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So it’s time to sell your house. This can be a very stressful time in anybody’s life, but there is one thing guaranteed to make the process easier. That is, if your property sells easily, at the right price and fast.
To get your house ready to sell, you will have to invest some money. How much money is up to you. It could well be that a bigger investment brings a greater return. But don’t panic if you don’t have the spare cash for huge renovations. This guide will give you a range of suggestions to suit all budgets, be they big or small. Read on for more.
Remember How Important First Impressions Are
Real estate company www.rightmove.com say that you will get the most interest in your house in the first week it goes on the market. This means that your home has to be ready when viewers come knocking!
With that in mind, think of the saying; “You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.” This doesn’t just go for people. It applies to properties too. If an ideal buyer comes to see your home before it’s ready, they aren’t likely to return again.
You should be aiming for good first impressions both inside and outside the house. If you have pets, be sure to mask any odour sufficiently before viewers arrive. If your window-box flowers are dead, replace them. If you have loose door handles, screw them back in. These tiny changes could well just as important as the bigger ones.
Make all of your improvements before the house gets listed, but then make sure you keep on top of it with regular cleaning and tidy-up missions.
Use Your Estate Agent To Full Effect
Remember, the estate agent is there to help you sell. Use them in any way you can. They are especially useful for seeing the house from a neutral perspective. We love our homes, and they are very personal to us. But this can sometimes make us blind to the realities. Selling your home is no time to be precious. Be brave and let your estate agent critique your home. Tell them to be 100% honest with you so they don’t tip-toe around any important points. They can you give you useful tips for things to change or renovate. Having someone to talk through different ideas and opinions is useful too. This is their job and topic of expertise, so be sure to make the most of this.
Match The House To The Buyer
It can be easy to get swept away in making lavish investments for the home, but keep your buyer in mind. If you are selling a tiny old studio flat, the furniture, interiors and furnishings you buy should suit the type of person likely to buy. Same goes for a sprawling London mansion or a family home. Match the market price of the house to the pieces and interiors you choose. The home is then far more likely to appeal to the right type of buyers with the right type of budget.
Renovate The Bathroom
It is quite surprising to learn just how off-putting a bad bathroom can be to potential buyers. For some, it can be a deal breaker. Take, for example, a family with four young children. If your house doesn’t have a bath, and the parent or parents may discount your house completely. Moving into a new house with several children is hard work enough without having to have a bath fitted once they move in! Similarly, if you are selling a large house big enough for six or eight people, but there is only one toilet, this will put some buyers off. Help can be at hand, though, especially if you don’t take on the task of renovating yourself. Consider calling in the professionals, like the Australian bathroom renovations company www.lavare.com.au. This way, you can take a step back while still knowing the job is being handled.
The Napoli bath from Victoria + Albert. Photo by Emma Hooton
Think Neutral
Sure, having an orange kitchen, an avocado green bathroom and a yellow hallway might have seemed a good idea in the 90s. Today, however, it could really put buyers off. They need to be able to imagine themselves living inside your home everyday. This is far easier to do if the walls are neutral. This way they can imagine hanging their own pictures and adding their own ideal colour accents to the room. Neutral colour doesn’t have to mean white, though. Grey, yellow, beige and cream are all fine as long as they are pale. While you’re at it, cover anything you can’t afford to change, or don’t have time to change. This goes for things like tired old sofas. Use blankets and throws, but again, make sure they are in neutral colours. Anything bright will attract the visitor’s eye.
Put Up Some Mirrors
This might sound too basic to be true, but it genuinely can make a difference. If you have a tiny hallway, put a mirror the length of one wall. It might not sound like a lot, but the room will appear double the size. This goes for everywhere inside or outside the house. You could even place one in the garden. There are some other ideas for creating the illusion of space over at www.houzz.co.uk.
Sell At The Right Price
One of the biggest mistakes people make is selling their house at the wrong price. Selling it for less than its truly worth might make your house sell faster. But pricing it right could still do the trick. With the wealth of information available online these days, you can easily do your own research. Find out how much other houses on your street or in your area have sold for in the past. Then find out how they are selling for now. Pricing the house right is a real must because then you’ll be able to move on totally satisfied and ready for whatever comes next.
