What do you look at when inspecting a house at an open house?

[Arimeh]

Hey all

I've just agreed to have an open house next saturday. We're putting an ad in the paper for next thursday, advertising the open house so we are hoping (and praying) that someone will come and look at it with a view to buy it.

So we want to make sure we can do everything possible to give a good impression.

What do you look for in a home when you go and inspect it? Obviously that its clean with no junk hanging around etc, so this weekend will be spent cleaning windows, mowing the lawn, picking up dog poop, going to the tip with any extra rubbish etc.

Any other tips that you can pass on? What sold a house to you? Did anything in particular make you go "wow..thats nice" or do most people just look at the house and not anything else? We dont have the nicest furniture (helllooo 3 small kids to seek and destroy everything) but we can't afford to rent nice furniture just to sell the house for us.

Tips please! (pretty pretty please, we NEED to sell our house!)

[Pretty Butterfly]

Well we just sold, and bought again.....
The cleanliness wasn't the be all and end all, it was the clutter I hate seeing... In places if you cant see the walls or carpet, you assume their crap!!

We also packed up EVERYTHING we didnt need till we moved... every room, and every cupbourd looked so so so spacious, even when they werent.

I always put something smelly in the slow cooker a few hrs before hand, the house smelled amazing, and not like fake spray.

Long neat surfaces, but not like a museum, just friendly and lived in. Turn on lights in darker rooms.
In the room we had kids sharing in, we took out the other bed, and just used a mattress at night. The room looked 100% better, and bigger!

BBL, head not working too well today...

[*Ang*]

My biggest tip would be to declutter everything so that the rooms looker bigger and possibly brighter then they actually are. Obviously you still need to use things such as kids toys but I would remove all but the essential and store them either in a shed or someone elses house for the duration. You want the floors to be clear - so remove any toys, beanbags, kiddies couches etc.

When we purchased our current house the thing that sold it to us was that all the rooms were pretty empty besides key pieces of furniture so we could see how big they were. It also allowed us to visualise ourselves in the house with our furniture, we werent overly distracted by the vendor's stuff.

I would also recommend dusting blinds (but that is a pet peeve of mine ).

Fresh flowers add a nice effect.

Remove all appliances eg toaster, kettle etc from the kitchen bench to clear that up too.

[allycat06]

Me personally....I look at the *house*, not the stuff in it. That's what you're purchasing after all.
Obviously cleanliness is important, but I tend to look for things like mould, rotting wood, the paint...all the cosmetic things that could possibly be extra costs in the long run.

What do you think are the best features of your house? Highlight them! For example if you have a fireplace, have a fire going...if you have a water feature..turn it on. Make the place feel inviting, create an ambiance with fresh flowers, lighting etc.

[Lulu]

I look for potential expensive repairs. It doesn't always put me off, I just like to know what I'm up for.

Having said that, your unit is pretty new (and I love crappy, crappy old places to buy ), so I would just keep it uncluttered to show off it's awesomeness and you should be right.

**selling vibes**

[Jennifer13]

Make sure you let in plenty of light by opening up all of the curtains and blinds. Hide away as much of 'your' stuff as possible, toys, photos, knick-knacks, etc (not that you'd have many ornaments, I'm guessing ).

What sold the unit to you when you bought it?

[Arimeh]

What sold the unit to you when you bought it?

It was the only thing on the market big enough for all of us in our price range that wasn't old and falling down around our ears!! LOL.. We loved that it was brand new and had a double garage.

And no we don't have many knick-knacks - what about pics though? keep the hanging ones on walls, take down ones on furniture?

No special features here, no fireplace, no water feature. Definitely will pack up some of our stuff though to make it look .... spacey.. LOL

[Pandora]

Kitchens and bathrooms sell.
If you have a lot of personal photos etc, put them out of sight if you can.

[skybie]

Hun the day the buyer who bought our house came over to view it,i didnt vaccum or mop!!! the house had been open to everyday for 8 days and i was over it!!!!

The realestate man who came through b4 the photo's were done suggested taking everything off the front of the fridge, taking down bday cards and things like that, adding fresh flowers to living rooms, ensuite ect and for it to be free of clutter (not the easiest of things to do with kids in a small house. i just prayed that noone opened any cupboards because they would have had a landslide of bits fall ontop of them!

[Jennifer13]

And no we don't have many knick-knacks - what about pics though? keep the hanging ones on walls, take down ones on furniture?

The idea is to make it look like a lovely place to live, but not your place. Because you don't want to live there anymore. But then, you don't want to see huge hooks on the walls, so unless there's something generic to hang there, just leave your photos on the wall, I guess. Unless there's dozens of them!

Are you going to be showing it yourself, or using a RE agent?

Have you had a look at any other places in the area that are for sale in the price range in your area? As long as yours looks the best you're probably ahead of the game, I'm guessing.

[Arimeh]

i just prayed that noone opened any cupboards because they would have had a landslide of bits fall ontop of them!

Oooh thats so my place.. LOL

How many toys are acceptable? The kids each have a toy box in their rooms (well the girls share a room so they share a toy box) but thats about it. Like, in the girls room we have a toddler bed, a cot, a sheepskin mat on the floor, toy box with cover, rocking horse, and their stereo with a little storage box type thing under it. Is that too cluttered?

Do I need to tidy cupboards as well just incase people look through them? I never had to worry about this stuff when we moved from Queensland because our house was empty when we sold it.

[megs]

Not that I have done a house inspection for a while but the things I would be looking for are

I check out cupboards, linen press pantry etc just to see the space so I guess if they were looking neat
I also like bright light rather than dull so try and open the house up
I would agree with clearing the fridge of photos
I have heard that the smell of fresh coffee is good.

Good luck

[Arimeh]

The idea is to make it look like a lovely place to live, but not your place. Because you don't want to live there anymore. But then, you don't want to see huge hooks on the walls, so unless there's something generic to hang there, just leave your photos on the wall, I guess. Unless there's dozens of them!

Are you going to be showing it yourself, or using a RE agent?

Have you had a look at any other places in the area that are for sale in the price range in your area? As long as yours looks the best you're probably ahead of the game, I'm guessing.

We don't have dozens of pictures - posters on the walls in the kids rooms, 2 michael jordan posters (one is like 6 foot long and goes across the loungeroom wall), a hand and foot thing of aricyn as a baby, a mickey mouse photo thingy in the hallway, a montage of kids pics near the kitchen and some wedding pics in our walk through robe.

Is that too many pics?

And we have a real estate agent.

There are 3 other units in the same complex for sale, 2 are basically identical to ours, but heaps cheaper (they are on the market for $239, ours is $255 minimum) but we have a double garage and are seperate from them, they are all joined with each other. So its like ours is a villa, not a duplex I suppose. The other one is bigger than ours, and on the market for $280.

[Pretty Butterfly]

I done cupbords, just so they look bigger!
Can you put the toddler bed in the garage, on its side likes it not being used?? Will make the bedroom heaps bigger....
Maybe move the stereo? Rug, horse and cot sounds perfect...

[Arimeh]

I check out cupboards, linen press pantry etc just to see the space so I guess if they were looking neat

So I'm guessing people look at things like, the walk in pantry, linen cupboard, laundry cupboard? Toy cupboard in loungeroom? Bathroom cupboards? Cupboards in rooms? What do people normally inspect? I'm guessing the kitchen cupboards aren't really going to be looked in, I mean, who looks in all of them? (tell me, please, there isn't anyone who looks through ALL cupboards?)

[skybie]

I didnt take down any photos, incl ones on th TV unit.
The girls room sounds perfectly fine, i just made sure there was no loose toys lying around IYKWIM?
i didnt bother tidying cupboards. our wardrobe is walk through so everything is visable, i did tidy and re fold everything in there.
dont stress too much hun, theyre there to buy ur house, not ur stuff.

Good luck, hope it goes super dooper quick for u

[Raupe]

So I'm guessing people look at things like, the walk in pantry, linen cupboard, laundry cupboard? Toy cupboard in loungeroom? Bathroom cupboards? Cupboards in rooms? What do people normally inspect? I'm guessing the kitchen cupboards aren't really going to be looked in, I mean, who looks in all of them? (tell me, please, there isn't anyone who looks through ALL cupboards?)

I reckon they will only look into those cupboards that are permanent fixtures and will be sold (such as walk-in pantry, built in storage under stairs etc) I personally would never look into someone's wardrobe -built in or not. I think that's too private. But then not everyone is like me .

I would suggest baking some cookies or brewing some coffee prior to inspection. That way the house smells nice. Also buy some flowers for the living room etc. Beautiful flowers in the front yard are always good - gives a great first impression. You can buy "potted colour" (pansies, petunias, etc) that are super-cheap and already flowering. Just pop them into the ground and voilÃ* - garden looks gorgeous. We do the same when we have our rental inspections. For just $10 both my front and rear yard are blooming and oh so pretty!
HTH

Edit: Just an after-thought. Don't MAKE the cookies on the day (too much stress cleaning it up with kids around), prepare the dough a couple of days/weeks before, freeze it and then bake it on the day. Much easier!!

[Bathsheba]

We've bought and sold twice.

Like Lulu we looked for expensive repairs not decor. I looked for things like rising damp and patched up cracks in the walls.

We also checked out the neighbours. If the house looked like they had dodgy neighbours (old abandoned cars on the front lawn, loud music, next door to a factory etc) we usually gave those places a miss.

Compass orientation so that daylight entered the main living spaces was important.

Have fresh smells, don't cook meat... The lookers might be vego. Vapourise a citrus oil, it will convey cleanliness.

The thing with personal photos especially if faces is that it is a barrier to helping people imagine that it is their home. Just a mind game thing. We removed ours.

Fresh flowers, fruit and plants are good.

Childrens' artwork conveys a cosy ambience and is cheap to make.