Preparing to go on the market

[ChunkyBaby]

We’ve got estate agent and photographer booked for early January. Me and DH have got roughly two weeks off over Christmas and New Year, kids are old enough to entertain themselves while we crack on.

I’d like to declutter (mostly in the kids rooms), the garden will need a tidy up, the cellar probably needs organising, the loft too. What else do I need to think about?

Then, when it’s on the market - how do you keep on top of keeping everything ‘viewing ready’ with a family?

We have time and I’m usually fairly organised. But right now I feel very overwhelmed and hoping the MN collective can share their wisdom.

Think about “set dressing” for photos. You may need to move the odd piece of furniture or put a flower vase in an unusual place. Walk around taking photos with your phone to get angles and views to see what it will look like. You may want to buy the odd thing: look at Facebook marketplace or go to TK Maxx or so on.

for viewing basics like fresh flowers. People want to feel a home not a clinical ultra tidy/clean cold space- for most properties anyway.

Literally go into every room and make a list.
Each room can be split into 3.

Cleaning
Declutter
Repair
Basic cleaning - Everything from wiping skirting with a damp cloth to getting finger marks off doors. The line where the dog goes… Dust on lampshades
Basic decluttering- absolutely nothing on show
Basic repair- fix toilet seats, doors that don’t shut, missing lightbulbs,
And so on
Then give everyone in the family their share of list

Kerb appeal. Make sure the outside looks as tidy as possible. It’s true that you don’t spend a lot of time looking at the outside of your house, but people driving by may make a judgement about whether they want to view.

It really is set dressing. Personal things removed, but flowers, interesting pieces, all help people to envisage themselves in the house.

Good suggestion to take photos on my phone @TMMC1.

The categories are helpful @Mum5net. The house is pretty clean, but I’m giving DH the responsibility for ‘repair’ and I can do the ‘declutter’ and clean anything as I go from each area.

@Buscobel we have the gas box at the front of the house and I changed it a few months ago from a grubby old painted one to a nice metal one. It looks so much better.

Are you getting Matterport/360° photography done as well?
We got rid of so much furniture for the photographs to create extra 'space'.
We had to tidy all our spaghetti wires with cable ties and use Blu Tack to pin them to the skirtings. We lightened our bookcases and added a few trailing plants to make them feel more relaxed and inviting. Above all, we built up the beds to give them more presence and a luxe look — each one ended up with three duvets. I dressed mine in linen for that slightly “lived-in but elevated” feel.
At night, I took off the top layers and hung them on clothes airers so they wouldn’t get crushed. The first layer was just our normal duvet, which we actually used, and then the fancy layers went on top. Same with the pillowcases.
— I removed the posh linen ones each night and we slept on the under-layer.
I had a spray bottle of diluted zoflora that I used 10 mins before visits started. Honestly, thank goodness we were sold within a fortnight as it was hard, hard work

You've had good tips on getting ready. fresh plants in any front garden and by the front door - a bit of colour!

its the keeping it ready for viewings thats the exhausting bit. a full deep clean every time. wd40 on all the window hinges so they open easily. clean bedding every time - smells fresh! I bought fresh flowers for kitchen window sill.

playroom - artfully set up schleich animals on a farm, art displays out on table etc. selling the playroom dream rather than the chaos!

i used to put dog bed and laundry baskets in the car.

good luck. it's been a lot harder than i expected.

As mum5net suggested above.. Stunt bedding and towels for viewings.
Taking your own photos before the proper ones helps you see things like cables that you've become blind to. Straighten up curtains and blinds before photos. Toilet seat DOWN!
Get a couple of large wicker baskets for tidying up for viewings at short notice. All crap lying about gets chucked in them and a pretty blanket on top to hide everything.
All evidence of pets hidden. (no don't put Fido in the basket of crap!)

Touch up any dirty paint marks on the walls otherwise it gives a shabby feel to the house.

The single most important consideration is to make sure the asking price is attractive. A lot of people waste time, money and energy trying to get the agents initial valuation. In the current market your really quite lucky if that's achievable, unfortunately.

Don’t waste your time with ‘set dressing’. Buyers aren’t fooled by this kind of thing, and won’t suddenly decide to make an offer just because you have fresh flowers or new towels.

Just declutter, clean and tidy, and then list for a reasonable price.

When we went on the market we packed up
loads of packing boxes with stuff we wanted to keep, but weren’t day to day items we regularly needed. Then we stacked the boxes in the garage. It decluttered the place, saved time packing later, and when viewers saw the stack of boxes knew we were serious about moving.

Yes absolutely. You see so many ‘why isn’t my house selling’ threads on here. The answer is always because the price is too high.

You need to make the rooms look like they have ample storage.
Decutter (which you are doing so that’s great)
organise as much as you can.
No boxes on top of wardrobes- it screams “we don’t have enough space”
Remove bulky oversized furniture if you can.
Streamline every room.

Declutter as much as you possibly can do the rooms look as big as possible. Then a big deep clean.

For the viewings I had mostly open houses but with appointment times so I could do one big tidy and scrub for each day.

But the single most important thing is to have the right price.