Tips for selling house

[frecklejuice]

Our house is due to go on the market by next week, photos are being taken on Monday.

We have already seen a house that we love so are hoping that it won’t take forever to get a decent offer. I was just wondering if anyone has any tips for the photos (should we leave towels on towel rails, should we clear bottles out of showers so they are empty etc..)? Is there anything we should do or not do when we have viewings?

We have been in this house for 22 years so completely out of practice!

make it presentable without any tat lying around, like a show home

I find it useful to take a picture of a room myself. It's amazing the stuff that jumps out at you that you didn't really notice in the flesh!

Iron the bedding, make sure everything is very clean, don’t leave anything like the ironing board out as it’ll look like you’ve no storage

Unplug cables and tidy them away.
Put some of the ornaments away and keep the surfaces in the kitchen clear - I don't want to see vases of flowers obscuring the view.
Put the toilet seats down!

Clear as much stuff off counters and surfaces as you can even if you just shove it in a cupboard!

Style as if it's a hotel so towels folded on rails, beds made beautifully, vase of flowers on the table, loo seat down, curtains hanging neatly. We took all the magnets and kids art off our fridge.

Our photographer was really good and pointed things out too, so we moved some stuff for the shot and put it back after!

That’s all really helpful thank you and I like the idea of taking a photo. Our house is pretty tidy and we don’t have a lot of clutter anywhere so I’m just going to spend the weekend putting bits and pieces away and will definitely take stuff off of the fridge door (didn’t think of that).

It’s my 11 year olds bedroom that is the messiest, I can tidy it but she has pictures on the walls and a big pin board covered in random stuff!

Yes clear clutter from the bathroom. Hide them in a bathroom. Leave a nice looking few bottles of bathroom stuff out
Fresh fluffy towels on the rail
No bathroom mat

Remove clutter or organise
( my dh even colour coded the books 🤣 )
Bedding needs to be fresh and plumped. You can tell even on photos if the duvet covers have been through a lot of washes.
We bought new ones

Remove family photos.

For the kitchen leave things on the worktop that people aspire to. People loved our stainless steel bread in, we put it out for the look it didn’t actually work
Glass jars of dried goods like beans and lentils add colour to a kitchen and people ( not all I suppose) aspire to cooking
A vase of flowers in kitchen, living or/ and hall

Jet wash any slabs in the garden
Mow the grass and make sure dead plants are removed and add colour. If you don’t have any flowers in the garden pop fake ones in amongst borders or in pots. You can’t tell they’re not real from a photo.

[ Im really giving away my guilty secrets now 🤣🤣 ]

Walking sticks and hats look great in a hall. Old and worn entrance mats don’t

Photos from inside looking out if you have French doors or lots of glass look great.
Split screen photos too ie two portrait sized photos next to each other as one pic
Colour on the plans makes them easier to read ie blue for all bathrooms etc
Dimensions on plans are a must in metric and ( feet)

If you’re on a street where cars park make sure yours is parked out the front in good time before the photographer comes. you can then move it to get a shot of the house without neighbours cars ruining the image

Remove the pinboard and random pics. Teplace with a large image. Tell your 11yr old it’s just for the photos.
Hide stuff and clutter in her room

The most important thing to do is get the price right. Take the agents valuation with a pinch of salt as they all seem to be struggling not to overestimate. By all means try their suggested asking price for 2 or 3 weeks and see if it brings in offers. If it doesn't even bring in good numbers of viewings you will know pretty quickly that the price is too high. Its very price sensitive at the moment and likley to get harder. Lots of stories on MN of homes just languishing on the market. Wish you good luck :)

Don’t allow your estate agent to take wanky up close photos in soft focus of a plate of cookies or a bunch of flowers or a cushion plumped on a bed.

Our estate agent’s advice was to make sure the windows were clean for photos and for viewings

Get some plastic bags and put in everything that you don’t see in show homes - tooth brushes, normal shampoos etc, tea towels and oven gloves, etc and stick them in the boot of your car. Replace with a very few nice things. Get rid of anything on top of wardrobes unless it’s nice storage. No trainers in the hall. Bag up and dump in car boot.

I don’t personally want to see any sign of pets and I’m not alone. Every house friends or family have brought from people who had dogs or cats have had hidden damage which they discovered after buying, so I will not buy a house from pet owners.

Declutter. Remove unnecessary furniture if you can. Try and make the rooms look as big as possible and don’t leave things on surfaces or piles as it looks like you don’t have enough storage. Keep walking through your house and be ultra critical, and then remove more things.

And never say your reason for moving is to buy a bigger house (even if that’s true). Don’t put any ideas in sellers heads that your house is too small.

I keep a throw for each bed that won't need ironing and chuck it on for the photos and for viewings so I don't need to worry about the state of my bedding.
Clean and tidy is important.
Don't declutter so much that there's no personality, but don't have so much personality that people can't see themselves in the house.
For example, I love a jigsaw and always have one on the go, I wouldn't tidy this away. I also read, so tend to leave books on nightstands and tables, I don't tidy these away either.
Good luck.

Agree a thousand times

I’ve moved a lot and if anyone asks I say I’m moving to be nearer my parents. Even though they passed away many years ago

Tbh it’s no one’s business why you’re moving and as Candleabra quite rightly says don’t put ideas in buyers heads

Thanks everyone for the advice, it was all great. We have accepted an offer after only being on the market a week but now suddenly they want to come back today and bring their Mum. I’m hoping that they just want to show her rather than get a second opinion, we have had our offer accepted and the house we love is empty so please keep everything crossed for us! The house is looking as good as it’s going to get so there isn’t anything else we can do 🤞