When your home is for sale, at any moment you could get a call from your estate agent with a viewing. Some viewers, especially in the Lake District, want to view your home straight away, perhaps before they travel back home after a visit. So what can you do to ensure they see your house in the best possible light, without spending a huge amount of time, energy or money?
Here are our ten top tips to make your house viewer-ready in next to no time:
1. Grab a washing basket, and go through each room removing any bits and pieces that don’t belong there: paperwork, laundry, dirty dishes, shoes – anything that’s cluttering up the space. Pop the basket in your car, out of sight
2. Swap the towels in the bathroom for freshly laundered ones. Even better is to have new white fluffy towels that you keep especially for viewings
3. Make up the master bed with laundered or new bedding. Again, if you can keep some new bedding to throw on for viewings, it will always look at its best. One tip is to put your usual duvet cover and pillow cases over the top of your special ones, and whip them off for viewings – ta da!
4. Open a window in each room to let some fresh air into the house
5. Fill the grate of your fire with church candles and light them for a cosy glow; this is perfect for the summertime when it’s too hot to have a fire lit
6. Light your lamps – even if it’s an extremely bright day, having lamps lit will add a showhome cosiness and style to your home. If it’s an evening viewing, put on your overhead lights too.
7. Create the right atmosphere with low and relaxing music, to encourage your viewers to linger over their viewing.
8. The sweet smell of success – make sure your home smells as good as it looks: spray beds with a tiny spray of perfume, pop a tumble drier sheet in the bottom of all your bins, and put a vanilla pod in the oven on a low heat for a subtle, homely scent. If you don’t have one, try some drops of vanilla or lemon juice in a bowl of water and put that in the oven. Spray your sofa, carpets and curtains with a mixture of water and a few tiny drops of fabric conditioner for a lovely freshly laundered smell.
9. Raid your garden for some summer greenery and colour, and arrange in vases liberally, in every room.
10. Finally – give yourself a mini-makeover! Make sure your outfit is smart, your shoes are clean (never slippers!) and you are well-groomed and looking professional. Your image should reflect that of your home – neat, well-kept and stylish
Keep these 10 quick staging tips taped on the inside of a kitchen cupboard, so you can implement them quickly, and make sure your family is well-trained so they can leap into action when required!
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