Quirky Ideas for Open Homes

Preparing and presenting your house for sale in its best possible light really pays dividends in the end financial result. Here are a few sure-fire ways to make your open home a success.

The little, and sometimes large, touches applied to a home’s presentation for sale can make the difference of achieving the best possible result or selling for an average price.

The right atmosphere is the critical determinant when preparing your property for open home inspections. This can involve making the effort to ensure buyers feel and see themselves living in a property with the use of food, music, flowers, tea and basically limitless devices.

Dressing the property for sale could be a family effort through the assigning of tasks to individual family members in preparation for the big open home day. Tasks might involve painting walls, changing door knobs, converting a study into a bedroom and making new blinds. Purchasing furniture on eBay or hiring it from professional home staging firms to suit a home’s décor may well be the go.

De-cluttering a property to maximise it spaciousness may also be vital – vendors might consider hiring storage units for children’s toys, dining room tables, computer desks and other household bits and pieces might all require packing away.

Structural endeavours such as laying synthetic turf in the back yard, creating an outdoor children’s area, complete with sandpit and cubby, and relaying stone paths are not unheard of – maybe you should think about this too.

Creating a homely environment where people feel like they could really live in a property was very important for the family home sale – never leave things too much to what you think a purchaser’s opinion might be – or to chance.

Don’t overlook anything – lighting fresh scented candles, placing lollipops in the cubby, buying lovely cakes for the cake stand, setting elaborate settings on inside and outdoor tables, firing up the new Wurlitzer jukebox bought for the occasion, turning all the lights on, heating the house according to the weather, turning on spas – indoors and outdoors – displaying cookbooks and even setting up a project in the art studio; it’s all attention to detail, and that’s what will lead to a premium price at sale.

The time and effort spent in preparing the home before sale usually has a large impact on the buyers inspecting the property. Perception is reality in selling, and creating a warm, homely and inviting environment will position your property ahead of others in a buyer’s mind.

In preparing for your open home inspection, consider the following:

• In the kitchen, hand pick herbs and place them in a glass of water.
• Always clean and tidy the dog area and take dog out during open times.
• Plant out pots for colour.
• Where possible, add water. Plug up pots, paint them blue and fill with fish and water plants. And, if you feed them just before the open, they come to the top.
• Buy new towels for the bathroom and only display them at open times.
• Don’t forget the laundry – make sure your laundry baskets are tidy. You can always pick up cheap new ones at sales.
• If you are burning incense, make sure it is subtle.
• Prepare the home for the temperature of the day – if it is cold, light fires, turn on patio heaters and heating. If hot, turn on fans and cooling systems.
• Turn on every light in the house.
• If you light candles, make sure you come home straight after the open to blow them out. Make sure your property is appealing from the gate right through to the back yard.

*Article by Geoffrey Rush

by AliceM | 03/03/2010

http://experts.realestate.com.au/selling/selling-news-quirky-ideas-for-open-homes