House Advice Please!

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Anyone who buys this house after me, is gonna have pretty much carte blanche as far as the decor is concerned. Because right now, it doesn't have any. Which is how I like it. The walls are completely bare and white, and what little furniture I have is as hidden as I can make it.

(For example, my kitchen does not betray even the slightest signs of human habitation. The only way you'd ever know that I even use it is the fact that the ovens have a functioning time clock display.)

I'd like to think that if I had to, I could move completely out of this house in under an hour.

 

[SmoothieX]

Don't do what my parents did for a color scheme: pepto pink walls with turquoise carpets.

 

[John Picard]

Hey guys, we're finally ready to sell our house but I've never done this before so I would appreciate any tips. It's a townhouse in the suburbs that will still have furnishings but will remain unoccupied while on the market.

What do you guys look for when you're buying? Should we do things like leave some clothes hanging in the closet so it looks lived in while still looking kind of like a model? Should we repaint everything to a neutral color? Any advice is appreciated!

I have spent several years trying to get my house ready to sell (long story). The advice I was given by a Realtor is, "Light, bright, and white". Painting a room, using that scheme makes it look clean, airy, and large.

 

[Deckerd]

Declutter, depersonalise, deodorise.

Wise words.

Don't use air fresheners because a lot of people think they smell disgusting (myself included). Don't cook any food just before viewing for the same reason.

Re the baking / making a pot of coffee before viewing; it has too many ways of backfiring. Put a couple of drops of vanilla essence on a baking sheet and warm the oven. That's all you need to do.

 

[milo bloom]

We once viewed a house that would have been great except they had done something with an artificial scent that had apparently gone wrong and was literally (and I mean literally) burning our eyes and nose, and we had to run out of the house.

As for the wall color, I'm not going to tell you *not* to paint over any unusual colors, but when we looked at our current house, it was full of some of the most atrocious paint colors known to mankind (the living room walls were seafoam green, and the popcorn ceiling was dark blue, it was like a frikking cave), but we were able to see through the flaws and see how we could make it our own.

I guess what I'm saying is, unless you can get an objective third party to specifically say "that paint color is an offense to humankind", then I wouldn't overly stress about painting since 9 times out of 10, the new owners are going to paint over it anyways. The tip above about primer is a good one though, that will save the new owners some stress.

 

[Holdfast]

Get out of my thread, you preposterously concise man!

I seem to recall one of my old school reports saying much the same thing: "he has an ability to write just barely enough to get full marks that must be the envy of his peers".

That remain was one of the nicest compliments I've ever received, praising as it did my laziness, my narcissism and my lifelong love-affair with schadenfreude...

Don't do what my parents did for a color scheme: pepto pink walls with turquoise carpets.

Nice.

Deckerd's vanilla essence tip is a good one too. Most people love a faint cleansing whiff of vanilla.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Get out of my thread, you preposterously concise man!