Austin Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Selling house tips please
AH!!! I can't believe I'm finally posting this! We're trying to put our house on the market within the next couple weeks. Really not much needs to be done, but I need ideas.
Should we re-paint the inside? Everything is that nuetral builder's tan, but the paint is about 5 years old.
What else should be done, de-clutter I'm guessing, and make things as simple as possible?
I'm so freakin excited!
Re: Selling house tips please
I would take a lot of the "stuff" you have and put it in storage. Minimal is best. I'm not sure about the paint - but sometimes even the smell of fresh paint gives a perception that things are fresh and 'new', ya know? I would just make your place seem as neutral and spacious as possible. And don't forget the yard! I'm sure some of the real estate ladies will have some good suggestions.
yay for you! good luck and *sell quick* dust.
"The House We Built."
A journey of building the dream.
When we were selling, our agent came by to give the house a quick inspection and left us with a huge long list of things to clean, to put away, etc. If you're using an agent, they can definitely give you some tips. Or google "home staging."
A few things that I remember, though: definitely declutter as much as possible to make spaces neutral, remove all personal photos (buyers should be able to imagine themselves in the home, not the current owners), replace all vent filters (dirty filters give the image of poor upkeep), remove screens from windows (makes rooms brighter), remove extra leaves from tables to make spaces look larger. And clean until you can't clean anymore!
Good luck!
Clean everything as much as possible and remember that people will be opening cabinets and closets. Declutter as much as possible, and if you have a ton of family photos/personal photos out, consider removing them or replacing them with something else. People like to envision their things in a space instead of seeing your photos. I've heard that you should have no more than one or two items on the kitchen counter to make the space look more open. Make sure that you open all the blinds/curtains before you leave each day so that if there is a showing while you're at work, the house looks bright and not dark and dreary.
As far as painting goes, it depends on how the walls look. If you can clean up any dings and scratches with a magic eraser, you might be able to get away without repainting. If you do repaint, I'd probably do the foyer for the sake of first impressions, and perhaps the living room. Check your baseboards too - they can easily get dingy, and they may need a fresh coat of paint.
Meredith, 6-1-06 and Alex, 11-5-09
I just sold my house a few months ago...accepted an offer in 10 days!
Like PPs have said, the new paint smell does help but nuetral colors are good. An easy way to get that smell as well as make every room look super 'fresh and clean' is to give the door mouldings and baseboards a fresh coat of white paint.
Definitely take down all personal photos. I went to Half Price Books and bought a large photography book of wineries in Cali and cut out scenic pictures, etc and placed them over my personal pictures so the walls didn't look too bare!
Also, go through your closets, cabinets, etc and really declutter. Pack up at least 1/2 of your stuff so the whole place looks spacious, clean, and organized. I even removed a lot of furniture to the garage to make the bedrooms feel bigger.
I've also heard if you paint your front door a 'pop' color, it really helps!
HTH! Good luck!
Clean clean clean...and consistantly through the time it is active on the market. Clear out everything that you dont have to have in your cabinets and closets for normal day living. Make sure you dont over do it on the staging.. you want buyers to remember they are wanting to buy the house to live... not for a magazine cover. Ive had clients in the past look at a house and think that they could never make it their home with the things they owned.
But probaby the best thing and its free..natural light. Makes a world of difference when blinds etc are open.
Your agent should walk through the house with you and point out the things that the buyers will notice.
Good luck!
Thanks ladies!
Does it also help to include things with the house. Like we don't need our W/D anymore. And we're thinking of including the pool table (looks like new) just because we don't want to move it. Could this help?
Our realtor is coming by tomorrow.
It certainly doesn't hurt! We included the fridge and curtains/window treatments when we sold our place - we didn't advertise the fact beforehand, but when we got a reasonable offer, we told them that we'd throw in the extras for no additional fee. It's a good negotiation point, and helps sweeten the deal a bit.
We are currently looking and here are some things I've noticed or thought might make a difference. Of course, all of these things are things I realize aren't that big of a deal but that I've noticed myself thinking might be nice.
Paint like pp said. Some painted walls, IMO are fine. However, I've seen some that are very dated are very dark. I think those would be better painted a neutral color. If yours are all already neutral then I wouldn't mess with painting.
Clutter. Again like pp said. Even though I know the residents and myself have very different lifestyles, seeing a cluttered closest still makes me think that if they can't fit all of their stuff in there then how can I?
So far, I haven't noticed family portraits too much. I don't know if this helps much but it hasn't been an issue for me.
Pets - I do not mind if you have pets, however, just make sure the home doesn't smell like them. (I have pets so if I notice it....it's bad. Just vacuum and clean the litter box and you'll be fine).
Mow the yard. Again, the buyer can tell that this is just a visual thing but it does make a difference if you drive up and it looks nice vs looks run down.
My last bit of advice...show us what you have for sale!
Ok, that's a selfish one but it never hurts.
That's all I can think of now but I'm sure I'll have more soon!
Oh, I totally agree with pp about cabnits and closets. If yours looked crowded and clutters, the buyer will just assume that there is not enough storage space in the house. If you leave closets minimal and cabnits with some breathing space - they'll think there is extra room!
"The House We Built."
A journey of building the dream.