around.

My kitchen and garden are the best feature of my house so I asked the estate agent to come in a morning when these are at their brightest.

Go round each room and take photos from different angles.

It's interesting to see what shows up in a photo that it's necessarily so obvious in real life.

The angles can mean you have a section of wall in need of a coat of paint front and centre or mean the chest of drawers you've never liked is the focus of an image.

Once you are ready for the proper photos do another check so that you pick up messy bed corners or drawers not shut properly which again look worse in photos.