Are you feeling the neverending sensation of itchy feet? Is it time to move onto pastures new? Whether you want to move to be closer to family, you need to relocate due to a job promotion or you simply fancy a change and would love to upsize, there are many ways you can make your home more sellable. You may meander from room to room in your humble abode and think that every painted wall, lovingly laid floorboard and custom printed cushion looks stunning. However, you are looking through rose tinted subjective spectacles. What about the old boiler and the leaky tap? These are the things that can prevent your home from flying off the market.
Before you list your pad for sale, you need to make sure it is in a state ready for potential purchasers to come and view. Take a look at these ways you can prepare your home so that you will have your pick of offers when you come to sell.
First Impressions Count
Don’t be that homeowner who is so arrogant that they believe their 1930s characterful home will sell itself. If your bins are overflowing, your lawn looks more like the Amazonian jungle and your porch area is full of cobwebs, you haven’t created a good first impression, and any potential viewings will be uphill battles. You have shown the potential buyer that you don’t care about your dwelling and lack any affection for your external space when nothing could be further from the truth. Get out the lawnmower, weed the flower beds and put up some hanging baskets to inject a bit of color into your driveway. Make sure that the outside space looks organized, tidy and inviting. Your house should be getting viewers excited about its exceptional curb appeal.
Brighten It Up
You may love the deep crimson dining room and the lime green kitchen, but the chances are that your potential buyers won’t. Bite the bullet and attempt to neutralize your home. This means getting out the cans of magnolia or white and giving the entire house a lick of paint. You don’t have to rely on a paintbrush or a set of rollers and instead you can utilize a paint sprayer. This will cut the job down immeasurably and lead to a higher quality finish. The paint won’t be patchy, and it will look like a professional decorator has completed the work. Before you fork out for this piece of equipment head to ToolNerds.com to check out the different types of sprayers on the market and source the best one to suit your budget. With a coat of white, your home will be more inviting and show a blank canvas to buyers who can then put their own stamp on your property.
Lighting
One of the main bugbears for house hunters is the lack of natural light within a home. Maximize the amount of light in your humble abode by placing lamps, spotlights and vintage filament fittings in every room. Open doors, put up some mirrors and move drapery out of the way of the windows. This way you’ll be enhancing the amount of light that is able to bounce across the rooms of your home. Turning your home from dark to light will create a fresher and more cheery ambience for your home and will get potential buyers flooding through your door.
Storage
If you are bursting at the seams and need to find a new pad that will give you more storage space, you cannot convey this message to your buyers. Kids toys, clothes and the ironing board need to be kept out of sight. It doesn’t matter what the real-life situation may be you need to market your home as a haven for storage. Rifle through your wardrobes and cupboards and clear out half of your stuff. Put this in the attic or store it at a friend’s house until you’ve secured a sale. If a buyer then opens the fitted wardrobes in your master suite, they’ll see some functional and organized storage spaces with room to spare.
Pets
If you have a loveable little pooch who tends to rule the roost, you have to be a little firmer with your mutt. The same goes for our feline friends. Because you are immersed in your environment, you can’t smell the odors of your four-legged pal. The chances are a potential buyer walking through your door will get one whiff of your labrador and be put off especially if you leave his food, bed and toys strewn across every room of the house. Before every viewing the pet items need to be cleared, the house needs a spray of deodorizer, and the dog needs to head off for a long walk with your partner.
Viewings
If you’re doing the viewings of your home, make sure you go out of your way to sell your property. It can feel a bit odd and make us very self-conscious when we are trying the hard pitch to sell our homes, but potential buyers expect it. They want to know all of the positives about living in your locality, what the neighbors are like and how good the schools are. Tell them about Bob next door and how handy he is with cars. If you enjoy good transport links, tell the people who come your way. Don’t offer up anything negative unless asked. If you are asked a sensitive question, don’t be tempted to fudge the truth. If a property lawyer gets wind of it, you could find yourself in a bit of legal bother.
The Price Must Be Right
It doesn’t matter how much square footage you have, how well decorated your home is or how much curb appeal you enjoy, your property will have a ceiling price. Try and stretch beyond this and you’ll find your property lingering on the market for too long. You need to be realistic. Check out sites like zillow.com to view recent house sales in your area. Don’t be tempted to go with the real estate agent who says he can sell your home for $20k more than any other like for like house on your road. These sorts of agents promise the Earth and deliver nothing. Set your price accurately, secure an agent who knows his or her stuff and you could find your house is off the market quicker than you can say ‘sold!’
Selling your home is a bit of a game. Play well, and you will achieve the maximum price for your humble abode.
