Clean , clean and clean again. If the bathroom is that old whoever buys the house will probably gut and start over so I would just leave it. Make sure all the personal clutter is removed and you are done. If you want to paint it is always refreshing to go into a newly painted place in nice neutral colors.

Great advice from Patricia Colwell! We went through this a couple years ago, and were prepared to do lots of what we considered necessary updates. However, our realtor's advice was to just clean... period. The house was empty when it went on the market, so decluttering wasn't an issue. A buyer will very likely change anything you update. Obviously, a big factor is the market you're in, but our home (in Southern CA) sold quickly for well over the asking price.

Leave the bathroom. Make sure the towels are beautiful and it looks warm and clean. We got a storage garage and put a whole bunch of furniture in it. It made the house seem cleaner. Best of luck! Moving sucks!

Thank you so much. We have really been unsure about how much to do. It really is for the most part quite nice and updated. Have been repainting ,etc.. but just didn't know how far to go with all the little details. Any ideas on this, we have two very old pets that need care and we have no where to take them. How do we handle it about the animals, dog beds, bowls, etc? I know you should remove all those type things but what if you can't. We have a small decorative gate that keeps them separated into a small part of the house but it does include the kitchen/den area which makes things look cluttered there.

Can you remove the pets and their bowls, beds, and gates during open houses and certainly remove it all for the listing photos?

I agree 100% with Patricia. Not only clean but declutter. Get rid of anything you can, narrow down your possessions, or store neatly in a garage or elsewhere objects you want to keep but can keep out of site while showing the house. One less chair, fewer end tables, nick nacks, put them all out of the way. Cull your closets too. They look much more spacious when they are not packed full.

I agree it would help if you could just remove the pets and their necessities during open houses. Should be fairly easy for the listing photos. May I just say kudos to you for having the elderly pets and caring for them. I might be an exception, but, as a buyer, it would make me smile. Again...needs to be clean.

Regarding the decluttering, a friend of mine rented a storage space for all the items the realtor suggested they move out. It's just a thought if you don't have anywhere else to put things...certainly not the sweet dogs!

Get the pets used to kennels for showings that is waht we did with ours the realtor brought treats to help.

its difficult with pets. some people just don't like animals and there is nothing you can do.

however, ask your realtor or someone if there is any pet odor on first entering the house. if so, you might want to remove some wall to wall carpeting that is holding on to pet odor...which the owner just doesnt notice. if i were a buyer i'd worry that a cat or dog odor would persist when i bought the house.

(we have a cat...and i'm oblivious to her odors unless i've been away for a week and i enter the house with a 'fresh nose'. even with the cat sitter scrupulously cleaning the litter box.)

Just a thought should you find the need...you might check with PetSmart if you have one nearby. We've used their Doggie Day Camp and Doggie Hotel a couple times for an elderly dog and were very pleased.

Don't sweat the small details as much and like the others said, just make sure everything is clean and price accordingly. There has to be a happy medium between showing your house and not compromising the health of your elderly pets. During house hunting, we found many people put the dog/s in the garage during the showing, although I can see how this might not be ideal for older pets or in colder temperatures. For an open house, best to take them with you if possible. Definitely remove all the extra dog stuff, bowls for the listing photos, but I saw plenty of houses with that stuff still around during the actual showings. People are going to open doors, cabinets, closets and find out you have dogs anyway, so not like you'll be fooling anyone. If the pets are left in the garage or another room, just be sure to put a note on the door (and any instructions such as don't let dogs out of room, etc) and have your realtor give the visiting crew a heads-up. It was very helpful in houses that did this. Others didn't and it was a big surprise to open the door to take a peek at the garage, for instance, and find an unhappy dog barking at the strangers in its house on the other side-- unsettling for all! Unless they're just jerks, dog-phobic, or completely hate animals, I think most people can be a little lenient about the dog situation since it is still someone else's home. But I'm an animal lover, so I might just be biased that way.

I hear a homeowner who's very happy with her home and all the improvements made over time. However, you don't have a buyer's eye, and you need an objective eye to view your home impartially. You'd be wise to post photos of your home - interior and exterior - and let us get specific. Yes, clean enough to eat off the floors is a given! 50% of your own stuff packed away and in storage. Do you have dated draperies or valances? What's on your kitchen counters? How much furniture is in each room? You're better off to go minimalistic with just enough there to speak about the room's purpose. Personal photos, mementos, etc - gone! Fresh paint in an updated neutral shade will make a huge difference. Do you know the demographic for your area - young professionals, retirees, families with school age kids. This can make a difference in how your present your home to prospects. Most prospects will be looking for potential repair issues and considering how much maintenance your place and your landscape require. If you have lots of hedges and shrubbery that require regular trimming, you'd be wise to eliminate that in favor of a more care free type of planting. Do please post photos! I know it may entail more work to post them and to bring the house up to real estate ready status, but you want a quick and easy sale for the most money and Houzzers can help you stage it right!

Thanks everybody. As we get farther along I may post pictures. I had already done a lot of research about how to prep the house and have been slowly de-cluttering for the past year but will still have to rent storage to move out some of the furniture, etc.. We live in a very rural area with open cow pastures as far as you can see on all four sides. No close neighbors, have never had to worry about covering the windows completely up with curtains and blinds. The cat and dog are not allowed in any area with carpet so I'm not worried about carpet odor thank goodness. We have a small dog door that goes out into our garage and then another one in the garage wall that they use to go outside. That is where the catpan box is also. Will probably be back with more questions soon. Thanks.

Be sure to clean all light fixtures and install ALL new "bulbs"...the highest wattage the fixture calls for. Bulbs dim over time, you will be amazed at the difference.

If you're in a rural area, then in my opinion, I think you'd have even more leeway over the pets and upgrades. To me, you almost expect pets and sometimes even barn or farm animals with houses in the country, depending on the setting. I also wouldn't expect all the latest and greatest design updates and trends in a country home. You have other assets that a home in the middle of town or a subdivision wouldn't, such as acreage, space away from neighbors, and probably scenic views.

One of the best things you can do is work with a realtor that uses a professional photographer to take photos (if there are any in your area). Professional photos and cleaning are two of the most important things you can do for selling your home. Realtors who know your area and market can also help you with what aspects are more important to focus on than others. We recently bought a home and sold our old one and a lot of the so-called rules such as moving out a third of your furniture, no signs of pets whatsoever, having everything updated, granite countertops and tile floors, etc were not an issue on either the buying or selling side. Pet doors weren't a problem when we sold either. :) Talk to some local pros first before putting yourself through all that expense and hassle.

Even though you are not ready to list, you should interview realtors. Bring them in and listen to their suggestions. Let that guide you. The realtor knows what it takes to sell a home and in a very rural area the market is very different than a suburban neighborhood.

Thanks for your comments about this being a country home and setting. For sure we have the lovely wide open scenic view of rolling pastures even with cows dotting the fields but yet we're only 2 miles from a major interstate hwy. Most people don't understand the difference in the way of life. No sound, no lights in sight. One of the drawbacks however is finding good services such as realtors without going a lot farther out from this area. swrite you have reassured me since you seem to understand the mindset of the type people that would be interested in the property. Most people love the house and the setting. We do plan on bringing in some type expert to give us suggestions as soon as we get a few more things finished such as painting,etc.

My sister in law's house was on the market for 26 months before it sold. Her biggest problem was that it was crammed full of furniture(ugly furniture) and personal photos. She also had her refridgerator covered with photos and junk. I suggested that she might want to put some of her things in storage but she refused to listen. Her realtor didn't think it was a problem, either. Well, 26 months and $80,000 less than her asking price her house sold. The house is currently being gutted by the new owners. Yes the house must be clean but absolutely no personal photos, fake plants, place mats on the table or excessive furniture. Oh and the other thing she had-----several of those cheap metal crosses across her dark paneled walls. I guess she used those to divert attention from the built in gun rack.

Hope she's not on Houzz

The Griers,

I agree with others: de-clutter; clean, clean, clean; fix things that are broken; and stage.

As for renovations, this was my experience: When we prepared to sell our last house, I spent $5,000 on the master bath to put glass doors on the shower, and put in a large soaking tub. This required downsizing the vanity.

Later the contractor we used (he was the brother of the Realtor) told us that immediately after Closing, the Buyers hired him to remove the soaking tub and install a large vanity. Yep. True story. At least they liked the glass shower doors.

- K

You have been given a lot of good advice with making your home clutter free and hopefully, appealing to buyers. Buyers need to be able to vision your home as theirs, which is why it is recommended to take personal photos down. Without seeing pictures of your home, it is hard to get very specific on what can be done. You had mentioned a powder room with a cultured counter top -- the cost for replacing this counter top could be reasonable with a granite remnant. I agree that it would be good to interview local Realtors, as they will
know what works best for your particular housing market for resale.

Luckily for me I'm not into clutter and have been paring things down for a while now. I don't go for nick nacks or family photos everywhere. My counters are always clear and even though I will be moving out some furniture I don't even know if it's necessary because it's spaced well. So at least I've got that going for me. We do like nice artwork (nothing cheap or tacky) and I'm planning on taking some of them down. Though I don't look forward to filling nail holes and re-touching the paint. That is what you're supposed to do, right? Doesn't that leave everything looking bare and colorless? One big problem is the garage that is quite large which is my husband's domain. It's not that it's so cluttered that we can't park both cars inside but he owns every tool and piece of equipment there is many times over and we have 5 massive 4x7' steel cabinets, lots of shelves and rolling tool cabinets around all sides and it is Not neat or organized. The walls there were never completely finished so we have that to do. There is so much to go through and reduce down because all that is not coming with us. Of course it needs to be neater but how important is it when showing the house? Love all of your advice.

I would seriously consider looking at open houses in your area or online in your hoped for price range to see if you are accurate and see what the competition looks like and act accordingly from there. Your realtor should be able to show you comparables to your home that have sold recently and that will help you with realistic pricing.

Clean, clean, clean. If you are overwhelmed by this hire a cleaning company to clean the day before the open house

Make your foyer area look inviting with possibly a mirror, chair or table if it fits, fresh flowers and an empty closet with wood hangers in it. This shows potential for what can be done for the house and that the house is inviting and roomy.

Remove ALL curtains and rods fill nail holes

Have all the lights on when showing especially during the day

Bake cookies or bread for fragrance in the house

Price it right

These all make a difference!

kaywestmaas, that is what we've heard before about renovations and people coming in and ripping it back out. That's why we needed some advice about how much to do. Even though this house is 30 yrs old it's in pretty good shape but of course there are lots of things we could do to upgrade. Such as, in the hall powder room I talked about earlier, there was a shower stall installed in place of a large downstairs linen closet. It is 30 years old. It will be a big headache to replace it. The new owners might rip it back out and turn it into the closet for all we know. It looks fine and is completely usable even though it really isn't needed. Luckily I have a large laundry room that has lots of shelving and cabinets so the lack of a downstairs linen closet has never been a problem. We know the house needs new carpet but it's not in bad shape and it is clean. We've over time remodeled rooms such as the kitchen and have nice cabinets and granite countertops. We just don't want to put much more money into this house. I don't think we'll get the money back in this area. We're not trying to sell this house as being "remodeled".

For very little money, I'd replace that vanity countertop in the hall powder room. Buyers are very picky, and you do not want anything as visible as this, to be a deterrent.

Because there are no other houses or roads close to the house, this house has many windows in every room that are large and have wide open views with curtains that just frame them. The curtains and the few blinds are updated and simple. We have two floor to ceiling walk in bay window areas on the frontside of the house, one being in the master. That's the only room where I have it more covered. I put in custom 2" wood blinds. I keep reading to take down the curtains and blinds. Is it necessary in this case? Some of them are custom for some of our not off the shelf window sizes and I doubt I'll be wanting them but the new owner might. It would be a large expense. Everything is in neutral type colors. I know to have everything as bright as possible. As for going to some open houses near-by to get ideas, there are hardly any houses, much less for sell in this very rural area. I have looked at other older homes online in other areas and I think we're looking maybe better than expected except for those that have been totally remodeled. We'll be moving a lot farther away so the houses we're looking at to buy will be in another area. Sorry if any of my questions and concerns seem like I should just know that but I've never sold a house before.

Wow Jennifer M, that was a great list of hints. Thank you for taking the time to write it all out.

thegriers, it sounds to me like you're in pretty good shape for never having sold a home. I'm sure all will be fine.

Jennifer has some great tips. The sellers of our home did a great job with #22 on her list. There was a HUGE binder of every single appliance manual in the home, along with manuals/instructions for the sprinkler system and electronic driveway gate. They also left the gardener's business card. The day we moved in we found wine and champagne in the fridge from the sellers with a lovely note welcoming us.

As I mentioned before, the home we sold was completely empty when put on the market. We didn't do any type of staging which worked out just fine. That was 2 1/2 years ago when the market was different...bidding wars for the home we sold AND the one we bought.

While we can do everything we can to help prepare our "house" for sale, what would you recommend for a house that butts up against a series of softball fields? We have a privacy fence to detract prying eyes but it doesn't stop the high pop balls that wind up in our backyard. I am very, very apprehensive about showings or open houses on the weekend, which are prime time for buyers to see our place.

Jessica, you'll get more responses by starting a new topic with your question...which is a good one. Just wish I could offer a good response. You mentioned "series" of ball fields. Are the high pop balls also accompanied by much noise? I'm always amazed at what doesn't bother some buyers...such as lots of noise from traffic.