Presenting Your Home for an Open House

So you’ve decided to sell your home! �It can be very daunting and scary – not to mention keeping a house ‘visitor tidy’ when you have young children is near-on impossible. �

But to get the very best money you can achieve for your home, you need to present it in the right light. �Here are the SAHM suggestions on presenting your home for an open house:

First impressions count so make sure the front of your property is thoroughly clean and tidy. �Make sure your front gate doesn’t squeak, the paths are clean and the front door is in good condition. �Orange flowers are apparently good ‘Feng Shui’ and encourage people to part with their money – so add a couple of pots of Marigolds or similar at your front door or near the front gate (I don’t usually believe in that stuff – but it seriously worked for me!).

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Inside your Home:

• Open all the blinds/curtains to let the natural light in
• Air your house out for a few hours
• Bake some bread or biscuits just before an open house, it leaves the best aroma. �If you don’t have time to do that, light an oil burner with a tiny amount of lavender oil. �Remember less is more.
• Clean all the walls from grotty hand prints and chocolate etc.
• If it’s a cool day, place the heater on low, it makes the house feel more homely
• Pack away all clutter, a house with less clutter looks bigger and more inviting.
• Nothing beats seeing some beautiful fresh flowers on the kitchen table in a glass vase.
• Vacuum and mop every inch of the house
• Turn on all the lights and lamps so the house feels again has that warmly feeling
• Make sure your toilet is�impeccably�clean and has lovely fresh toilet paper.
• Always helps to clean inside the cupboards as people like to sneak a look
• Pop all dishes away and even the dishes in the microwave
• Clean inside the oven
• Clean all bench tops
• Make sure all you windows are nice and clean
• Clean over your light switches, there is nothing worse than a sticky light switch!

Outside your Home:

• Rake up any leaves
• Make sure all spider webs are swept down
• Always remove your pets and clean up all the doggy doo on the ground
• Mow the lawns, sweep down the driveway, path ways, and outdoor patio
• Weed any gardens and trim bushes
• Just before the inspection, give your plants and lawn a quick wet, it makes everything look a lot nicer, brighter and fresher
• Clean up your garage and garden shed as these are a *man’s place* to look
• Remove your cars and your pets just before the open home – it makes it look more spacious and no one wants someone else’s dog slobbering all over them.

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�Other Things You Can Do to Get the Best Price:

If you’re ultra-serious about selling – here are some serious tips:

• Remove some furniture so that the house looks as spacious as possible. �Take it to a storage shed (not your own shed – that would be obvious)
• Furniture looking a bit shabby? �Borrow or hire some furniture to give your house the best look. �Sure it’s an added expense, but the extra money you may get will make it worthwhile!
• Spacious is good but bare is not. �Invest in some beautiful pot plants for that bare spot that just needs ‘something’.
• Re-caulk your shower and bath to make your bathroom ‘pop’.
• Buy some beautiful fluffy towels for the bathroom and a new doona cover to dress the room.
• Take down all family photo’s and put generic photo’s/pictures up. �You want the new owners to feel like it’s their home, not yours.
• Repaint walls that need it.

What are your suggestions for staging a home?

Clare Whitfield Chief Editor

Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

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