Getting your home ready to show

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

Exterior

• House in good repair

• House number easy to read

• Eavestroughs, down spouts and soffits in good repair

• Garage/car port clean and tidy

• Litter picked up

• Cracked or broken window panes replaced

• Lawns and hedges cut and trimmed, garden weeded and edged

• Walks shovelled and salted

• Boot tray inside front door

• Doorbell and door hardware in good repair

• Porch and foyer clean and tidy

Interior

• Chipped plaster and paint touched up or replaced

• Doors and cupboards properly closed

• Leaky taps and toilets repaired

• Burned out light bulbs replaced

• Squeaky doors oiled

• Mirrors, fixtures and taps cleaned and polished

• Seals around tubs and basins in good repair

• Floors cleaned, garbage containers empty

• Inside of closets and cupboards neat and tidy

• Appliances cleaned

• Countertops neat and polished

• All lights turned on

• Air conditioner turned on in warm weather

• Fresh air in house

• Fireplace lit in cooler weather

• Halls and stairs cleaned

• Drapes opened during daylight

• Carpets freshly vacuumed

• Fresh flowers in various rooms

• Jewelry and valuables locked safely away or taken with you

• Valuable property, such as art, vases and figurines out of reach, out of sight or locked away

• Pets absent, where possible, or contained during the showing, and litter boxes clean