Hellobee Boards

Yeah, anything you don't want to leave that is typically part of a sale, I would replace.

I *hate* going to visit a house and it's messy. Total turn off.

Unrealistic pricing. If you price it correctly, it will sell. The way to do that is to get the price per square foot for recent comparable sales and apply that price per square foot to your square footage. And make sure that the comps are actually comparable in terms of location/level of finishes/remodeling/square footage.

And don't let your agent schedule showings all at once without telling potential buyers that it's an open house. It's really hard to assess a house when there are a bunch of other people milling around in it, and frankly, it's rude to schedule a bunch of potential buyers at once. We went to a few places where our agent made an appointment and we were expecting to see it with just our agent and maybe the seller's agent only to find that the seller's agent had made it an open house without telling us. I think the agents thought that they were showing us how much interest there was in the house, but the impression it gave instead was that the seller's agents were totally disrespectful of our time.

Also, have out a nice welcome mat. I dont take my shoes off during a house tour but I do try to really wipe my shoes really well before entering a clean home because I know how much work it takes.

I agree, replace what's not going to be included, especially appliances, light fixtures and window treatments.

Oh, and if you're going to do shoe covers, have a place where the people can sit down to put them on.

@snowjewelz: Yes, this too! I hated it when people who lived there were still there. Made it extremely awkward to say anything out loud.

We house hunted for awhile. I hated all the pictures of things that weren't a big deal to me, like close ups of fixtures or some pretty flowers in a pot outside. I wanted pictures to be easy to understand the flow of the layout. And be honest! Don't try to make it sound bigger/nicer/whatever than it actually is. I quickly learned that "cozy" was code for small.

When showing up, there were times the lockbox was difficult to find. People hanging out made it awkward. Any strong smells, like last night's dinner or cats, was a turn off.

Good luck!

Make the beds (and make them look nice with all those darn silly pillows)
All lights on and blinds/curtains open
Close toilet seats
We paid to have our carpets professionally cleaned and it gave them such a nice face lift!
Perhaps a nice gentle scent (we had some plugins that were subtle, but made the house smell nice)

I don't think you need to change our your office. We looked at many houses that had bedrooms as offices, that we would have used as a bedroom. It wasn't a turn off.

You have to leave the house. That's so painful and awkward when the current home owners are home.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: If your water damage is no longer visible and if the cause of it was totally fixed, it's probably fine not to disclose. I would always just ask about visible water damage. If the realtor could explain it, we were ok with that. I was only annoyed when the realtor acted as if they couldn't see what I was talking about (which happened on multiple occasions).

@T.H.O.U.: @Mrs. Lemon-Lime: there was one house that had a shoes off policy b/c they had JUST refinished the floors. It was awkward to walk around someone's home in bare feet (summer time and I was in sandals). We wanted to walk from the basement to the outdoors, but had to run back up for our shoes. Hassle for sure!

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Shoes off is a very common request around here. I'd say more than half of the condos we toured all had shoes-off requests. Which we were fine with doing. If the market is hot, you can do whatever you want basically.

As an alternative, you can provide those cheap shoe covers at the door and request that ppl use them. Like the kind the airport uses for feet. Our daycare uses those for the infant room, if parents don't want to take off shoes (there is a no outside shoes policy).

@T.H.O.U.: It must be a regional thing - where I am (Canada) you always take your shoes off for open houses/house showings. I've never not taken my shoes off. Totally doesn't bother me. I also live in a place where we don't wear our shoes inside the house though.

I second the shoe covers suggestion.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I would remove the gym equipment. People like to see if they will be able to park their cars in the garage. I think that a "shoes-off" policy is a good idea, and I also wouldn't worry about staging the 4th bedroom as a bedroom. I would just make sure that as your office, it is very clean and tidy.

One thing that turns me off is a dirty house. We toured one that was clearly not clean (dog hair all along the baseboards, dirty floors) and smelled like huge dogs lived there. They used air fresheners, but it did nothing to combat the smell of dogs. The house we ended up buying did have dogs/cats living there, but you couldn't smell them at all and it was very clean.

It looks like you have some great tips! I think the big things that bothered me when looking have been covered. I wouldn't worry about your home office unless it it is a weird size or layout. We saw some rooms that were really hard to envision, like one living room that was long and skinny with two doorways on each wall- we didn't buy it because we had no clue where we'd put furniture! Definitely replace fixtures you're keeping now. A lot of people are tight on cash after moving and it will be helpful for them to know what they are getting.

Don't burn smelly candles! That ALWAYS turns me off.

And I would just de-clutter as others have said.

Is taking shoes off for showings a common thing in your area? We saw a lot of houses, some with brand new marble/wood floors, and no one ever asked us to remove our shoes. I think I would stick with whatever standard practice is in your area (ask your agent, neighbors, and friends), otherwise you risk being a memorable house, but in a "that homeowner was demanding" way, you know?

I say this as someone who never wears shoes inside, but I do not demand that guests take off their shoes. I just clean my floors after they've left.

@hellobeeboston: @MaryM: I had several realtor friends tell us to burn a lightly scented candle several hours prior to a showing to make the house smell homey and welcoming! I blow it out two or three hours prior to a showing!

@honeybear: I took my shoes off if we looked T a house with carpet, or if we had walked through mud or snow that day as a courtesy.

@Mrs. Jump Rope: Ahh, that makes sense. There isn't much mud and no snow where I live.

ETA: And a "no shoes" policy for showings here is also likely to mean that total strangers will be walking through your house completely barefoot. The thought of random people standing barefoot in my bathroom is pretty repugnant to me!