Tips For Presenting Your Home
Date Published 10 October 2019
Selling your home can take a bit of work. You've agreed your asking price, now it's time to try and achieve it. Remember your prospective buyers are going to be seeing a lot of homes and they may already be tired and stressed with the whole process. Make it easy for them to choose your property over the next three they see. Don't give them any easy reasons to dislike it.
Making your home ‘market ready' does require time and a little bit of investment to make help it reach its maximum resale valuation. There is a lot you can do to spruce up you home that needn't cost the earth – simple techniques can freshen up your rooms and present a much more appealing, newer model. Here's our top eight tips:
1. Ramp up the curb appeal
They say first impressions count, so the exterior of your home is the place to start. Tidy the gardens, touch up the paintwork or wash down the PVC, make sure the guttering isn't blocked or leaking and give a shiny big house number pride of place. Think of putting up a few hanging baskets and adding an exterior light if your viewings are likely to be in the winter. It will add to the all important welcoming touch.
2. De-clutter and de-personalise
If you want your home to appeal to as many buyers as possible, you need to help them picture themselves living in your space. And they can't do that if all they can see are your personal belongings and family portraits adorning every inch of space. Clutter can also make rooms seem smaller and give the impression of a lack of storage space. The best thing to do is box up your personal possessions and store them away – treat it as starting the packing up process early. All being well, you'll have to do it at some point anyway.
3. Repair
Buyers don't want to think about repairs the minute they move in, and you don't want simple ‘little fixes' putting them off. Fix the leaking tap, the cracked windowpane and if the lights have gone out replace the bulbs.
4. A mini-makeover
If your kitchen is dated, freshen it up with a lick of paint, new cupboard doors and drawers or door handles. If you've got carpet replace it with lino or tiles if your budget will stretch. Installing new taps and re-grouting in both the kitchen and bathroom are good ways to achieve an instant result. In the bathroom, install a new shower screen or curtain and add a new bath mat and fresh, fluffy towels.
5. A lick of paint
If you've gone for bold colours, tone them down with natural shades. It may not be to your taste, but the more neutral the better. Freshen up white paintwork and generally give everywhere a once over with the paintbrush. It's a cheap way to achieve an instant transformation and make your rooms light, bright and airy. But don't forget to do it in plenty of time so that buyers aren't hit by paint fumes as soon as they enter through the front door.
6. Accessorise
While you don't want to clutter your rooms, nor do you want them to look completely un-lived in. Add houseplants to add interest and colour, add cushions and throws on your sofas, look at adding mirrors to increase the sense of space and light, particularly in smaller or darker rooms.
7. Re-visit the layouts
You want to get across the size of your home and how buyers can make the most of the available space. If you know your target market is going to be families, it's no good having the second bedroom as a study. If it's meant to be a single room, add in a single bed. If it can fit a double add a double. Look at each room from the doorway – does the flow seem right, if you shuffled the furniture could you make it look bigger?
8. Clean!
Grubby homes do nothing but deter would-be buyers. Dirt and grime can make it seem like there's a lot of work to be done when really it's something that can be fixed with a squirt or two of Flash. Spend some time deep cleaning and giving it a once over before each viewing. And don't forget to rid your home of pet or tobacco smells – there is nothing quite as off-putting as a smell of wet dog.
