Friday, October 17, 2008

Open House Scheduled


I heard from my real estate agent today, and (so far) nobody has expressed an interest in our house. It's officially been on the market for two weeks. We didn't expect to sell quickly, but it's still hard to be patient! We are so ready to move closer to Todd's new job. Since his new school is more in the country, we're looking forward to a quieter neighborhood and less populated areas.

We have scheduled an open house for the weekend after next, and there are several things I need to do before then such as:

*clean the baseboards
*wash and re-hang the draperies
*dust the wooden blinds
*steam clean my dining room chairs
*reorganize the pantry (to make it look bigger)
*self-clean the oven
*try to figure out what that smell is in the garage....
*re-paint the kitchen....maybe?
*more stuff I just can't think of right now

Sounds fun, huh?

Does anybody have any tips or suggestions for how to make an open house extra-special and memorable?

4 comments:

Mimi said...

I'm excited about your Open House too. Wish I could be there to help prepare. Anyway, one thing you can do is bake something like spice cookies or chocolate chip cookies to make it smell homey. And leave them out on the island for people to eat! Also, one fragrant candle is fine, but to have them everywhere makes one think there might be a smell to cover up!

Mrs. Sprinkles said...

I agree with Mimi--and good suggestion on leaving the cookies for people to eat!

I'll tell you what NOT to do--in one of the houses we looked at a woman had left a vanilla candle burning upstairs, and one downstairs, and I just can't stand vanilla. It was awful...so make sure the scent isn't too strong!

Audra said...

I suggest moving across the country and forgetting about it. That's worked for Josh and I twice now. Just kidding. All I can say is good luck. Selling a house is probably one of the most stressful things you can do. Every time one of our houses was looked at, we tended to spend way more money than we should have. We always went out to dinner, came up with something we just had to have at Walmart, driving to Auburn, AL or Spokane, WA. I think we're finally settled for good now so we won't have to move for a while. Can you believe we moved 7 times in 6 years? It was crazy. Josh and I consider ourselves professional packers, so when you get started, call us.

Love and good luck!
Audra

Anonymous said...

vanilla rubbed on lightbulbs gives a very subtle but homey scent that people really can't identify, but leaves a pleasant demeanor. also, i think seasonal decorations (not overdone) like a wreath on the door and a pot of mums on the porch sets a good first impession