Hellobee Boards

I agree with decluttering and making it smell good. When we were looking for houses, we walked into one that immediately smelled like it had been smoked in for 30 years and was very cluttered. I can't tell you much about the rest of the house because my mind immediately shut down when we walked in.

Paint color doesn't bother me, in the houses we looked at, we realized we could paint pretty easily.

@MrsBrewer: I have a cleaning lady come every 2 weeks and I have two giant dogs. She has no problem coming in, cleaning and leaving w/ them. We leave treats for her to give them each time she comes.

We just sold our house and went through the whole process. We got our realtor to give us his recs on what should be repaired, cleaned and staged.

Then as others recommended, we decluttered...a lot! We basically left only a bed and dresser and a bookshelf in each room. Nothing on the bathrooms counters and nothing on the kitchen counters. We also took down all personal items including personal photos, but left a few paintings and other small decorations.

Lastly, we steam cleaned all the carpet. Got a window washer to clean the windows. Spruced up the backyard and then did a thorough interior cleaning from top to bottom.

It was worth it. Our house sold for $20K over asking in less than one week. There was another house identical to ours in the same neighborhood and it was a mess. That one took 3+ weeks to sell and is still pending.