Preparing your property for sale

2022-02-24

Lifestyle

Selling your home can seem like a lengthy and sometimes confusing process. There is so much to take into account in order to showcase your home to its fullest potential. 

Once you’ve enlisted the help of your chosen agent, there are a few touch-ups that you can do to ensure your property is looking its absolute best when your home goes to market. We can’t promise it but from our experience, if you follow these 10 steps below it can definitely help with a swift sale of your home.

1) Declutter and depersonalise
The two D’s that could be the most important of the 10 steps! When potential buyers enter your home they need to be able to picture themselves relaxing on the sofa or cooking in the kitchen. Having your family portrait on the mantelpiece is delightful for yourself but for prospective buyers, it makes it slightly harder for them to imagine their belongings in your home. 

Removing clutter and your personal belongings from a property lessens the distraction to the buyer and also helps draw the attention to the bricks and mortar of the space and not the content within. 

2) Keep it neutral
Once you’ve decluttered and depersonalised, your next step is to keep it neutral. Help buyers picture their belongings in the home. If you have a neutral coloured sofa, their multi-coloured rug is more likely to fit into the space than if you had a multi-coloured sofa as well. 

3) Clean
Your home is now looking tidy and clutter-free, your next step is to give it a good scrub. The cupboard corner you’ve been avoiding or the cobweb that’s always been just out of reach, now is the time to really go to town and get your home shining bright. 

4) Smell
A part of the spring clean is to rid your home of any extra smells. Anything from pets to bins needs to be smelling like a bed of roses, as no buyer wants to enter your home and be greeted by a wall of pong. There is a reason some of the world's top retailers have such delicious smells in their shops. You want to create a relaxing space for your buyer to want to purchase!

5) Lighting
Along with the smell of your home, lighting holds massive importance in creating that ambience. Whether that is by some cosy lighting for an evening viewing or curtains open and blinds up for a summer's day. It’s worth keeping in mind, a bright room can also appear more spacious.

6) Do the DIY
So by now your property is sparkling clean, decluttered, smells like heaven and is lit to perfection. You’re now halfway there! Step 6 is all about those jobs you’ve put off. The lightbulb that needs changing, the wall that needs a new lick of paint or the carpet stain that needs seeing to, all these little changes can add up to one big purchase! For buyers, these DIY tasks are important as it can put them off when it comes to viewing. You want to make the property look it's absolute best and these are little fixes and tweaks that can make all the difference. 

7) Eyecatching spots
You may be ready to sell your home and move somewhere new but for the potential buyer, they are just getting started on falling in love with your home, so show them! The little quirks and touches of character that originally made you buy the property could have the same effect on them. Use accessories (neutral and not too many of course), to draw attention to these features, a hanging picture above a fireplace or beautiful curtains that frame a breathtaking view. 

8) Bathroom importance
Often buyers will want to check the water pressure, toilet flushing speed and extra maintenance features in the bathroom. Pre-empt these checks and remove the limescale on the showerhead and deep clean the bathroom, you want these factors to not be the deciding ones when it comes to purchasing. 

9) Additional space
Everyone wants to feel like they’re getting a good deal, that little extra something for their purchase and that includes when buying property. So, give your buyer just that! Is there a corner of the room that would make a perfect home office space, or a particularly large storage cupboard that allows storage shelves? Then make sure to show this off and let the buyer know the versatile way the spaces can be used as they might not have thought of it themselves!

10) Outdoor accentuation
After the pandemic, having some outdoor space has gone to the top of many house hunters' must-have list. Even if it’s just a little balcony, make sure to show it off to its fullest potential. If you’re lucky enough to have a garden make sure the grass has been cut and those hedges trimmed.

All in all, when preparing your home for sale you want to remember what it was that made you fall in love with it in the first place and the buyer needs to be able to picture themselves living there. By following these 10 steps you are that bit closer to having one hot property to go to the market with!