It is important to prepare your home for viewers, or “staging” as is it called. It not only helps you sell your property faster but could potentially add thousands of pounds to its value.
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Declutter without Depersonalizing
Get rid of excess stuff that you may have accumulated throughout your home. Give it to a friend or put it in storage. Potential buyers should be able to envision what the property would look like if it was them living there. People often have a hard time doing this, so make it easy for them to see all the amazing space you are offering.
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Leave some personality and ensure that it doesn’t look like a generic hotel. If not for anything else it provides unimaginative buyers with suggestions as to what they can do. Property buyers often buy into a lifestyle as much as property. Let them see the attractiveness of your lifestyle. Consider getting rid of any bulky furniture which makes space feel small and replace it with smaller furniture.
A Fresh Coat of Paint
A fresh coat of neutral paint will make your home seem bigger and lighter according to Readsteadysell.co.uk. It helps viewers to easily imagine how they would customize the rooms to their needs. It will be much easier for potential buyers to move in and start using the rooms immediately than if the walls were still lime green or bright purple. A fresh coat of brightly colored paint on the front door will create a good first impression.
Fix and Clean
Many any minor repairs required, i.e., broken doorknobs, holes in walls, threadbare or torn carpets, cracked tiles, etc. Property buyers want to move in without having to make any changes, so allow for that.
Clean everything thoroughly. Repair and clean tile grout, remove any limescale, get rid of odors, wax wooden floors, and hang up fresh towels. Doing that makes the space more appealing and lets viewers picture themselves living there.
Tidy up your garden: Clean the furniture and patio of dirt and lichen, cut bushes back, and cut the grass. While this might not add much value to the property, it makes it easier to sell since potential buyers can easily visualize themselves using the garden.
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Update Your Kitchen
The most valuable room in a house is the kitchen. It is usually worth the most for each square foot and can make the difference if buyers are not sure. Reface the cabinets in your kitchen since it is a lot cheaper and often as effective as installing new cabinets.
Declutter the surfaces by getting rid of any bulky appliances and leaving just a bow of fruit out. Upgrade the white goods and plumbing fixtures, but never forget that while this can help you sell your property quicker, it is highly unlikely that you will recoup their full value.
Light and Airy
Wall mirrors help make rooms look much lighter and bigger. Consider putting some up, particularly in hallways and smaller rooms. Clean the windows inside out, and replace all broken light bulbs. If you make your space feel airy and light, the rooms will feel larger and the property more attractive. Don’t forget to put lamps in all dark corners. You can also create a warm glow in your bathroom by putting a soft lamp.
Light a Fire
Light a fire if it is a chilly day or cold evening. For some delicious smell, you can consider burning some pinecones. This makes your home feel inviting and warm. If you don’t light a fire, make sure that your fireplace is clean.
Make it Look Lovely
Ensure that you properly dress the windows with curtains or blinds, since naked windows make a house feel run down and impersonal. You can buy some cheap ones if necessary. Flowers and plant bring life, color, and light to a room and also smell great and so does the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter.
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Get Your Smells Right
Foul smells are perhaps the single greatest turn off for potential buyers. Instead of just covering them up, fix the source of the smell. Wash bins, clear drains, get rid of old cooking smells from your kitchen, open windows, wash any grimy bed sheets, and get rid of furniture that smells like cigarette smoke.
If you smoke, place bowls filled with vinegar around your house and leave them out for 3 days. While the vinegar will smell once you open the windows, it disappears fast taking most of the stale smell of cigarettes out with it.
On the other hand, good smells help make a property feel like an attractive home. It might not be practical to bake fresh bread, brownies, or cookies for all viewers that visit your home, but you can always brew some fresh coffee.
Showing Your Property
You will choose a good estate agent, so allow them to show the property. It is the job of the agent to know exactly what to say, what to downplay, and what to highlight. Agents are also effective at answering tricky questions that potential buyers might have about noisy neighbors.
Obvious Conversions
If you have any obvious conversions, such as adapting your garage into an extra room or going up into the loft, and you have the cash to spare, you can take advantage of this cash cow instead of letting the new owners make easy money out of improvements. You should typically aim to recoup your investment.
If you lack spare cash for the conversion, consider getting planning permission either way.
