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Photos
Jul
27
Yesterday I borrowed a Canon 5D with a wide-angle lens (and briefly considered faking my own death so I’d never have to give it back) and took the MLS photos for our house. It was a sweaty and near-impossible task, trying to keep surfaces clean and child-free for long enough to snap the photo, and I am officially in a state of anticipatory despair over the idea of keeping the house in show-ready condition with two small kids in the house and a husband who apparently believes all cereal bowls and shoes are continually sucked into another dimension by invisible dimension-sucking fairies and a dog who sheds giant haybales of fur every five minutes and the toys and the dirt and the mess, oh god.
Here’s what the pictures look like:
(I’m not sure about using this photo. On the one hand, I should show more than one bedroom, right? On the other, it’s nearly impossible to photograph well and is so Kid-Decorated which might be a turnoff.)
If you have any thoughts on house staging, I’d love to hear them. I’ve de-cluttered the closets and cleaned our windows and we’re about to touch up some trim and remove 90% of our family photos, what else should I be thinking of? Oh and also, hey, just how the shit am I going to manage this whole thing without losing my mind?
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167 Responses to “Getting ready”
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The house is lovely. Just think about how you will feel when you sell this house and are in the new house. Concentrate on that feeling and you will make it through just fine. :)
Flowers in pot by front door and if possible; bake cookies the morning of showing. (Brings up home nostalgia for those viewing and gives you some quality carbs to drown yourself in later if needed.)
When we were showing our house (with a newborn & a 2.5-y-o, we bought a ton of nice-looking baskets for concealing cleaning supplies on shelves, and bins with lids for toys. We’d only let them play with toys out of 1 bin each day, so they can easily be swept back in the bin into a closet if we needed to vacate. The dog fur tumbleweeds had us vacuuming constantly, though, & we briefly entertaing shaving our poor lab. ;)
Good luck & you ahve a gorgeous home! Love the new kitchen. And since I didn’t comment yesterday, don’t paint the ceiling!!!!
Linda, I have always thought this, but I’m going to tell you know, your house is gorgeous. And the realtor who told you to paint the ceiling and the red wall? INSANE. If there were ENTIRE rooms of dark colors, I could see that, but that room is large and open and filled with light, it’s one red wall, and I think it’s beautiful. Plus, I know when I was looking for a home, paint color really didn’t turn me off, it’s an easy fix.
As for how you’re going to get through this without losing your mind…no clue! But good luck. I know the market is shitty (at least here in MI it BLOWS my $156K house is worth $60K 4 years later), but your house is so beautiful, I think you’ll have great luck.
Paint the ceiling and get rid of that red wall – JUST KIDDING! Your house is beautiful. In addition to the cookie suggestion, I’ve heard you should bake bread or, as our realtor suggested, gently warm some vanilla in the microwave or over the stove (and then hide the evidence) before a showing.
It looks gorgeous, and a million miles big. And oh so tidy. My kitchen guys and realtor told me that kitchens and bathrooms are what sell a house, and yours both look beautiful. My only possible suggestion would be to paint the dark brown accent walls cream to enlarge those spaces even more. But not the red wall; I love the red wall.
Let it be officially stated I do not intend and never did intend to paint the ceiling. : )
I don’t know man, I personally LOVE your home. It’s like a dream home to me – so so cute. I say most definitely don’t you dare paint the ceiling OR the fireplace – but if the boys have some strange colors in their room, or it’s very gender boy heavy, you might try and tone that down. Otherwise, it looks awesome!
Good luck! And I agree – keep your eye on the prize and maybe, JUST MAYBE, that will keep your sanity somewhat in tact.
Shows well. Remember, an Open House is for the realtor’s benefit, that’s how they find clients. Not many houses are sold from an open house. Most are from the MLS. The realtor’s caravan can be important. That’s where they go around to new listings. Good free food for the realtors will get a great deal of traffic.
Dude, this is so minor, but what about cutting some of the (awesome!) blue hydrangeas you have to the right of the driveway and plopping them in a vase in the dining room?
… yeah. That was totally a productive comment. LAME.
The house looks great! As for the kids, and husband, I have no idea. And Dog… well… shave her?
It looks gorgeous! And great job on the photos.
Honestly, I would rather see a second bedroom than not see it. It always feels like they are trying to hide something by not showing bedrooms. It is kid decorated, but the room basics are not kid focused. I wouldn’t have any problem imagining it differently.
You know what sold my last house? New bark. Made the yard look fantastic, and who doesn’t love that new bark smell? Good luck.
Gorgeous photos! Will you include one of the master bedroom, though?
I think you have the staging down: decluttered closets, counters, and tables… fewer family photos… no towels in the bathroom… even moving out some furniture can help (although it doesn’t look like you need to do that). If you need to clear out stuff for a last-minute showing, throw it under the bed or in the car. Good luck!
Linda, I will watch Dog if you need for a day with an open house. Also, from what I hear baked cookies or the smell of baked cookies helps. -Valria
Oh my LANDS your house is STUNNING. If I didn’t live half-way across the country I’d put in an offer now, over the internet. The drool puddle on my keyboard is…well, really gross, actually.
But the house is stunning.
When I was house hunting, photos really dictated what houses I’d see and these are perfect! The only suggestion I have is maybe take a few looking from room to room so buyers can get a sense of how one room flows to the next.
I wish I could afford a beautiful home like yours.
You bought the house for the red wall and ceilings. I would buy it for that bathtub.
Amy: yes, it’s there now! Not sure why it didn’t get uploaded.
You guys, thanks for the nice words. We’ve put a lot of work into this house and I appreciate the compliments.
When I sold my house in 2007, I baked cookies. The house smelled awesome.
To make it so that everything didn’t have to be perfectly dusted and clean, I tried to keep showings to nighttime.
Removed any trace of dog in the whole place.
Kept an empty box with a lid for dirty dishes or miscellaneous crap. Threw the crap into the box before leaving and left it in the garage until I got back.
What we always tell sellers is to clear as much personal crap out as possible, so that potential buyers as envison their own stuff there. I never understood WHY other people couldn’t IMAGINE different colored walls etc.. like I can… but sadly ALOT cannot. Cinnamon smells are best. Oh and fresh flowers if you can.
I would ask your agents to do a realtor open house, where other realtors come and see the house. Try and get them to get a sponser ( like a title company, bank or other affiliate) to pay for lunch/brunch and offer a desireable prize for a business card drawing. This way you can try and get as many realtors in there to SEE it for their current and future clients.
You can always offer a selling bonus as well… like 1k to selling agent.
Good Luck .. and you’ve got a gorgeous home and your pictures are great!!!
I just want you to know, I’d buy your home if I could. I love it dearly, and the work you guys have done shows immensely – it’s gorgeous, open, and spacious. And I don’t agree with changing the colors or anything – it would detract from what makes the house unique, lived in, and… well, beautiful.
Leave Riley’s room photo intact. We’re in the same boat as you, trying to get from Edmonds to the Peninsula since hubby got a new job.
You don’t have any weird kid-murals to cover up, and all of his stuff is tastefully displayed. The key is for the buyer to imagine their own stuff in your space, and I think this can be done as is. Whenever I don’t see all of the bedrooms in a listing, I think something must be weird with the others. Love your soaker tub!
We had one realtor tell us to wait until spring to go to market. I’m getting a second opinion this week! Baby #1 is 2.5 and Baby #2 will be here in a month, so I’m not too jazzed about trying to schlep all of that gear out of here, but also hate the ferry commute that my husband is doing!
Lots of great ideas on here already! Definitely include the kid’s bedroom picture. Decluttering is key – that’s great you’ve already done the closets.
Our best feedback comes from homes where the Sellers consistently do the following before showings:
Turn on all lights.
Burn a delicious smelling candle (or bake cookies if you have time!)
Muted music throughout home (if you have a system like that) to showcase it.
Open drapes – let lots of natural light in.
Fresh flowers (if you have them).
In our area, Open Houses do NOTHING for the Seller OR the Realtor – it’s just a waste of time and money. The vast majority of Buyers call about your home b/c of it’s look ONLINE. Make sure you’re Realtor is maximizing your home’s exposure (i.e. lots of pictures, good descriptive verbige, list of all amenities) in the MLS, Realtor.com, Zillow.com, etc. The more quality pictures the better – all the reasearch shows that. People LIKE to see pictures b/c they often narrow down their search before they ever pick up the phone to call a Realtor.
That being said, a Realtor open house IS a good idea – gets your home in the forefront of their minds!
Good luck – you have a beautiful home!!
I think it looks great! I would keep up Ryley’s room (I’m assuming that is his) since you can easily turn that room into whichever you’d like it to be, seeing as the paint is very neutral and there isn’t anything that can’t be moved. It’s nice to see how big the bed is, and there is still tons of room. Good luck with the sale! :)
I want to know why you are moving..what the intended plan is. Because I wouldn’t leave this house unless it was a location issue myself. :-)
Incidentally that picture in the bathroom is too small for that wall…takes away from the expansive large bathroom. But that’s just my un-real estate selling opinion. Also..add some candles around that bathroom. It’s the women who BUY houses in any couple…and any woman would love to envision themselves relaxing in there with candles and bubble bath.
You asked….teehee..
Your house is fabulous! I think it’s awesome, and I’m CONSTANTLY looking at MLS photos (…I guess because I’m nosey?) and yours are some of the best I’ve seen – everything is clean and shiny and full of light. Definitely leave the kid bedroom picture, but maybe remove the skull? That might turn people off. But otherwise, your house is amazing and I hope it sells quickly – and at YOUR price!
I think it looks beautiful. I wish you only the best. We’re nine weeks in and it’s hard. And I haven’t been working outside for six of them! The best advice is to have cable television and plan to let your kids binge on it while you are doing projects. It’s craziness but reality. I tell myself I’ll make up for it when we move!
Yes– make it smell good. And good light is important too, though it looks like you already have plenty of that! Fresh flowers, sure, but be careful, get unscented ones if you can (like daisies or something)– some people love the smell of fresh flowers, but others (like my SO) immediately think of a funeral home. So I’d go with yummy food smells (cinnamon, vanilla, you know, the “homey” smells). You don’t even actually have to bake anything, you can just throw a pot of water on the stove with a few cinnamon sticks and whole cloves, and boil that for a bit.
Damn, I so totally want to move back to Seattle now just so we can make an offer on your house. IT IS BEAUTIFUL.
(Here’s a thought: if everybody else who’s trying to sell in your neighborhood took the standard agent’s advice to neutralize the shit out of everything, your house will be the standout, attention-getting star in a sea of boring, mediocre houses! :)
Sundry, you’re house is beautiful and ohmigod so tidy.
I definitely agree with barking the gardens.
The only other suggestion is a few cushions would look nice on your bed as would standing your pillows up rather than laying them down and covering them. When I see that I always think of dead people. I’d say that that’s just me, though.
Good luck!
I haven’t commented lately, but I am following you on this dream of yours and I am so so so excited for you guys. I LOVE that you are going for it.
When we sold our house we rented a storage unit and stored all the clutter/crap that I wanted to keep but didn’t really have a place in the house. It was easier to keep the place clean for showings with less toys to clean up. Whatever toys didn’t fit into one big toy basket went into storage. And dontchaknow it was like Christmas when we brought them back out a month or two later?
So,yeah a storage unit made a HUGE difference for us.
Smell was a major thing for me when I walked into houses I was potentially going to buy. I did not like to walk in and smell candles. I was suspicious of candles, like what are they trying to hide? Open windows are good.
Cookies or pancakes are a great smell to walk into. Pancakes are easy and fast to make…well, you could just keep a roll of cookie dough in the fridge to use in a quick pinch.
The house looks great, try and relax!
Good luck!
The red wall is a matter of personal taste (and easily changed), but I can’t imagine anyone not loving that ceiling. It would be madness to paint it. MADNESS, I SAY.
I don’t think the kid room is overly “kid”. Everything is neutral except the decorations, and those are all pretty chic as far as kid decor goes.
My only advice would be to have an honest party come over and sniff around. I think we’re mostly oblivious to the way our own homes smell, and since you have a kid in diapers and a dog, it would be worth your time to make sure there aren’t any lingering odors.
The pics look great. I know that the pics and the staging sold my house. Rolled up white washcloths stuck in an asian-y box in the bathroom and boom – there’s an offer.
The only thing I would change in Riley’s room is I would take down the pirate flag. Though pirates are awesome, the skull and crossbones remind me of death. But maybe that’s me.
I like the suggestion of having a big box to throw any dirty dishes into and stashing it in the garage when a viewing turns up. Also, tho bad for the environment, consider going with paper plates for the duration.
Open houses are obsolete in this era of the internet. But do NOT ignore craigslist. I posted my house there every day while my realtor did the MLS thing and we got a lot of responses from both.
Your house looks beautiful. Especially the lube-y bathroom!
Wow! It looks professionally staged and everything looks perfect – not too personal and not too blank. Looks like home.
When I sold my last house I had bowls of this Santa Maria Novella potpourri http://bit.ly/aQgVji stashed around the house. My agent said she had never gotten so many comments about how good it smelled…and it sold fast!
Wow – your house looks great. One thing that came to mind for me was to move your couch AWAY from the wall. It looks great, but I think it might make some people think their furniture might have trouble fitting in the space. Even if you don’t have a side table to put there, leaving the space for one would look good.
Ummm…..I would TOTALLY buy your house if I lived in your area. FOR SURE. Friends of ours just bought a home on Vashon Island….have you ever looked there? GORGEOUS.
Holy shit Linda, I’d buy your house for the bathroom alone! Don’t worry about the kid’s room; the decorations aren’t permanent and you never know if a red-wall loving family comes to see your home. I like how you de-cluttered the kitchen; that room seems to be the most personalized one of the house (photos on the fridge, anyone?).
Your place looks great! I agree with all the comments about turning on all the lights, the music, the smells, open curtains, etc…although you’re a smart person so you and your Realtor probably already knew these things.
I know you’re in the area, but not sure exactly where – if you’re near Bellevue I’d say that a Broker’s open would be a good idea. As a former agent at the downtown Bellevue Bain office I know the agents in my office toured regularly for our Monday office mtgs. and on whichever day that area suggests broker tours through the MLS. It’s hit or miss, but agents with buyers should be out there previewing during the day.
As silly as it sounds, a lot of buyers really are retarded when it comes to being picky about things like paint colors. Not saying you should change yours, just know that no matter how stupid it is people still pick at EVERYTHING in a house.
Good luck!
Also: many women are going to want to buy your house but the man cave is totally going to sell the husbands!
Do not worry about the kid-ness of the kid’s room – as far as over the top child decorating goes it is VERY tame and clearly could function as an adult bedroom with almost no changes.
Did someone really suggest you paint the WOOD ceiling? They should be shot. Don’t even think about it.
As a former realtor, I approve of everything. Nice neutral colors, not a lot of super personal things, beautiful kitchen. If you wanted to get really fancy, you could add candles and big fluffy towels around the tub so people can imagine relaxing there after a long day at work. You could also stage the outdoor table with a couple of glasses and a bottle of wine. People eat that kind of shit up.
The house looks great. Some further suggestions: Have a place in mind to go to with the kids. Many lookers are uncomfortable really appraising a home if the family is there. Have whatever you and the kids need ready in the car. Ask the realtor to call when the potential buyers leave.
Leave copies of the home and room measurements and your pictures. The clever woman who sold me my last house had photos available that showed it in the springtime with the sun shining and the trees and bushes in blossom. I saw it in November with gray skies but could visualize it sparkling.
Best of luck!
Looks great! I am in the same boat as you. Trying to sell our house to take a leap of faith. My house is yellow too :)
We tried to sell it ourselves, and that wasn’t working out too well so we met with a realtor today. She said she would get professional photos of our place (yours looks WAY better than what I took!)Trying to make it look like a toddler doesn’t live here has been so much work. When she sees me furiously picking cat hair off our carpets and stashing her toys in a closet, she says “Mommy trying to sell our house?”
No real advice here – your home is beautiful. Wishing you tonnes of luck!
GORGE! It looks huge, spacious, and inviting. Well done.
I have always loved your house, it’s beautiful. I wish we could buy it, pick it up and move it out here to MA.
I have no ideas on how to keep the house clean. Our house is sooooo small and always cluttered with stuff and dog hair everywhere. I don’t know what we would do if we are ever able to sell it (which I hope will be soon!). When we bought our “starter” home we planned on moving out in a year or so, here we are 10 years later. YUCK.
as someone who continually stalks houses online, I say show riley’s room. seeing a kid-decorated room helps people imagine their own family living there. and it is totally neutral enough for childless people to imagine it kid-less.
I didn’t see another bedroom pic…?
they all look great. the only thing i would say you could improve on is maybe taking a shot or two which might give the viewer an idea of which room leads to which room. but really, i think the shot of the living room with the floor-to-beautiful-ceiling windows will probably be enough to get someone in there to see it for themselves.
I want your house! But we are in NY, so there goes that idea!
Our previous owner made an apple pie (and we knew it was a ploy) but man, that smelled sooooo good we didn’t notice that the kitchen floor sloped badly!
is there a view from the kitchen into the living room…or into the dining room? I am looking for a home for the first time and after 8 yrs of cave like kitchens in apartments I always want to see if the kitchen is open above the counter top and if so what room it looks into, when I house hunt online.
Lovely looking home the two of you have put together!
Your home is goregous. Just a suggestion though, do not go with any fragrances such as vanilla. Due to my high allergic reaction to fragrance especially vanilla, I would be puking all over your hoime and never appreciate the beauty. But I think baking cookies or bread is a nice touch. Keep in mind some people cannot handle the fragrances while they smell nice, are painful. Good luck.
It looks great!! Best of luck!!!
I want to move back to Seattle so bad! We left and I have regretted it ever since.
Leave the bedroom pictures – the people who will be interested in your home have families, and they will want to know about the other bedrooms. I always feel suspicious when they don’t show other rooms. I am a real estate geek and when I filter on realtor.com I ALWAYS sort by number of pictures. More is better, imo.
The ONLY thing that struck me is that the master bed seems a teeny bit cramped…is there any way at all to turn it and put it under the windows? Put the dresser on the wall the bed is currently on? I don’t necessarily care about having a big master, but I need enough room for a decent sized bedside table.
It’s a great house – it would totally warrant a visit if I were buying. Kitchens sell houses and yours is great.
If they haven’t already posted to the listing site, I would brighten up the photos. They look warm, but darkly warm. (I can help if you’re not a photoshopper yerself.)
Keep the kid room pic! Every home that is staged in my area has a real or faux kid room/nursery.
Add a pic of the fireplace. And one showing transition from dining to kitchen.
And finally, why are you leaving again? What a GORGEOUS house. Dayum.
This looks great Linda, you have a seriously gorgeous house, great taste. I didn’t read the other comments but I don’t think Riley’s room looks that “kiddy” at ALL. In fact I thought it was your room and wondered what the heck you had a pirate flag for. HA.
So happy about the ceiling! Your house is great, your ceiling is beyond gorgeous. I suggest scrubbing the concrete deck. We do this once a year with our concrete patio pavers, just a little Soft Scrub and lots of water, and it works great. Also some flowering potted plants on the deck, outdoor candles or lanterns on the deck table. I would de-clutter Riley’s bookshelf some more, but otherwise his room is so cute.
Wow – if we were in a position to be buying a place when we move back to Seattle next month I would so buy yours. It’s beautiful and exactly what I want in a house.
I think the kids room is great – just maybe take down the skull and cross-bones flag? could be seen as a bad-omen. :)
If someone hasn’t mentioned it already, apparently realtors suggest the smell of fresh baking emanating throughout the house, or cinammon.
Beautiful… I love it. And don’t worry about the kids’ room — shouldn’t be a turnoff. Interior designers almost always stage model homes with kids’ rooms — it’s actually appealing because people can then imagine their families there.
Wow. That is one seriously lovely house. Best of luck with the sale!
I would buy your house in a heartbeat!!
I actually wouldn’t have guessed immediately that Riley’s room was a kid room–but I was taken aback briefly by the skull smack in the middle of the picture. I wasn’t freaked out or anything but it did give me a moment’s pause. Otherwise the pictures look great. The kitchen and bathroom especially have me salivating.
I didn’t see the bedroom pictures before. Agree about taking down the skull and crossbones – otherwise Reilly’s room looks huge. I love the sloping ceilings in both bedrooms.
A thought about the picture in the bathroom – could you replace it with a (bigger) mirror? (Without getting yourself in the shot?) I think that would look better and would make the room look even bigger and brighter.
I agree with the people that are saying not to do anything to fragrant. I have walked in and out of places without even looking when they have to strong of a scent. It turns my stomach. Do you only have the 1 bathroom? My only other comment is about the master bedroom. Is there another way to position the bed? Maybe on the long wall–then put the dresser on the short wall? To me it looks like the bed doesn’t fit there. I love your house! The light is just beautiful!
I agree with Deb up above-is it possible to move your bed under the windows and put the dresser where the bed currently is? Or, is there something we can’t see preventing that? Other than that-Good job! Excellent pictures, beautiful home. Good luck!
Your house is beautiful! When we had to sell our house last year I kept my girls’ playroom cleaned up and only let them play with a few toys at a time. It was hard (they were 5 and 3 at the time) but super easy to throw all the toys back in the proper bins if we needed to show. I also vacuumed all the time (we had 2 dogs and 2 cats! I am crazy) so that when someone came to see the house I only had to do a light sweep of the floors. We had tile and hardwood downstairs so it was easy to dry swiffer. The rugs got vacuumed often, at night before bed and definitely in the morning once we got up. And at least once during the day if possible. Baking cookies is a good idea but if you don’t have time, light a nice smelling candle, nothing too strong, and that will do the trick, too. I lit cinnamon candles and my agent always told me the people loved the way the house smelled. Good luck! It’s not a fun time having to keep your house “show ready” but it will be worth it. Hope your house sells quickly!
Your house is gorgeous.
I say don’t stress too much about making it perfect for a buyer. Now, let it be said that I’ve never bought a house, but I’d think if it were clean(ish) and looked like a place I could live, I’d like it.
The only thing I’ve heard about setting up a house for sale is to take down family photos so that the person moving in feels like this could be their house.
I think your place looks great and somewhere I’d love to worry about buying. ;)
In terms of how you’re going to survive? Well, remember that it’s about the people looking and not about how “perfect” you managed to clean it for them. And keep on exercising and treating yourself to tasty goodies and writing here about how stressed you are if that helps.
And just keep telling yourself it’ll all work out, or some kind of supposedly helpful mantra like that :D
Good luck!
I’m very spatially challenged and I will barely bother to look at a house unless there is a floorplan. Have your realtor mock one up if they haven’t already. Or maybe you have it from when you remodeled?
The pictures look great. More pictures will be even better. Of bathrooms, of views, of laundry, with details of how the kitchen and table connect/flow. The kinds of things you’d want to see.
Like other posters, we kept a plastic tub by the door and did a last minute sweep on our way out. This kept me from trying to clean dishes and toys and socks and whatever else had accumulated from the last showing and allowed me to say yes to any midday requests.
It looks beautiful.
Two thoughts:
1) The gray sofa (2nd photo) needs a rug in front of it, if it’s possible to find one that goes with the room.
2) The patio desperately needs a splash of color. Maybe just a large colorful pot you can take with you when you move? Or a nice vase of inexpensive flowers on the table.
My friend who is in real estate swears by fresh flowers and tossing something in the oven to bake on the day of a showing. She had one family who kept a Mrs. Smith’s frozen apple pie in the freezer and baked one for each showing – they sold the house after only two :)
Your house is beautiful!
It looks incredible, really. If it’ll help, I forward the listing to everyone I know in the PacNW once it’s up and ready to be seen.
Also, I’d keep Riley’s room. I don’t think it screams kid at all, actually, and when I first glanced at it in Flickr I actually thought: that’s a very neutral kid’s room so you can really visualize it as something else. For what that’s worth!
Beautiful! I would buy it….if I didn’t live on the east coast and plan to stay here for a good long (read: forever) while! Good luck!
People have probably said this already, but the house is gorgeous, very appealing, and you’ve done a fabulous job of decorating and “staging” it. The photo of Riley’s bedroom is fine — it is good to see another bedroom & his is decorated very nicely.
I know baking cookies is suggested, but quite often you will find yourself without the time to do that. Or, as it was for me, without the time to clean up the cookie-making mess. (My imperfect solution was to hide all the dirty Stuff in a cabinet until after the showing). It’s really hard to keep the house showing-ready, I know, and cookies become one more thing to worry about.
But, from my own experience from looking at many, many houses, it’s less important to have the house smell like cookies than it is NOT to have it smell like . . . cooking odors, animals, musty Mystery Things, etc. The single biggest turn-off to me was the houses that had a weird or bad smell. They don’t need to smell like cookies or roses! I do not remember the good-smelling homes, but I can tell you to this day (a few years later) which ones had a funky smell and what that funky smell most closely resembled. I still can’t walk past one house I saw without thinking about the dirty cat litter smell that permeated every room.
So my number one advice: cook no stinky food; wash Dog every week; keep windows open as much as possible to air things out.
I baked banana muffins the day of our first showing. Barely had time to clean the mess before people were making their way in. The house smelled YUMMY and was officially referred to at ‘The Muffin House’ by the people that bought it. I highly recommend doing a little baking before having an open house. It totally works. Best of luck!!!
I want your house.
We sold our Seattle townhouse this spring and selling the house was rough, I won’t lie. On the other hand, we got an offer in 11 days. SO. IT CAN BE DONE! I had a 3yo and a 1.5yo and I consolidated all the toys, put a lot in the garage, and bought some baskety bin type things so that if they were playing with anything when someone called, I could dump everything in the bins and leave. I was CONSTANTLY sweeping and wiping down counters and one of the hardest things was trying to conduct House Business on the phone while home alone with the kids. Other than that, I just made sure I always had somewhere to go if someone wanted to see the house, and I made cookie dough, kept it in the freezer and baked before each open house/showing. People seemed to like it! And I’m 99% sure the people who bought our house came to the first open house AND the second one.
Good luck Linda!
Sorry! I wanted to add that I believe that open houses for the general public are really important but make sure the signs are up at for several days in advance so that people can plan for it. My husband and I were only casually looking to buy a new house/downsize from our current one & we went to an Open House that we just happened to stumbled upon. We fell in love on the spot. Within a few days we contacted a realtor to put our house on the market and made an offer on the house we saw.
And it has happened on more than one occasion that a house we never would have bothered with based on its external appearance became a definite candidate after we visited its Open House. So I also suggest having an Open House for buyers, because you just never know.
Definitely include the shot of Riley’s room. I bet 90 percent of people looking for a multi-bedroom house have kids, and it’s not like you have a Spongebob mural painted on the ceiling.
I too LOVE your house. When you get it on the MLS website, will you post the link please? We’re moving west VERY soon – end of August if all goes as planned – and we would seriously consider buying it if we are able to line up jobs around Seattle.
Your veggie gardens are awesome, so I’d add a photo of them to the listing. When you write the details for Craigslist (a must!) or MLS, include some info about the neighborhood too, like where the nearest park or grocery is. I’d also take down the pirate flag and the waterfall photo in the bathroom, and maybe remove the rugs in the master bed & bath to show off the gorgeous floors a little more. Definitely add some flowers to the back patio, or some colorful citronella candles on the table, and put in new mulch if you can. Get a photo from the living room looking into the kitchen, and one of the fireplace too. If you can get another angle on the office and TV rooms, that couldn’t hurt. Nowadays, photos SELL. The more the merrier. You could also set up a page on blogger to link to from Craigslist so you can show all the pictures & go into more detail.
Best of luck!
Being British and living in France, the whole house-selling thing seems to be wildly different, so I can’t give any real advice (though there’s plenty of good stuff it seems to me in the comments).
What I can’t get over is how HUGE homes in the US seem to be… I’m no good at all with metric conversions or what have you, but my 2 daughters, one large cat and I (and their father till he moved out in May) live in 90m² here in the south of France. We have no parking area, no garden (just a small balcony), and the usual rooms (kitchen, bathroom – both considerably smaller and less modern than yours – large main room (but both my ex and I worked from home, so it needed to be big to fit two offices in it), corridor and walk-in (ha! ha!) cupboard). That’s it! I’ve seen lots of “normal people” show pictures of their homes on the web (by “normal” I mean people who have jobs, or not, and who have kids, and who may or may not have money problems and who are most definitely not what you would describe as “rich”) and in the US your homes are just ENORMOUS. I can’t get over it. And I’m more than a tad jealous… Bearing in mind that our flat currently would cost about 200,000 € (for ease, let’s call that 200,000 $ give or take), and our part of the south of France isn’t the chic, Nice or St Tropez part AT ALL…
Wow. That’s all I can say. Wow. I would loooove to live in a home that looked like that but, unless I win the lottery (or move to the US, apparently), there isn’t a hope…
Your house is beautiful. I’m not kidding. I’d buy it, but I bet I couldn’t afford it, and I’d have to leave my job which I also couldn’t really afford.
I agree with baking cookies when you have an open house– it smells good, and makes it seem like you are thinking of the buyers comfort. I know the house we got made fresh coffee for us (there was cookies too), had clean mugs sitting out with sugar and a note that said there was cream in the fridge (that was actually for the house inspection, which was even better because it was just for us). It didn’t sell the house, but it was nice.
Keep. Everything. Clean. Bathroom, especially toilet, shower/tub, and sink are the biggest things. No little hairs sticking around (I know that’s hard with men in the house); people do not want to be in, let alone buy, a dirty nasty house. No dirty dishes visible in the sink, though hidden in the dishwasher is okay. Oh, and I’ve always heard you should put the lid down on all the toilets, it shows nicer.
No advice on the kid stuff, I don’t have them, but even though Riley’s room is a kid’s room, it doesn’t read as, “OMG I’m going to have to come in and clean off this hideous train border/ bright pink walls, etc. I don’t think Riley’s room will look bad to a buyer at all.
It is a beautiful house, I don’t think you’ll have any problem selling it, but hopefully the market will support the price that you want to get.
Wowzers. It’s all gorgeous, especially the two key expensive rooms (kitchen and bathroom). Keep the kid-bedroom shot, it’s fine. If you can’t sell this house, there’s no buyers out there.
GodDAMN your house is gorgeous, woman. The only thing that jumped out at me saying KIDS about the second bedroom is the pirate flag. I think it’s fine to show, I always get suspicious when a bedroom is omitted in the MLS photos.
First, your house is amazing, and your pictures are great.
My first impressions agree with some of the above:
The pirate flag in the center of the picture draws attention away from the the rest of the room. I don’t think you have to take out the rest of the kids stuff, though!
The bed does look cramped. It would make me wonder if my king size bed would fit. Can the room be rearranged so the bed is under the window?
I would actually center the couch under the 2 windows on the brown wall.
Is there standing water/recent rain there under the flower/retaining wall? I’d wonder what that is. Also, some colorful flowers on the patio.
Like I said, though, the house is amazing. And I’d be thrilled that the kitchen and bath are up to date. Less for me to do!
Cookies and flowers. I ran home and put tollhouse from the tube in the oven for most showings. And it is amazing what a washer & dryer can hide (basically I’d sweep through the house gathering all kid stuff, dishes, you NAME it and throw it all in!). The house is gorgeous – and maybe the feeling is in the air because after seven long months – we got an offer on ours today!!!! I thought I’d feel euphoric but I feel sad & cheated at how low we had to sell it for (but that is NOT in Seattle – like 2000 miles away). Good luck – and you can always try the upsidedown St. Joseph buried in the yard. -Molly
Beautiful interior! I think your biggest hurdle is to get people in the door — once they see the interior they’ll love it, but the street view is a little plain.
I would powerwash your patio before submitting the backyard photo. It’s a really nice back yard, but the concrete looks kind of blah. As others have suggested, some colorful flowers (half-barrels with impatiens?) would look really nice. The color changes in the fence sections looks a little odd — the stained parts look nicer to me.
Good luck — someone will fall in love with this house!!
Linda, your house is beautiful. Drop the kid’s bedroom picture and garage. I would also redo all your exterior pictures but the last one. We just sold our house (quickly even!) and did a crash course in staging. Take out every piece of furniture you don’t really need. Be brutal. I would also consider hiring a professional photographer to do the shots. I will email you the link to our house- the photographer charged $200 and it was worth every penny. We had a ton of action.
Beautiful house! Totally non-stager here, but my good friend is and she’s helping me sell my parents home so Im learning. Plus I’m doing a lot of checking out how realtors are representing their homes for sales and so, opportunities that jump out for me from those pictures are:
In the office, move the printer and have only one laptop on the desk, makes it look bigger
Lose the pirate flag in your son’s bedroom, it’s the only thing that jumped out at me as kids room in that
Pic.
Take your backyard pics showing one fence style at a time.
Move the cream colored sofa to the middle of that wall, in between those beautiful windows.
That’s all that jumped out at me.
Best of luck in making your dream happen!
Your home shows beautifully.
Really, my only comment is on Riley’s Room. That’s a beautiful room, it strikes me as the room of a 8-9 year old, not a 4-5 year old. There are no plastic toys ANYWHERE. That alone is a MAJOR plus.
You have clearly invested a lot of time and love in that house. As I look around my tiny 1,000 square-foot, run-down shoebox, I can’t help but wonder: why on earth would they EVER want to move?!?
Such a beautiful house. You gus have done great work on it.
I would show the picture of the kid’s room. I don’t think it looks at all kids like, honestly. All of the pictures are great.
A couple of staging things….
1. Open the drapes before a showing.
2. Remove any cords that you have that would show awkward outlet placement (the place I ended up buying had a TV in the perfect place. Turns out that the person had moved it just for the showing b/c the only cable outlet was in a place where the TV is in a less perfect place)
It’s going to be fine. Your house looks fantastic and one thing my friend who has little kids is doing is she and her realtor have a deal where she needs 24 hours notice. It will be FINE. I am putting my house on the market and your house looks like it could kick my house’s ASS.
We sold our house recently and for the photos and open house we had strategically placed lit candles to make it look more warm and homey, and I set the table with our nice china, table linens, etc and fresh flowers. Thank God our house sold in a couple weeks because it was a nightmare to keep it tidy with 2 kids and a dog and ugh, having flashbacks right now….good luck :)
oh also I forgot to mention taking down the pirate flag/banner thing in Riley’s room so it looks more neutral, and if you have (or could borrow) fluffy bed pillows for your bed – picture what you see in a bedding catalog…
I thought you got some good feedback from others. How about dog poop? It’s a pain to pick up but I think that would turn people off in a serious way. You don’t want to be known as the “shit on my shoe house.” I agree I would do some flowers or color on the back deck.
I live around you, in Issaquah, and have been browsing homes and I think your photos are far better than many I’ve seen on Windermere. Keep the one of Riley’s room, I’ve seen so many photos of kids’ rooms a mess and his looks nice and tidy. It’s really not all that kid decorated either, I think someone could easily picture that same furniture (minus the skull and crossbones of course)in the room. You did great, good luck with everything that comes next!
The Furminator is God’s gift to pet owners. One real good de-fur-ifying session, and then a quick daily swipe with this thing, and you will drive to Chicago to thank me in person, right after your house sells in record time. :-)
Great house! And we just did this whole thing (sold and bought and kept show-ready for 10 months with 2 small kids). We walked through dozens of homes, some of which were filthy, some of which needed work, many of which had things like clown collections, religious artifacts on every wall, terrible holiday decorations, MANY dolls, and almost all of which had family pictures displayed. (Not all in one house, thank God.) We could ALWAYS see past that kind of thing to whether we’d want to live there. Do not — repeat, do NOT freak out about making the place perfectly dog-hair free at all times. Have a laundry basket ready for toys and shoes and cereal bowls, and shove it in the closet or the back of the car for unexpected showings. Don’t bother with fresh flowers (except for an open house); they die quickly and your house may be on the market a while. Try a big bowl of fresh fruit instead. Equally pretty, lasts longer, and you can all snack on it. Remember that your house is prettier and more move-in ready than most they’ll see that day, but you can’t control the other factors (i.e. they REALLY want to keep chickens and you’re not zoned for that, or whatever.) Breathe.
I wish you all the luck in the world.
Your house is absolutely beautiful. Very homey and warm and functional. I think your photos are wonderful as well.
I was going to suggest taking down family photos but you already mentioned that you were planning on doing that. Baking cookies the day of a showing, or before an open house (for your visitors to nosh on while they browse around) is a good idea too. It actually was the magic trick that helped us sell our first home. The house smells good and ‘like home’ and well, they get a nice little, unexpected treat. I’d probably add some colorful flower pots to your patio, to break up all the green (oh my god it’s so green) but really, I think you’ve done an excellent job and I bet you’ll sell in no time. Best of luck!
I want to move in now.
It looks so good. I just went through the hell of keeping a house show-ready with 2 small kids (ages 1 and 4). It is not fun, I will now lie. But, it’s possible. The hardest part is dealing with getting out the door every morning, when you don’t know if you’ll have a showing that day or not so you have to keep it perfect. Eat out whenever you can. My kids ate a lot of breakfasts in the car from drive-thru places, which is so totally out of character for me but you know what? The stinkin’ house sold. Keep your eyes on the prize. Do not get discouraged by negative feedback. It looks great and it will sell.
Fresh flowers are really nice for showing but are a pain in the ass to keep up with. Dead flowers in a vase are not as nice, it turns out.
Good luck!!
I’m really surprised anyone (let alone how many commented) said to take down Riley’s pirate flag…the ship is on the top of the shelf, it all ties in and is really cute. How can anyone seriously think a pirate flag is a bad omen? :) But I’m not in real estate or needing to sell a home, so what do I know? I think your house is great and I love the pictures.
I have the same cedar ceiling and it made me fall in love with my little house when I first saw it three years ago. And it’s one of the first things people comment on when they walk in the door. Don’t paint it!
Your place looks fabulous in the photos. Fingers crossed for you that works out the way you hope!
I love your house– we’re looking to relocate (alas, not to the Northwest…) and I’ve been doing a LOT of research on buying and what to do to sell. My $0.02…
For the photos, remove all small area rugs. The rugs in the garage/man land, the tan one by your bed and the colorful ones in the bathroom break up the lines of the floor and cut up the surface area visually. Also, your bedroom looks like an afterthought in what is a beautiful house- as if “this is our house, and this is the place we collapse into at night…”. I’d keep that white duvet, but pull it down at the foot of the bed to cover the mattress/boxsprings. Buy a cheapo woven throw and fold it lengthwise over the bottom of the bed, put 4 huge white pillows propped up, and 2 or 3 solid accent pillows with the color of the throw at the head of the bed. Also, could you change the angle of that photo so you are looking down on the bedroom- like you did in the bathroom?
Other posters have mentioned your patio– I say power washer. I rented a 3000 psi one last month for $40 for 24 hours. I powerwashed crap for 6.5 straight hours– my concrete looks brand new, my siding looks sparkling, and my deck was prepped for staining. I even powerwashed the freaking mailbox.
Only thing for showings- set the table like you’re expecting the prospective buyers to join you for supper. If people want to entertain in that amazing room, that’ll do the trick!
Awesome house, though. I love it all, and think you guys did an amazing job with the placements and scope of the renovations. Good luck!
No advice on the staging. I think your place looks great and will appeal to buyers.
My only house selling advice is to be honest with yourself about market conditions and what your house will realistically sell for. Pricing makes a huge difference. We sold our house in Des Moines in early 2009 just after the bottom fell out of the market in just three days at our asking price with multiple offers. The comparables were about 260K and we priced it at 249K to be more competitive and sell quickly. Being the crazy people we are, we had already purchased our new house and were making 2 mortgages. Our next door neighbors there put their house on the market in January of this year for the same price with one less bathroom, one less bedroom and no garage/workshop. It has not sold, they have dropped the price to 215K and still the best offer has been 185K. Now rather than being competitive potential buyers wonder why it has been on the market so long.
Good luck!!!
I think I’m only the gazillionth person to say this, but if I saw photos of that house during an online house-searching session, I’d fall in love. AND it’s not even “my style” as I tend to fall for 100+ year old, 2 story homes. So, well done. It looks awesome: warm, inviting, clean, tasteful.
I also disagree with painting over the red. Not that you were going to. But I think that older people (and old realtors) like 6 tones of beige, but OUR generation(like, anyone under age 55) wants some color. Those are sweeping generalizations, yes.
This is probably not helpful since I am not buying a house in your market (or at all), but I LOVE your place. It is gorgeous, and ohmyhell I want your bathroom, right now.
I love your home, you have done a wonderful job with it. It will sell and fast, trust me. Really would be worth your while to purchase a scentsy burner (instead of all the baking suggestions) great scents for it would be sugar cookie, african mahogany…oh the list goes on it’s addicting! No I do not sell scentsy I just LOVE it though!
Good luck! :)
I normally read all the comments, but short on time. Just wanted to say, the house looks fabulous and I wish you every bit of luck possible selling it quickly, close to your price.
And Riley’s room looks great, believe me, in this market, you want to make an emotional connection with whoever might be interested. That is what will sell your house. Don’t underestimate people, they can see beyond the kid’s stuff, to the nicely painted walls, and can imagine the space for whatever they might want it for.
And the fact, the real humans owned and loved the house, that can just help seal the deal right?
I saw your post about the ceiling. I will tell the zombies to stand down now.
that, not the – hate typos. :(
Fan-fucking-tastic photos!
You’ll lose your shit for a while, but don’t worry – you’ll get it back! :-D
I read this post at 11pm last night, then I went to bed and dreamed I lived in your house. It’s absolutely gorgeous – I LOVE the ceiling. And the tidiness puts my place to shame.
Ha ha at the cereal bowl thing – mine does the same. WHY, when the dishwasher is RIGHT THERE?
Looks great.
We had two cats, two dogs, and a preschooler so we just went ahead and MOVED OUT before we put the house on the market. Much easier to keep clean that way. :)
The only things that popped out at me – they are not dealbreakers only staging issues, though, were:
1. In Riley’s room’s photo my eyes went straight to that pirate skull thing and I spent more time wondering/trying to figure out what it was (because I like kid toys) that actually looking at the room.
2. The picture above the tub looks like filler.
3. Doghair: Do you have a Furminator? If not, get one! (ebay is cheaper than petstore). They really really work super well – I can not tell you how fab they are! You will have enough hair to frankenstein a clone dog!
The pictures all look great. I’d leave the bedroom picture but consider removing the backyard picture taken away from the house. The first thing I thought was, “Oh, so all the water runs directly downhill to the house.”
Your house is beautiful but I don’t think you ever said why you are selling?
My but you’ve gotten a lot of contrasting opinions about smells. I’d have to agree with the commenter that said that a BAD smell would be far more memorable than a (subjectively) GOOD smell.
Your house is stunning – good luck!
Your house looks fantastic and makes me want to move to Seattle (except for the soul-sucking traffic you often refer to). My only suggestion is to change the orientation of your bed in the master bedroom and/or the perspective of the picture. The bed looks smushed up in the corner. Even though you have a nightstand/lamp on the side against the wall, that side of the bed doesn’t look very accessible and it looks like you’d have to shimmy against the wall to get into bed. I would see if you can move it and make the room look more open, maybe move/remove the dresser and place the head of the bed underneath the windows (if it fits). Just a suggestion… Also agree with the removal of the small/mismatched area rugs. Visually clutters the room and obscures the great floors.
Best of luck! I’m totally jealous of your home (and life and general)!
If I am looking at a house that is deodorized, I wonder what odor the seller is trying to “cover up”.
Your house is beautiful and the photos are wonderful. I peruse MLS often (you know, dreaming of that day when I can finally stop renting…) and it always amazes me how crappy some of the photos are lol. These are beautiful and show your home wonderfully. I would buy it in a second… if I didn’t live in another country :) Good luck, I know someone will fall in love with your home, how could they not?
Great pictures! Your home is beautiful. I heard this tid-bit on some HGTV show the other day… take down family photos (which you said you’re going to do) and put cool shots of your house/property in the frames instead. I thought that was a cool idea. But the pictures look great and I wish I could buy your house!
OK, I think people go overboard on staging a house. (Too much HGTV?) A painting on a wall or a small rug by a bed: a serious buyer would be noting the floor plan and house inspection, not pillows on your bed or laptops on a table.
I got nothing, except that your house is freaking gorgeous and I would buy it in a second if I could a) afford it and b) move to wherever the hell it is you live. I think it looks really good, actually, but I’m not a stager by any means, just an amateur HGTV watcher.
What great pictures!!
The “kid” room is not nearly as bad as it could be. I think it’s a fine picture (kind of love the pirate flag!). I CANNOT believe how clean your garage is! And you kitchen looks wonderful.
Why the CRAP would you sell this house? It’s gorgeous!
I wouldn’t worry about Riley’s room being too kid decorated at all. You’ve got a nice, neutral color on the walls.
As a formal Realtor, I agree with some of the PP’s who’ve said that open houses are for the realtor to get clients, not for you. Mostly, it’s nosey neighbors that show up to get a peek inside your house.
The photos are great and if you can make sure they’re posted everywhere (especially Realtor.com), that will help. You’ve done a beautiful job on all your remodeling and I would kill to have your house.
I sold our home is Southern Calif. one year ago (it was a short-sale situation)…I also have a 1 year old and a 3 year old and I was completely stressed out about having to show the house with the kid clutter and everything that goes along with having small children and schedules and strangers traipsing through my home on very short notice. I’m here to say it wasn’t that bad. We definitely de-cluttered as much as possible (we knew we were moving one way or another, so we started packing and stacking boxes in the garage) I kept all of the favorite toys easily available in one toy box and in bins in the kids’ rooms. It’s amazing what you can live without when you have to. Once it’s packed away, it’s basically forgotten. If you know for a fact you’re going to move in the near future – start packing. It feels like good energy spent on the positive thought that “YES! We’re really doing this!”
Your photos came out great, really nice job. The photo of the back yard showing the close up of your outdoor dining area gives the appearance of some standing water along the retaining wall in the background. This may be only a shadow but I can tell you that even the appearance of drainage issues can be a major red flag to people. Might want to think about re shooting that one in different light if that is only a shadow, or if it is standing water, leaving that photo out or cropping that part out. Good luck, I hope your place sells quickly!
I’ll just add, when we put our house on the market, we bought an ottoman with storage inside, so we could stuff his toys inside it in a hurry if we got a showing. Also, I bought some of those Lysol wipes to quickly clean the bathrooms and kitchen, even though I don’t use them normally.
Your house is lovely!
I want to second the suggestion made earlier to get a storage unit if you can. It gave me great peace of mind to know I didn’t have to hide/discard things just to declutter my house. Boxes of extra clothes/toys and small pieces of furniture went in there. Good luck – your house is gorgeous and the pics look great!
For what it’s worth if I had the money and lived in your area I would so buy your home right now! I’ve loved it since I started reading your blog.
your house is my dream house right now… too bad I live a kajillion miles away.
I’ve bought and sold a few houses and FWIW, here are my two (or more) cents:
I’ve heard that people decide if they want to buy a house in the first 30 seconds of walking through the door. The rest of the time is spent justifying their decision.
DO NOT burn scented candles or put out fake potpourri. There are lots of people with allergies and even those without often have aversions to strong fake scents. I would have trouble even staying in a house with this stuff in it long enough to look at all the rooms. Instead, air your house out by opening the windows for as long as you can before showings (weather permitting of course). There is nothing better than fresh air to get rid of family and pet smells without looking like you’re covering stuff up. And like others have suggested, natural smells from baking cookies or bread in the morning is great, but the cheats are to warm a squirt of real vanilla up, then hide the evidence. You can also get pre-made cookie dough or rolls that are frozen but oven-ready and just pop a few of those suckers in the oven instead of bread from scratch. (Who would possibly have time for that with 2 kids in the house?)
The pic of the office shows me the desk, but not the room. If you can manage 3 corners of the room in one shot it gives a better idea of size. Same with the shot of the carpeted room with the lighter couch, though it does show the window trim nicely. Other than that I think the pics are absolutely fantastic!
I cannot believe you think Riley’s room looks too kid-like when I’ve seen so many pics of kids rooms with the walls covered in decals and wallpaper borders. The pirate flag is the only real giveaway. And that shot shows the lovely sloped ceiling. I’d keep it for sure.
Don’t forget, you’re selling a home, yes, but also a lifestyle. It sounds like you live in a place where lots of people looking to buy will have kids. Your pics showcase a house with rooms for those kids (plus the “spa” and a “manly” workshop space as retreats from the kids to boot!), as well as good outdoor spaces. Actually, I might not use the one taken from the far corner of the yard towards your picnic table: it makes that corner of the yard look very sloped, so less suitable for playing in. The one with your table in the foreground already shows the same space and I think it looks more flattering.
Yes, start packing now. It declutters, shows you’re ready to move on and disengage from this house, and puts positive karma out there.
Hi. I don’t usually read your blog, but I am a fan of your Bodies site. I decided I probably should read your blog because I admire you a lot. Anyway, all that to say, I came by to say hello and then saw these photos of your gorgeous house. It’s probably nowhere near me and way out of my price range, but it looks amazing and could only dream of a house like that. I also think you should include the “kid” decorated room because it shows that it’s a substantial sized bedroom.
The photos look beautiful. I think the kid bedroom photo would be fine without the skull hanging in the corner.
Love your house and you did a great job of staging. My suggestion is to buy some of the renuzit (or whatever brand) gel “odor remover” thingies and hide them in all the closets. When we bought our most recent house we kept coming back to one that had such a clean and fresh smell. It really was that extra touch that put us over the edge. Note, they did NOT use one with a strong flower/fruit smell, but the ones that “neutralized.” It was interesting to see all of these cute, clean, and pretty similiar houses and then walk into one that had that “fresh” scent. I didn’t realize that even a “clean” house can still smell like the people that live there (even if they smell lovely which I’m sure your family does!).
Oh, and why did you take your own pictures? Did you decide to not use a realtor? If you’re using a realtor and still had to do all of the staging and photo taking yourself…NOT cool!
You do have a lovely house. You are smart and you guys know what to do to sell it–especially with all the great advice you’ve been handed here (a tub in the garage to place dirty dishes, and other crap, is GENIUS).
A small thing I would change about your master bedroom–it looks small (even though it may not be). Would it be possible to get a better picture or store a piece of furniture elsewhere to make it appear a little larger?
I would put bark out like others said and plant some flowers along the fence on the small hill. Something colorful would look great. And, as some have suggested, powerwash the concrete, put pots of flowers there and make the table really inviting (like you want to sip wine and linger out there after the kids are in bed).
My sister did this back in June of ‘08 when she sold her house in a day. She put together a binder of info about the house and the neighborhood. She put together a years worth electric bills, gas bills, water bills, etc., updates on the house (new carpet, bath, etc.,)pictures of parks nearby, school info, any good restaurants nearby, and other info she thought other people would need to know. People from other areas will probably look at the house and they may not know about the area, so that info could be really helpful.
You have a great backyard but it might help people imagine hanging out there if you “stage” it a bit more… Add some bright flowers to those little pots you have by the table, maybe some small colorful pillows to the chairs and something on the table- small potted plants or candles/ lanterns. Sorry I don’t have much to add; it looks great and there are a ton of other great comments above!
I have no words of advice but I did want to say that I have looked at these pics a few times and am LOVING this house. LOVING. It looks so cheery and homey. Love it.
And am super jealous of the man cave.
I didn’t even know it was called “staging”. The stress factor makes me never want to move though. Good luck:)
A suggestion – pressure wash your patio! Makes a huge difference. :)
Several have suggested a nice smell such as cookies or bread. We used mulling spices and simmered them on the stove until right before we left. If you can’t find mulling spices right now, throw some cinnamon sticks, a vanilla bean if you have it, and some just a little bit of whole cloves or nutmeg in a small saute pan and simmer it for awhile.
Also, lots of fresh flowers, lights on and drapes/ blinds open.
I have been reading your site for ages now. But how did I miss the fact that you guys are selling?
I remember the post about the leap of faith, but you guys are going to do it? Move to Oregon?
linda, your house is beautiful. i hope it sells lightning fast (if that’s what you want).
we bought a house in january and holy SHIT, the staging those guys did (sellers were a gay couple) is absolutely what sold us. they had music playing throughout the entire house – it was coming through the satellite TV, but all the TVs were off, so i don’t quite know how they did it, but it was awesome. it was 80s music, which was a risky choice, but i love 80s pop, so it was an absolute charmer for me. these dudes also loved dimmers. every frickin’ light fixture in our house is on a dimmer and they totally used lighting to their advantage during showings. (i can attest to the things dim lights can hide based on the grody carpet we now live with. i want to rip it out with my own hands.) they also always had those battery-operated candles going everywhere. it smelled marvelous in the house from either something they had baked or those battery-operated candles were scented. their closets were IMMACULATE and the carpets, though grody, had vacuum lines every single time. they also had very nice color copies of their MLS photos laid out on the kitchen island and a note pad for us to use to take notes. the whole experience felt very comfortable and it honestly helped us make the decision. we were happy to buy from them.
forgot to mention that we sold our house last october in 9 days. at that point, my staging tricks were – remove knick-knacky shit (which you don’t really even have – yay for you!), fresh flowers, oust/febreeze every morning, vacuum every morning AND every night (frickin’ DOG), hide the litter box, mulch, plant larger new shrubs, refresh the flower boxes, try to keep up with the dropping leaves.
all fingers crossed for you!
I don’t know if anyone else has suggested this because yeah, that’s a lot of comments, but use your son’s room photo if you can photoshop the pirate/skull flag out :). Nothing against skulls but that’s the center of the photo. I giggled – but I’m not a buyer.
Your master bedroom looks limited in space as far as where furniture would be positioned (some of us are nazis about that) so maybe try a different angle or move the bed and dresser to different positions to make it look bigger.
Your house is greatness!
Also – I am in shock that your garage is so organized and clean. I’m showing this to my father, brother and boyfriend to prove it’s possible. Good luck!
Please, please, please tell me, where, where, where did you get that stripey bed cover? I love, love, love it.
Thursday: Bed Bath & Beyond. It used to be brighter, but you know: it’s, uh, been washed a lot.
Looks wonderful to me. A couple things:
Potted plants (color!) on the front and back porch.
Pressure wash the back patio.
Remove the nightstands in your bedroom (they make it look cramped) and center the picture on the left of the bed above the headboard.
Add pictures of Dylan’s room. Makes me suspicious when listings don’t show all of the bedrooms.
Center the couch that’s against the brown wall beneath the windows.
Hang some curtains (wide and high to make the window look bigger) in the office.
Remove the picture above the soaker tub.
Other than that (as a PNW resident) this is a killer house. I think you’ll have great luck selling it.
I did’t read all the comments but we sold our house about 2 years ago and some of the tricks that helped were – removing furniture, fruit, 100 watt bulbs and laundry baskets.
removing furniture: we moved everything that wasn’t necessary to the basement. End tables, extra chairs at the dining room table (we went from 6 to 4), bookshelves, etc. Makes the rooms looked used/lived in but more spacious.
Fruit – big bowls of bright fruit (think granny smith apples) are cheaper and last longer then flowers as a centerpiece.
100 watt bulbs: put the brightest bulbs you can find in every single light/lamp then turn them on when you leave the house for a showing. Even during the day. Don’t count on your realtor to do this. Even with all the natural light you have you want every single room to be bright and cheery. It’s a bit of an energy suck but your house will show better.
Laundry Baskets: I kept 3 scattered around the house and when the realtor said we had a showing I would do a quick once-through of each room and throw random, out of place items in to a basket. The baskets went in the car along with the dog as we vacated the house.
As for the dog hair, well, we just bucked up and swiffer’d and vacuumed every damn day.
Your house is beautiful – that big green backyard and all the light are great selling points. Do you have a photo of the fireplace for the listing? Detail photos help draw a buyer in.
If all else fails, get a St. Joesph statue and bury it upside down in your yard. (They actually sell a kit at catholic stores.) Works like a charm, never known it to fail. Swear. Don’t know why cause I don’t believe in that shit, but it does.
I’d live there based on the living room photo alone. But I’d certainly go check it out if I were a house-shopper! Which I’m not. Sadly.
God I love your house.
I would power wash the back patio and plant some flowers (any kind, doesn’t matter) in the raised bed, and in pots next to the big one you already have. Add fresh mulch.
Reangle the long shot of the backyard to show less fence and more house. Currently the main focus appears to be that tree.
Trim the plants in the front of the house where it looks like they are covering the windows, throw some flowers in there too.
Add a tighter shot of the front entry area of the house. If you can, and it is worth looking at, do a shot from the outside with the door open to show the entryway.
A photo of every room, even the less awesome ones.
Fireplace photo, with fire in it to show that it is useable, if possible.
If it is warm enough and you have window screens, keep the windows craked open all the time, it helps the house smell fresh. Having frozen bakeables on hand to throw in the oven is a vastly preferable way to make your house smell great than anything artificially perfumed. Cookies, apple pie or apple turnovers, which are faster. Dryer sheets tucked in out of the way, hard to ventilate places like closet shelves will make them smell clean. If your heater vents have filters in them, tuck dryer sheets in there, too.
Don’t vaccuum before bed, you’re just going to have to do it again in the morning. If possible make it the last thing you do before leaving the house for the day. Make sure you have spare vaccuum belts and bags on hand.
Get sanitizing disks for the toilet tanks (not the blue ones, they stain) so you don’t have to scrub every day.
Empty your medicine cabinets of everything except the most basic first aid supplies. Leave no prescription medication, alcohol or jewelry in the house during showings. People will go into everything, including your dressers. Have plastic bins that fit in the car handy to toss in whatever oughtn’t be seen.
Just looking at the photo below the kitchen, I would try moving that sofa away from the corner… move the antique chair around, but try to get the sofa with more space around it…. love Riley’s room! put up the other kid room… love seeing kids that live in a gorgeous house!
ps, what is the color of the master bedroom,,,,love it!!!!!!
One of the things that helped me buy my current home was that the sellers had folders with all the photos and details of the house (including the MLS) that you could take with you once you toured the home. I was able to refer back to it several times and it was better than all the notes I made on the other houses. I believe I still have that folder, come to think of it.
It’s back to school time here, and the regular sort of folders can be had for about $0.20 each. Print out the photos on several pages, include the MLS print-outs, and there you go.
The former owners used the baked cookies candles, which did the same thing as regular baked goods.
I can’t even imagine trying to sell a house and keep it clean for showings with little ones in the house. More power to you!
I think the place looks great.
Good Luck!
Looks like you’ve really transformed your house over the years–it’s lovely. Your (with luck) new house on the dirt road with views of wooded hills and no neighbors, though? Exquisite. I completely understand your motivation! For what it’s worth, here are a couple of suggestions that helped us sell our house with multiple offers:
1) Open the blinds in all photos to highlight the views and light, unless what you see from the windows(at photo angle) is another home’s wall or something really unattractive. If it is, stage with a tension rod and a white sheer in front of the (pulled-up) blinds.
2) Take a twilight shot of your house’s exterior with all curtains and blinds open and all lights on inside. You have the camera skills to pull it off and those shots always stand out.
3) Add copious potted flowers and colorful plants to engage the eye, along with fresh tanbark (great smell, beautiful contrast color).
4) Once you have some serious interest, have someone (husband?) access the crawl space and any attic areas and clean out any debris, animal droppings, etc. You want to minimize anything that might trigger an inspector to get too curious ;-)
5) The open house brought in five of the nine offers we fielded, and should definitely be taken seriously
6) Don’t describe repairs or maintenance (new roof, new paint, etc.) as it raises the mental “before” image for the buyer.
7) If you have the stomach for it, price very low to spark a lot of interest, and possibly even a biddnig war. You don’t have to accept an asking-price offer if that’s not enough, though your agent may not relish this tactic and it may not be appropriate in your neighborhood (if a lot of similar houses are avaialble and sitting unsold for a while)
8) Starting at a higher price can be the kiss of death; later reductions are less psychologically attractive than a fresh-to-market house at a really good price, even if that price ends up being the same–plus, you waste a lot of time
Best of luck to you!
LOVE the house!! My only suggestion for the pictures is to bark mulch the flower beds like others have suggested, but also rent/borrow a pressure washer and spruce up the cement pad. Then stage the backyard some more, borrow stuff from neighbours if you have to, flower pots etc., and retake the picture when the fence and the pad are dry and bathed in sunlight.
I think the yard is absolutely great, but just thinking it is the weakest of all your beautiful pictures.
OH and I love the twilight suggestion for the front of the house with the lights on inside. It’s such an inviting image!
Your house looks gorgeous. If I were shopping in your neighborhood, I would definitely want a showing.
I want to spend the rest of my days on this earth in your living room :-)
I love, love, love your house. Good luck with the sale. Beautiful pictures, too.
Having had my former beloved house on the market for 7 months and dealing with many, many showings and a husband who also liked to leave spoons and bowls and his pjs in some random spot every morning, I sympathize!
I would recommend NOT using the photo of the garage with the door open; folks can see the garage door in the exterior shot, and earn the privilege of looking inside if they come look at your house. :)
Also, I would remove a few more things from Riley’s room, at least for the photo…like the pirate flag, the item on the bench/toy box, the photo on the bedside table, and a few things from the above-bed shelves. Make it look as uncluttered as possible (although it’s very clean and tidy and a sweet boy’s room as is).
One more thing…is it at all possible to trade your bed for the dresser in your MBR? Not sure what the square footage is like, and I’m totally making an assumption about where the door to your room is, but it would be nicer to see the side of the bed than the foot when walking in, and nice to show some walking room on both sides of the bed, rather than just the foot and one side. JMHO.
Open houses don’t sell the place, it’ll just be your neighbor’s walking through…the brokers open is a good thing though.
Are you using an agent or selling on your own? I highly recommend getting an agent.
Flower pots on the outside – front entry would be fab.
Is there another placement for the bed in the master bedroom?
Nice place – much luck to you!
The master bed is in a weird place, I would move it to the wall opposite the windows. I’m sure you don’t put it there exactly because you don’t want to have to walk all the way around it to get to the bathroom, but I think that layout would make the room look largest, because you’d have room for a small chair in the far corner, and it would also highlight the windows & light because the bed wouldn’t cover them up.
The patio could use a good pressure wash, or I have seen these interlocking patio tiles with some kind of rubber-under-gripper thing. These tiles are meant to be put over existing but unattractive outdoor flooring and just sit there on top.
That big couch & antique chair – the couch should be moved away from the corner and there should be another chair on the other side so that it looks like a traditional seating group. As it is, it looks like only a small half of a room or maybe a big hallway. Adding another chair and coffee table would highlight that it’s a fully functioning family room and it’s quite big. Even just seeing the arm of another chair in that picture would complete the room instead of having the whole left side of the room look like it’s not good for anything. I think it has a door there, and it’s used as a thoroughfare, right? But it doesn’t matter if you take the picture and then move the chair back to wherever it belongs, it would at least be good for the pictures to show off the room’s full potential.
As a recent home buyer, I wanted to see lots of pictures, preferably of every room and of how the rooms flowed into one another. A few great listings even had a floorplan, which was really helpful.
In the other living room, your furniture is only taking up 1/4 of the rug! You should add two chairs to the other, empty side of the rug to complete the seating group and highlight its spaciousness. I’m just saying for the sake of pictures, you wouldn’t have to leave those chairs there, but right now it looks like the room is good for one couch and one loveseat, when really there’s so much room there. Its like the brain just discounts all of that open space as if its not there. I know in real life it would be weird to have the backs of chairs to a fireplace, but just for the pictures it would be great – even if you move chairs in from other rooms and them move them back right after taking the picture.
Somebody’s suggestion about getting a shot of the house at nighttime with all the lights on – you should definitely do that, at least for the back of the house with that whole wall of windows!
Your house is beautiful, I think anyone with taste will love it and scoop it right up! Have you thought about pressure washing the back patio (by the table in the back yard)? That isn’t even a huge thing but I wanted to offer something…
We are in the process of doing the same exact thing as you guys… taking the house we have put so much blood, sweat and tears into and selling it in favor of moving somewhere else, better for our entire family. Just the thought of losing all of this money on the house makes my stomach ache but we have to follow our dreams, right?
Good luck to you guys. I will be here in FL, decluttering and staging my own place in the hopes that someone else will love it as much as we do. :)
It looks gorgeous. I vote for including shots of every room (don’t worry about a bedroom looking too kid-friendly)…I think people worry more when they see how many bedrooms are listed but that there are pictures left out…I think they figure there’s something you’re hiding. When we sold my house, I was crushed to make my craziest colors neutral, but it really did show so much better. Things I got the most comments on re: staging were setting the kitchen table (no kidding…got comments! It really looked inviting.) and painting the (unfinished) basement, which made it look so good the realtor actually posted a picture of it in the listing. I had a signed offer 6 days after it went on the market…in this economy! Fingers are x’ed for you!
Gorgeous house! As for not having time to bake cookies – frozen cookie dough baby, yeah!
Your house looks great! We have moved several times with 4 boys due to hubby being transferred. I used to have a laundry basket that I would dash thru the house with to collect all the “stuff” lying about when they called for a showing and it went in to the car with the kids and I as we left. I would also put them in the car and then do one last sweep to make sure they did not destroy something on the way out the door.