In 2023, more than 1 million residential dwellings were bought and sold across the country, which, while lower than 2022’s sales, is still proof the housing market is thriving. With more and more people selling up their family homes and moving on, making your property stand out in the market is vital for achieving a quick sale and getting the maximum value for it so you can move on to new pastures.
But the reality is that in a competitive housing market, you typically have 33 days on average in the current climate to make your house the right one for prospective buyers; it’s about the work up front and behind the scenes prior to listing that will have the most impact and help you avoid languishing on the market due to a poorly presented home, too high an asking price, both, or anything else impacting your ability to sell.
What do you need to do as a seller to help present your home in its best possible light, get a fast sale (depending on the market), and get the highest price possible?
Fix It Up
A good place to start is with all those little niggly repairs you’ve been putting off. That little hole in the wall from a failed DIY attempt, the door handle that doesn’t quite do what you need it to do, the creaky floorboards, damaged kitchen cabinets or anything else, address them, rectify them and bring your home into a good state of repair prior to getting it listed.
These small details will negatively impact the property’s aesthetics, and no one ideally wants to move into a place that needs a lot of work—unless they’re purposely buying a fixer-upper.
Declutter
Now is the ideal time to go through everything you own and assess whether you actually need it or not. Over the years, people accumulate stuff for various reasons, and if you have cupboards full of items you didn’t even know you owned or things you really should have gotten rid of years ago, then now is the ideal time to get on the job.
Decluttering not only frees up space but also helps you stay organised. It’s a great way to get a headstart on the packing process as you’re planning to move anyway. Plus, it can be a relief to get rid of items you no longer need finally. Remember, immediate action on the results of decluttering is key to maintaining a tidy and organised home.
Remember, when you declutter, you need to act on the results immediately to avoid creating more visible unwanted piles around the home. If you’re donating things, take them to where you’re donating them as soon as possible. The same goes for selling or disposing of goods. Ensure they are actioned as soon as possible to help you make the most of the newly found space.
Paint
Applying a fresh coat of paint, whether it’s on the interior walls or the exterior, can work wonders in reviving the look of your home. It’s a simple yet powerful way to make your home look fresh and inviting. Whether you choose neutral colours or opt for a more personal touch, a new paint job can help potential buyers envision their future in your home.
You don’t even need to go all out. You can use white paint to give the space a blank canvas for viewings so people can imagine what their own style and belongings will look like. Ideally, avoid touching up with dramatic colours and statement walls if you didn’t have them before, as this might have the opposite effect. You can embark on this freshen up yourself or bring in the Best Painters in your local area to help refresh your home.
Deep Clean
There’s a difference between a clean, livable home and a deep clean, where every inch of your home is sparkling like brand new. The latter is what you need when you’re considering selling your home and getting it ready for viewing.
You can hire a cleaning company to carry out a deep clean or download an action sheet from resources online to help you clean your home thoroughly and give it a really good scrub to move any ground-in dirt and grime that might be present or just to make sure you don’t overlook anything.
Depersonalise
While you want to show your home off in the best possible way, if you have too many personal belongings on show, this might detract from people’s ability to visualise themselves living there; it will distinctly be someone else’s home. Start by depersonalising the place by removing anything that makes your home appear yours, such as pictures, ornaments, kids’ artwork, belongings on show, etc. You want to stage your home, which will be covered in another point, but you need to do so in a more clinical way so that people are given ideas of how they can style rooms, and the spaces and not see how you live and how you have styled it. Because the more they can visualise themselves living there, the easier it will be to make the sale.
Staging
You’ve all seen the show homes that are set up to capture your imagination and show off all the features of a room and how it can look. It works because it captures your imagination and pulls you in with a story that you can’t resist. This is what you need to do when staging your home for viewing. You want as little on the show as you can manage, and your furniture needs to be arranged in a way that sets the scene but doesn’t overwhelm the brain so that you can put people off.
Start by showcasing features of rooms or spaces and highlighting them. Depersonalise, declutter, clean, and update fittings if they’re not looking their best. Tone down colours, add lamps or plants, use scents to help you create a welcoming ambience, remove pets and pet accessories from view, and increase natural light when possible.
This doesn’t mean buying new items to stage your home with. Maybe you can borrow items from family and friends to help you create a fresh new look that is appealing to buyers for a temporary period.
Add More Lighting
Making the home as light as possible is a great way to show off the property. No one wants to move into a dark and dingy home, and being able to maximise natural light or add in interior lighting to boost light in a room will be massively helpful for selling your home and showing off its best features. What you want to be doing is looking at the flow of light through windows and looking at what is blocking it from filling up the room if anything. Is it window dressings? Furniture, or is it simply a dark room? Then, make changes to increase the flow or add additional lighting to the room so the space feels brighter.
Clear Life Clutter
You know those little habits you have that make your life easier? Storing things on the kitchen counter, having visible shoe racks full of shoes, washing baskets in your bedrooms or bathrooms, etc. You want to clear your day-to-day life clutter. You want your property to feel homely but not be visually lived in, and this means creating clear spaces to deliver a blank canvas of sorts to the buyers. They don’t really want to see the day-to-day practicalities of your life, so before you list your home to sell, make sure you have ways to temporarily clear your life clutter from view.
