5 ways to make your home sell faster
As the various May Bank Holidays head our way people start to think about selling their house. The lighter nights and sunny Spring days seem to trigger a change. However they can also show up the things that may put off a potential buyer. Hopefully this blog post will give you some ideas to maximise your property and get it sold and quickly.
One of our early blog posts <<link here>>> dealt with the structural things you should look at fixing. This deals with a term much bandied about by the likes of Kirsty and Phil and Ms Beeny – staging. The following points will help you stage your house and get those buyers ready to buy.
1 Simple beginnings
A good place to start before you rush off to IKEA for a plate of meatballs and some soft furnishings called Kushuns, is to start by walking round your house. Start from the gate and follow the journey your buyer will take, hopefully the route you have set up to best show off your house. We all have that one friend who is blunt with their opinion, ask them if they would do the same and give you some feedback.
This will probably show up a couple of things which could be detrimental to the sale of your house. Firstly, the ‘clutter of your everyday life’ – we all have it – and secondly, some areas that could do with a deep clean and possibly a lick of paint.
2 Clean and paint
We’re not suggesting you redecorate your whole house but there are a few quick and easy things you can do to improve your chances of a sale. We’re pretty sure that one of the first things you will have noticed on your walk around is the front door. If its a painted door give it a nice new glossy coat of paint. Don’t go for anything too strong in colour, unless it is in keeping with the house or the area, choose something classic and neutral.
If you have a double glazed front door give it a good scrub with something non-abrasive. There are some excellent caravan cleaners which work a treat on uPVC. Whilst you are at the front door don’t forget the step, mats and porch if you have them. Nothing says neglected property like a threadbare welcome mat or a porch you can barely move in.
If any of your rooms are on the small side or painted with a dark colour or north facing, give the walls a quick coat of a bright neutral colour, a slightly warm shade if you are painting a north facing room.
This will always make a room look bigger and brighter, it also allows buyers the chance to better visualise the space.
Finally, give the bathroom a clean, especially the grouting and shower tray.
3 De-clutter
Now you can get on to staging. De-cluttering doesn’t mean putting your personality in to storage, it does mean having a little less of it on view though. Anything you don’t use regularly put it in the loft or ask friends and family to store it. If there’s a lot of it then consider the short term rental of one of the ‘storage boxes’ that have sprung up all over.
Buyers need to see what the house would look like if they were living there, cleaning your clutter allows them to see the room in all its glory.
However don’t take out your personality, you’re not making it into a hotel, think more show home with some of your possessions added. Adding your lifestyle helps any potential buyer visualise their lifestyle in the space.
4 Bringing it all together
Now here’s the nice bit – time to add those finishing touches.
Light is great at making a space feel bigger than it is, so try adding lights, particularly to dark corners. In smaller spaces consider adding some simple mirrors, especially useful in narrow hallways.
Put fresh flowers in some of your rooms and an attractive bowl of fruit on the kitchen work surface. Whilst you are in the kitchen make some coffee or bake [make sure you tidy before they arrive], if you don’t bake, put the oven on a gentle heat and add a splash of vanilla essence to a baking tray – smells like you’ve just finished baking.
And whilst we are talking pleasant smells don’t forget the less pleasant ones. Remove things such as pet food bowls and cat litter trays and empty the bins. If there’s a smoker in the house, bowls of vinegar work a treat but it does take a few days to work.
If buyers are visiting at night during the colder months use some warm, reasonably bright, light-bulbs and light a fire if you have one or candles in place of a fire. Help them visualise how warm and cosy it would be to come home here after a long day at work.
5 Sell your house with Reside!
Reside are the fastest growing agency in Rochdale. Independent figures show we get 97% of the asking price and on average houses sell in under 6 weeks – some have sold in one day. Even if your house is on with another agent and it hasn’t sold then you should consider moving to Reside. We recently sold a house in less than a week, it had been on the market with an agent previously for over two years!
So, if you want to sell quickly and for a great price then you need to be selling with Reside.
Just go to our website
and book your free, no obligation, valuation now.
If you have any other ideas you’d like to share about staging a house then go to our Facebook page and leave a comment on the ‘staging’ post, the best one gets a bottle of summer fizz.
