What are your top tips for selling a home? - £300 voucher to be won

[EmmaMumsnet]

NOW CLOSED

If you’ve sold your home before, or nosed around someone else’s, you’ll know that first impressions count. There’s a load of advice out there on how to get your house market-ready but Purplebricks wants to hear from you with your top tips for selling and what you look for when you view houses.

If you have children...how do you hide store all the toys?! What about redecorating? Is there a go-to paint colour? Maybe you do small things like having fresh bedding and flowers for house viewings? Or do you clean clean clean and clean again?

Here’s what Purplebricks has to say: “MNers, let’s talk kerb appeal. What gets you going or just gets your goat when you’re looking round a potential new property? Have you got any advice you could share on how to present your property for maximum impact? Share it with us.”

So, whatever your tips are for selling, share them on the thread below and everyone who comments will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

[PamPooveysCow]

It can’t be too clean, also get rid of all the clutter. I’ve been known to stash it in a rented garage, and even some in the boot of my car.

I also turn all the lights on even in the daytime, so no room looks dark or dingy.

[joggingrunning]

Make sure to tidy your house and recycle/donate/throw away things things that you do not need anymore. A cluttered house may impact negatively on a house viewing, so try to keep it spacious and clean.

Spend some time painting walls a colour that is fresh and modern. Maybe replace some of the curtains and bed linen to create a warm and vibrant atmosphere.

[GetKnitted]

Have a nosey at the pictures of any neighbours / similar local properties who are selling or have recently sold. Make sure your house looks as appealing as theirs for the price!

[goldenretriever1978]

Clean and tidy, flowers in a vase, nice smelling. Don't over price and try and see your house through fresh eyes approaching it as if you were a viewer.

[SmileyShazza]

Declutter! We removed everything we didn't need and rented a storage unit for a few months so we could completely declutter our house when we were selling.

We made sure that the house was clean, tidy and decorated plainly throughout with magnolia walls. We used soft furnishings to add a pop of colour to the rooms rather than having feature walls.

Keep your outside space tidy, flower beds weeded, grass mown. Kerb appeal counts for a lot when buyers drive by to check out your property or first pull up for a viewing.

If you don't want to deal with the viewings let your Estate Agent take care of them. With a small baby and a toddler it was much easier for us to let the Agent take care of viewings while I took the kids out to toddler group or soft play for a few hours.

Also on the subject of Estate Agents - getting the right one can be key to selling your house. Ask friends and family who they used and what they thought of them - you can even ask on local Facebook groups for recommendations. If you feel your agent is not working well for you after a couple of months don't be afraid to move to another one - sometimes you have to try a couple before you find the best one for you.

[HannahLI]

We are currently selling our home at the moment and I have removed a lot of the toys into boxes in the garage and I rotate around which ones come in, it means less to tidy up and the kids don't get bored because I change them about. Lego is my biggest problem as it spreads and its small and not easy to tidy up quickly!
Hide away your teatowels and oven gloves - in the oven is easy enough and remove anything you wouldn't want to see. Untidy toiletries has been a massive put off when we have been looking along with dirty and clean washing left in piles. I plan my week so that my laundry goes on, I dry it with the heated airer and then tuck it all away again before viewings!

[Jellyjumpers]

Hopefully have designed your house so the purpose of rooms is obvious.

[stationaryace]

If you've got kids don't feel the need to overly clean - food off the floor, yes, but it's expected that if kids live there it's not going to be show home perfect. Do use it as a perfect excuse to put most of the toys away in storage(cupboard, loft etc) and just have our a smaller selection accessible for play. Then rotate these toys every month - they'll get more play than if all the toys were out anyway and you have less to shift for viewings.

I was never worried about painting in houses we viewed as we were looking at older (70s) houses which we knew we'd need to do some work to and I wanted to decorate every room. But if you're going to paint, use white, not magnolia
I've never understood the appeal of magnolia walls when white is so much fresher and easy to cover.

Make sure the purpose of each room is obvious and how it flows with the layout of the house. We passed on a few houses as the layout just didn't make sense and would have required too much work to conform to something we could use with a young family, no matter how funky is originally appeared (sunken den just off the garage but only accessible through kitchen). And empty the bins!

[MouseRatFan]

I think it's important to declutter everywhere but not so much it looks sterile. It is still a home afterall. I make sure the kids toys are put away, stair ways and halls are clear, everywhere is clean and vacuumed and I bake some cookies before a viewing.

[Ratbagcatbag]

It being decluttered is my number one thing. Followed by clean and pleasant smelling.
I hated house hunting and walking into places where is just smelt of wet dog, or a cat litter tray wasn’t emptied. It just put me off completely.
For me also buying off smokers where they had blatantly smoked in the house was a no go. All I could think of was replacing carpets/curtains through the whole place.

[queenoftheschoolrun]

Declutter, tidy and clean. Lots of other posters saying the same but it's clearly not that obvious given some of the properties we've viewed over the years!

[vickyors]

Put clutter away. Have nice objects on show rather than your own crap. Open curtains wide. Make sure the house smells clean and fresh. And clean it. Walk in and round and inspect your own place- does it look like someone else would fit there?

[Kr1stina]

Price it realistically. The only reason that properties don’t sell is that they are too expensive.

[Cupcakeicecream]

Make sure the appliances are all serviced and up to date and in working order. Obviously have a massive declutter before putting on the market but leave nice touches to show that the house is live in nice touches that make house warm and cosy. Fluffy rugs to warm-up s cold wooden floor. Cushions with a pop of colour. A fresh bunch of flowers. Open the windows often to make sure the house if fresh and airy many houses I've held my breath looking around homes that have a stagnant musty smells it's not nice and put a buyer off. Have understated decor that is basically a blank canvas the buyers won't feel intimidated as it won't need much renovation. Keep the garden greener and easily low maintenance no one want to tame a jungle. All kids toys can be stored under the bed in those plastic storage tubs. Just leave a small teddy on the bed to show it's a kids room. Shows rooms can be multifunctional if you have an office upstairs change it up just add a smaller desk with a laptop o n the desk put a single bed in another bedroom and multifunctional.

[Bumblebeans]

A clean and tidy front door, clutter free and clean home. I was amazed how many grubby houses we saw when house hunting

[poppy1973]

If you are going to put your house on the market. Before the estate agents come around for photos do the following: declutter every room. Put unused items in boxes and put into your loft, labelled and stored carefully. Clean the windows of your house, make sure your outside of your house is tidy, grass cut, driveway swept etc. If spring/summer time put hanging baskets up etc.
On your first viewing-ensure all the house is tidy, carpets cleaned, floors mopped. Fresh flowers in the house always look nice. Ensure you make your beds, put your clothes away etc. don't leave them handing around. Have a few yankee candles lit in a few rooms and then blow out before viewers look around. Put a few windows on latch to let some fresh air in, if you can. Put the coffee maker on in the kitchen. Put some fresh fruit in your fruit bowl and leave out.

We have never had a problem when we have done this in the houses we have sold in the past.

[Beach11]

Have a super clean done, touch up any paint work or walls, de clutter but make house feel warm and cosy. Keep outside of house tidy and clean

[mistywillow17]

Clean, clean, clean, then clean some more - skirting, walls, doors too - it's amazing what you don't notice when you live somewhere, but that a stranger would spot. And open all the windows to let the house air properly, particularly in the bedrooms. Fresh flowers rather than artificial air freshener, and make sure the kitchen cupboards are clean on the inside in case prospective buyers take a peek inside.

[m0jit0]

Declutter and clean. Nice scented candle (but not over powering). Neutral decor. Proactive estate agents to get feedback from viewers.

[Temerity123]

Light, neutral
Colours throughout, no clutter, a few personal touches to make it feel like a real home and a nice fragrance.

[Teaspoon74]

Declutter, clean, and bake!
We bought our house despite the mess and slight odour, but we demanded (and got) a significant chunk off it. Compare that to the house we sold which we cleaned and cleared to within an inch of its life and ensured we had the bread machine going throughout the open house. 22 bids later, we were laughing!

[EmmaMumsnet]

Congratulations to @torthecatlady whose name was pulled from the prize draw to win the £300 voucher!