Tan - I know right! We have two written appraisals for what agents think it's worth....but neither of them were prepared to come and look at it (and one of them dumps mail in our letterbox all the time offering free appraisals!).
There's a new guy who's just taken over an agent nearby, maybe we'll go and talk to him. He might be keen because he's just starting out.
EEK! I want the rain to stop so I can go out and paint my one unpainted fence! Want to just do this!
Our house is on the market at the moment. Our advice was to sell the lifestyle. So in our case it was keeping the gardens lush, put music on when people are inspecting, put champers and chocolates next to the spa, a cuppa and muffins or fruit on the coffee table where we sit and look out to the mountain. Turn lights on, open the doors onto the deck, keep the lawn mowed at all times for people driving past. Put flowers on the dinning table and fill the fruit bowl up. You want people to walk in and feel like they want to live there. Things like hooks on walls are not that important but a clean house is a must. Make sure the house smells nice! It would be a big call for me to buy a house that had a dog living there, even an out side dog manages to spread 'dog' smell inside and to a non pet owner the stench is horrible! If pets do live there everything needs to be spotless. De cluttering is also important, if your house has too much stuff then it looks messy and if the cupboards are too full it looks like the house doesn't have enough room. On the veg garden question, we have a patch ready to plant and all the agents who looked suggested to plant it as it's a huge selling point. But we are too lazy and are now growing grass there as we'd rather ds have the extra space in the back yard.
We have LOTS on the walls. Mixture of personal photos and art/generic style photos. I think I'm going to take down everything of DD and leave the generic stuff. It was all bought for this house specifically, and quite frankly if the people who buy the house want it, they can keep them
We can make the house look minimal. Our stuff is going to be stored for 2+ years anyway, so no biggie. Whether I pack it up now or then really doesn't matter to me. The dogs can also disappear on OPI days - what about things like the kennel though? It's heavy, but it's new and in good condition, timber built, not just a ratty dog box in the corner. Think it'll be a big deal?
LuluHB - I think I'd cry if we got that much over the asking price. Not going to happen in my suburb, but that's sensational!
Any little jobs like cracks in walls, painting etc definitely do so the house looks shiny and new again. I know our house after only 4 years needs a bit of TLC
I agree with the others re decluttering, although tbh your house feels spacious and airy already, but set your spare room up so potential buyers can see it as a bedroom (can you move all the office stuff out temporarily?) and pack up as much as possible to give the illusion of more space not only in the house but in the cupboards, storage areas also.
Chuck the breadmaker on so the bread is cooking during OHI too
Little things like setting the dining room table (not over the top) look lovely and give a nice vibe and I also think that in Australia people value the outside space of a home just as much as inside so you want to make sure they can visualise how to use your outside space - eg sitting outside enjoying a BBQ with friends etc
Give the gardens a good trim and keep them tidy and use your fabulous lighting to show the house off at its best
Hun, would you use a G'Borough agent? I have an excellent one. He is great. If he didn't come out to you, it'd be purely because you're out of his area. Actually there are two that I can think of - we'll talk. Surely one of them will do your area.
My SIL sold last year, and the best piece of advice she got and she followed was fix the house up to showhouse standard. Every ding in the wall got sanded and filled. completed paint job. Flooring got repaired. Huge amount of stuff in storage, great tip was to half empty the cupboards as it makes it look like there is more storage, and all personal stuff removed. She spent $5000, got close to $20,000 over asking price and it sold within a week of being on the market, and this was in a suburb not hugrly sought after.
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