Top show day tips
There are a few lines every girl needs to keep up her sleeve. I’m talking about those handy lines of defense that can silence the other half when he starts complaining about how long it takes for you to get ready. My particular favourites, only God loves the badly dressed, and, natural beauty takes at least two hours in front of a mirror, generally quieten him long enough for me to turn the blow drier back on and drown out whatever next he may suggest .
For let’s face it, while they say never judge a book by its cover, we all know that we always judge books, and almost everything else, by their covers. We also know that first impressions DO count, and, as someone famous once said, while clothes and manners do not make a man, they greatly improve his appearance.
The same of course must be said for a house. Especially a show house. Like any well groomed girl, a show house needs to look her very best come show-day-Sunday. And the closer my show-day-Sunday crept, the more I realized there was to do. And the more I realized there was to do, the more I thought I’d better find him a four ball and get him out of my hair. For, just like a spot of personal grooming, grooming the home is best done unhurried and unhassled.
First off it was going to be necessary to check the on show boards that Private Property had sent me. This I was dreading. For years I’ve averted my eyes from agents battling with their boards on Sunday afternoons, pitying them the bruised shins, broken nails and pinched nerves that clearly come with the territory.
READ MORE: Should You Put Your Home On Show?
Now it was my turn. I gingerly opened the package to be greeted by clean, neat, lightweight boards that showed no signs of being difficult. They were easy to assemble, didn’t pinch or poke, and all they needed was a brick to keep them perfectly in place. First prize to Private Property!
I would also need a brochure. And here I had to thank Private Property again. When I’d booked the show day, the helpful person on their 087 number had asked whether I’d like a show day brochure. I hadn’t thought that far. In fact, I hadn’t thought of that at all. But it was a free extra service, and always being one for a bargain, I said yes. Within minutes I’d received a mail, with my listing, my photos and asking price professionally laid out. All I had to do was press print!
Two things down and plenty to go. Start with the outside they say, and work your way in. I tripped outside to see what a potential buyer would see, and yip, if I wanted them to think of my home first, I needed to get preening.