Selling a house - what to do to prepare?

[Miss.September]

Okay! It's this year! EEEKKKK!!!

Our house is five years old. We had it built so nobody else has ever lived here, and every creation is ours

But we're selling in the second part of the year and we've never sold or bought before, so not really sure where to start as far as preparing a house for sale or what people look for.

It's very clean and tidy. We want to finish a few things off, so that's no biggie. But things like picture hooks and shelving. Do you leave them or remove them? Do you remove what you intend to take with you (ie, garden statues) or is that just a given that people will assume that because they aren't fixed, they aren't sold with the house? Vegie garden? Leave it or replace with plants?

We have free storage available to us from now so I can start moving things out to get them out of the way. It's not suited to larger families, but working couples and older couples (low maintenance house/garden) or people with a young, small family - there are lots of parks around, so I don't think I need to make it directly aimed at anyone in particular.

I want to do as much as I can to get it ready now before baby arrives in July, because I think it'll go on the market Aug/Sept. It looks the best then - garden in full bloom, estate in full flower.

TIA!

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Personally Hun I would leave the veg garden it could actually be a nice selling point.
A real estate might suggest you remove the dog run but if it were me buying that wouldn't make or break me.
Your house is gorgeous babe, I wouldn't stress too much on picture hooks & things either unless your planning to take the pics down when people look through, if your removing frames then I would remove the hooks. IYKWIM.

Can you ask a local R/E for some of the main things ppl are looking for?


Sent from my iPhone, more than likely while I should be doing something else!

[Miss E]

When we sold our place my RE took me through each room of the house and told me what we should do. From get rid of this piece of furniture, to remove this ornament, put a picture here, put vase of flowers/fruit bowl there.

Have you decided which agent you will go with yet? If not, maybe now is a good time to start. That way you can pick their brains on what you could or should do. There are also companies that specialise in styling houses for sale. Most of them do a free initial visit where they make recommendations (and try to get you to rent their furniture). Again, they can have some really good tips that don't cost anything. I know Styled to Sell is one that operates in Melb, but there are quite a few I think.

HTH

[Miss.September]

Thanks hun. I suggested removing the fence for the dogs to DH, but he doesn't want to. I think it would make the backyard feel bigger. (For anyone else reading, it's not a traditional dog run - we divided our pergola area with a timber and bamboo half height fence, so DD would have somewhere to play without our dogs bothering her all the time).

We've spoken to a couple of local agents, but they don't seem interested in coming out until we're serious about selling. They've given us a ballpark figure of what things are selling for around here, but they haven't been to the house. Might ask my stepmother about the dog fence, see what she suggests (she's an agent but in the top end of Melbourne).

I think then we'll take out the hooks because the photos we have up will be removed. I read once that people don't really associate a house with themselves, if they see other people's lives in them. Don't know how much truth to that there is, but the other thing is given there are particular people we know who will attempt to come to an open for inspection, we don't want pics floating around anyway :/

Snap - Miss E - thanks. We're thinking about agents at the moment, but haven't got much to go off. Nobody we know has bought/sold recently. Most people here have built and moved in and if they're selling, we don't know them to ask about the agents. DH knows a good property manager so might ask him to get her to recommend a good agent. I can pick the brains of my stepmum as far as furniture removal, etc to make it look bigger, but what she sells compared to what we have, well they're worlds apart!

[Pholi]

I'd be leaving picture hooks,a dn things like fixed shelving, for sure - unless they're excessive, in which case make it look normal.

Re statues and things that you intend to take with you, I'd leave them in place, but your agent should give you the chance to note down exactly what's NOT being sold with the house, so that they can let any prospective buyers know as soon as any real interest is expressed. We were specifically told, for example, that the birdbath and feature paving slabs would stay with the house, but the matching bench seat would be going.

Re plants, seasonal vege beds would keep providing for you up until the move, and I would leave them in as a selling point, especially if the layout of the garden makes it look like a separate purpose for those beds. The new owners can replant with whatever they like, but it won't stop them buying it. People are pretty unlikely to say, I love the house, but I hate the vege garden, so let's look elsewhere. It's more likely to be, I love the house, and that's going to be my rosebed! others will ssay, 'Cool, and the vege garden's already established for us! Just make sure it looks lush and productive, because the state of your vege garden says a lot about the quality of the soil, and soil improvement is hard work and expensive, and that could put off anyone who's keen on gardening.

One of the things I really appreciated when buying our current house was that the seller had left on the inside of the pantry door all of the receipts/instructions/manuals for every improvement she'd had done, all bluetacked up in separate plastic pockets. At a glance, we could see that in the last 5 years, the roof had been resprayed, the aircon was 2 years old, the termite people had declared it termite free, an electrician had fitted ?rcds? (sp? - those things that stop you from getting shocked), the back fence had been replaced through insurance after a storm, insulation had been fitted in the roof, etc. Not only did we have some knowledge of the age of these things, but should something need more work, we could contact the original company. That will be useful for example, if we decided the minor roof repair we did recently needed to be colour matched to the other tiles. It also suggests the owner was meticulous and careful with the property, which backed up what we could see regarding the way she'd maintained it.

I think you're very brave planning to househunt and move house so soon after a new arrival, but good luck!

[Beach Mama]

I can't believe they won't come out hun! Maybe you need to just say - you are thinking of selling and want someone to come see - don't mention initially that it will be down the track. I got an agent in here last year - they knew that we still had lots to do but still came out so I would keep trying. The main things are making it presentable, with minimal clutter which is sounds it is anyway! When we sold I got rid of ALL toys bar one box - admittedly though J was still very young but will be doing that this year when we sell as well to make it easier to maintain. I sort of disagree with the whole thing that if they see others lives there. I think a house needs to be homely and set up so you CAN see yourself in there ITMS! Much easier to do in a house with furniture rather than an empty house with no furniture for me, but that is just me and I might be way off!! There is a big difference with daily living things though - i saw a house adverstied the other day and they left things like a towel hanging over the shower screen Um how hard is it to move!!!!

Anyway as for the dog run, as long as the agent can sell it as something that is easily removed then it should be fine, same with the veggie patch - I think it's a great selling point and if people want to fill it in with plants they can! You might find if you replace the veggies for plants then new owners will come in and plant veggies!

Look up something like home staging for sale - they give lots of good tips for things you can do to make the house more sellable!

Good luck hun - how exciting!!

[Miss.September]

Re plants, seasonal vege beds would keep providing for you up until the move, and I would leave them in as a selling point, especially if the layout of the garden makes it look like a separate purpose for those beds. The new owners can replant with whatever they like, but it won't stop them buying it. People are pretty unlikely to say, I love the house, but I hate the vege garden, so let's look elsewhere. It's more likely to be, I love the house, and that's going to be my rosebed! others will ssay, 'Cool, and the vege garden's already established for us! Just make sure it looks lush and productive, because the state of your vege garden says a lot about the quality of the soil, and soil improvement is hard work and expensive, and that could put off anyone who's keen on gardening.

One of the things I really appreciated when buying our current house was that the seller had left on the inside of the pantry door all of the receipts/instructions/manuals for every improvement she'd had done, all bluetacked up in separate plastic pockets. At a glance, we could see that in the last 5 years, the roof had been resprayed, the aircon was 2 years old, the termite people had declared it termite free, an electrician had fitted ?rcds? (sp? - those things that stop you from getting shocked), the back fence had been replaced through insurance after a storm, insulation had been fitted in the roof, etc. Not only did we have some knowledge of the age of these things, but should something need more work, we could contact the original company. That will be useful for example, if we decided the minor roof repair we did recently needed to be colour matched to the other tiles. It also suggests the owner was meticulous and careful with the property, which backed up what we could see regarding the way she'd maintained it.

I think you're very brave planning to househunt and move house so soon after a new arrival, but good luck!

Actually good idea re vegie garden. It's on the dead side of our house so it's not in plain sight, so might be good to show that something can be done with it.

We have all of our original manuals, house plans, wiring diagrams (DH is a sparky, so lots added by him lol) and have no issue leaving those. Plus instructions for things too, like we have a tank to flush our toilets, tank drip system for plants, etc.

We're moving to my mum's house, so not such a big deal. I don't have to househunt yet! Once we're at mum's, she's leaving to travel for 2 years, so we have that time to find something, and it's working for them, because they didn't want to leave their house empty

[Miss.September]

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!

[Cherished]

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.

[Beach Mama]

Just tell them it will be soon.... you can always change your mind. Market can change within a few months but at least you will have an idea.

[Little Chicken]

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.

[Pholi]

I think then we'll take out the hooks because the photos we have up will be removed. I read once that people don't really associate a house with themselves, if they see other people's lives in them. Don't know how much truth to that there is, but the other thing is given there are particular people we know who will attempt to come to an open for inspection, we don't want pics floating around anyway :/

I see what you're saying re family pics, etc, but could you borrow/freecycle/hire/find some tasteful, neutral, non-personal pics to replace them, rather than removing the hooks? I think pics on the wall make a place looks loved and cherished and homely, and help to create that aura of homeliness, that 'feel' that some houses have, in the same way that the smell of baking bread does, even if you never bake bread!

[Novella]

I second what pholi said, we took down most of the family photos and borrowed some paintings and bought a couple of cheap ones

We got the carpets cleaned and replaced broken tiles

Packed away half the toys in the shed and occassiobally swapped them with some inside for variety for the girls

I packed up my book shelf as it look cluttered and put it all in storage. We packed away a lot of linen we didnt need so the cupboard looked tidy

Cut back on buying in bulk to make the pantry look bigger

I spent about $400 on new cushions, pictures and a small piece of furniture (all of which I bought to make the house look complete but also stuff we would use in our new place)

Like cherished we had a full fruit bowl, I used a white bowl with shiny green granny smiths looked great

I always made sure the oven and bathrooms were spotless as this is one thing that can put me off homes.

Fluffy white towels for the bathroom just for show not to use

We packed away seasonal clothes we werent using to make the walk in look less crowded

The home styling sites have some great tips, mainly repair obvious faults, keep everything spotless (hard to do with kids and pets) remove clutter (less is definitely more and if you can store things then go your hardest) and have a few well placed accessories through out the house. All lights on for open inspections and make the temperature comfertable, nice smell, easy listening music on quietly in the background

We were lucky we sold in three weeks for over $40 000 more than what most of the agents appraised the property for ( we thought it was worth about $25 000 more than the appraisals). We had 4 offers within $2000 of each other and this was in a lower value suburb in Adelaide

[LuluHB]

We sold our house just over two years ago and were actually told NOT to put away photos, family trinkets etc. Obviously take the kids' paintings off the fridge so that the kitchen looks tidier but otherwise, if your house is a family home then it should display that. Walking into your home and seeing that a REAL family lives there demonstrates to people that hey, if it works for your family it can work for theirs.

I know when we had a few agents come out initially to value our house there were differing views on it, but the agent that we went with said to leave the family stuff in place, as did the professional photographer and stylist who came out. FWIW, we sold our house for almost $200,000 more than the agents who said NOT to leave the photos etc around would even list it for.

Good luck when it comes time to sell. I hope it goes quickly for you.

[diva det]

ok this is what we did when we sold our house last year
1. declutter and deposonalise the whole house
Put away all the photos on the walls, your DD toys that are around, any personal knick knacks, etc
clear away DVD's, books that are on display. You dont want anything personal left out as you want people to imagine their stuff in your house- not yours
also you dont want to have people touching your stuff- and they will!!!

Go through your copboards and pack away things you wont need for a bit. We packed up half our kitchen utencils, pots etc, half our blankets/bedding and even half the kids toys that we hid in copboards etc.
You dont want them thinking that their stuff isnt going to fit. and less in the cupboard does look tidier
Literally anything you are not going to use for the next few months- get rid of.

Also make sure all basic maintenance is done- taps dont leak, cracks filled in, painting finished, lights all working, walls wiped over, cobwebs gone, mulch is renewed. Cheap to do but make a place finished

Clean or get clean- windows, ceilings, vents, light fittings, chuck some domestos down your drains so they dont smell (domestos makes kitchen sinks sparkle too), also gurnery concrete and paths and if you can , give your bricks a bit of a wipe over to remove dust etc.

On OFI days- i took everything personal that we use out of the house or put away- put away alarm/ beside clocks, kids teddys, even favourite blankets etc. We had bed pillows that we didnt sleep on, but just came out and were put on our beds for OFI days. Get rid of any washing etc. pet stuff/bowls etc. Also new towells out (we had a set for OFI days only too )

We also would put fresh flowers around the house, brew some coffee or bake a cake so the smell is through the house and even put essential oil in the water i mopped with and on a tissue i vacuumed up so the place smelt yumm

Our Real estate agent had an interior design company come out and help us as well. What coloured towells to use. What vases etc . Things to enhance the appeal of the house.
For us this stuff was important to do- if you took away all the shine, flowers etc you were left with a old house that needed a new kitchen, laundry and roof. So we had to really sell the house on impressions and how it felt for people. and that is what happenend. After 4 months on the market- someone came and fell in love with the feel of the place and that is why they bought it!
I went and looked inside over 150 houses before we found our house. Things that i just couldnt get over and past and put me off a house were houses that felt cluttered, musty, and not looked after. A house that looks bright, airy, spacious (even if it isnt size wise) and looked after was what appealed to me.
HTH and holla if you want anymore info
good luck!

[Sopdet]

Advice I was given. Minimal furniture & fixtures. Neutral colours throughout.

Good luck with it all.

[Miss.September]

Great advice, thanks everyone!

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!

[MummyNaomi]

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