Selling – Getting your home ready to show

If you’re planning an open house, or are expecting buyers to be looking at your home, make sure their first impression is a good one. Here are few hints for making your house look great to potential buyers:

Exterior

  • House in good repair
  • House number easy to read
  • Eavestroughs, down spouts and soffits in good repair
  • Garage/car port clean and tidy
  • Litter picked up
  • Cracked or broken window panes replaced
  • Lawns and hedges cut and trimmed, garden weeded and edged
  • Walks shovelled and salted
  • Boot tray inside front door
  • Doorbell and door hardware in good repair
  • Porch and foyer clean and tidy

Interior 

  • Chipped plaster and paint touched up or replaced
  • Doors and cupboards properly closed
  • Leaky taps and toilets repaired
  • Burned out light bulbs replaced
  • Squeaky doors oiled
  • Mirrors, fixtures and taps cleaned and polished
  • Seals around tubs and basins in good repair
  • Floors cleaned, garbage containers empty
  • Inside of closets and cupboards neat and tidy
  • Appliances cleaned
  • Countertops neat and polished
  • All lights turned on
  • Air conditioner turned on in warm weather
  • Fresh air in house
  • Fireplace lit in cooler weather
  • Halls and stairs cleaned
  • Drapes opened during daylight
  • Carpets freshly vacuumed
  • Fresh flowers in various rooms
  • Jewelry and valuables locked safely away or taken with you
  • Valuable property, such as art, vases and figurines out of reach, out of sight or locked away
  • Pets absent, where possible, or contained during the showing, and litter boxes clean