Tips for People Selling Their Property

Ensuring that you get the maximum value for your home when you put it on the market isn’t always an easy task. But if you want to get what your home is really worth then it is essential your home doesn’t put off potential buyers. Here are a few suggestions as to how you can make small improvements that go a long way.

Deep Clean

When you’re preparing to show your home to potential buyers it’s important to ensure that it feels homely yet clean. Unless your home is new potential buyers aren’t expecting to find showroom like conditions, but ensuring that everything’s clean is a must.

Many sellers hire professional cleaning companies to come in to help with the more specialist aspects of cleaning such as ovens and carpets to ensure their home gives the best impression to potential buyers.

De-Clutter

Homes should look liveable in order to help the buyers picture themselves moving in. If you’re still living in your house this should be easy, but it’s also important that the house doesn’t appear cluttered or too personalised. This is important especially if your house lacks good storage space.

One option is to put some of your belongings or furniture into storage before selling. Take everything off window sills, the bathroom sink, and dressing table and put them into draws. If you’ve got kids make sure they tidy away their toys before buyers view your home.

If you’ve got outdoor space ensure that’s its tidy and presentable.
Mowing the lawn and having pots of flowers in bloom can have a major psychological affect on buyers.

Repairs

Making repairs are a sure fire way to improve your homes value as most people don’t want to move into a property only to have to repair it. Wether it’s something simple like fixing a leaky tap or fixing the homes foundations these things will save you money by ensuring you fix them, as opposed to potential buyers lowering their offers to account for them.

There are a lot of options when it comes to repairs and you have to way up the cost vs value ratio. If it’s a quick fix it may be beneficial for you to do it yourself, like filling in a few cracks here or there as not all cracks are signs of foundation failure. You can do partial repairs if you have non-structural cracks. Partial foundation replacements are usually done quickly with little disturbance to the occupants as they can still live in the home as the foundation is installed.

Decoration

Ensuring that the painting and décor of the house is in good order can also help increase value and saleability. Make sure that you are consistent though as a single room with peeling wallpaper or damaged paint work can make the whole property harder to sell. If you are redecorating neutral colours generally work best.

One of the key areas of the house that affects value is the kitchen.
Most buyers want to be able to move into a house without needing to make changes, so an up to date kitchen can add a lot more value to a house than it costs to fit. If your kitchen is already recent ensure that all the fittings and appliances are in full working order and not damaged – fixing or replacing these will almost always add more value to your home than the costs involved and increase saleability.

If you’ve got a larger budget or if your home is in need or some work then you’ll often be able to make large gains on your home by making more substantial improvements. This will depend very much on the local market however and you should consult with a local expert.

For example, downstairs bathrooms are one of the main reasons that houses lose value or become hard to sell, virtually no one wants to get out of the shower and have to walk through a lounge full of family members to reach their bedroom, so if you can move the bathroom upstairs without taking away a bedroom then this will often be money well spent.

Ensuring that all work you’re doing to a property is finished before inviting in a buyer is essential if you want to maximise value and increase saleability. You might have a vision of how the final work will look but it is generally hard to convey the potential a property has to a buyer unless they are one of the rare few with an in-depth understanding of buying and selling property.