First Impressions can be so important in achieving a sale. To give yourself the best possible opportunity of selling your property you should consider the following:
- The entrance to your property should be easily accessible, welcoming and presentable. (Trim overgrown shrubbery, clear pathways, paint your front door, fix loose handles).
- Scrutinise. Go outside and stand in front of your house and imagine you are a buyer. Is the house welcoming and do you want to go inside? Arrange every room to make it look as attractive as possible to a potential buyer. Give it the ‘wow factor’.
- Make minor repairs. Make sure you do all those little jobs you always meant to do like cracked tiles, leaking taps and replacing light bulbs. You might even consider repainting some of the rooms in neutral colours to hide the colours that seemed OK at the time.
- A fresh coat of paint can really brighten up the surroundings. Use neutral colours, they won’t put a prospective buyer off, but will help them plan how they could put their own stamp on “your” home.
- De-personalise. Prospective purchasers need to be able to imagine themselves living in your house and this can be difficult with your personal items everywhere. Therefore, remove those pictures and ornaments that may not be to everyone’s taste.
- De-clutter. Clutter makes a room look smaller and disorganised and certainly will not sell a property. Remove as much as possible without leaving the rooms bear.
- Make it shine. Clean the windows inside and out, remove cobwebs and give the whole house a thorough vacuum and polish. The value of cleanliness and tidiness should never be underestimated, so clean each room from top to bottom, this is a minimum requirement.
- Maybe rent storage space. Have a really good look at every room and put any items of furniture that look too big or that are out of place into storage (or ‘borrow’ some space from friends or family). You can decide what to do with them after you have moved. It is important to make the rooms feel as spacious as possible.
