Trying to Sell Your Home?

You don’t want to spend a fortune preparing your home ready to sell but you do need to create a great first impression. Your home needs to be “staged” to ensure that any prospective buyers see it at its best.

There are many simple and easy ways to make your home appealing to buyers and increase your chances of a quick sale:

Curb Appeal
The outside of your home is the first thing the buyer sees so keep the garden tidy by mowing the lawn, trim any bushes and shrubs and plant flowers in the borders. Perhaps have a hanging basket by the front door or some prettily planted tubs. Ensure that any paintwork is clean and fresh. There is nothing more off-putting than dirty, flaking paintwork especially on a front door.

Declutter
Pack away all the things you don’t use on a daily basis. You are going to be moving anyway so this is a practical way to start getting the interior of your house ready to showcase. Buyers will need to be able to see the size and beauty of your rooms so make sure your personal belongings are not strewn all over the place. Put things away and keep the rooms as clean and tidy as possible. If you have children make sure their toys are tidied away when they are not actually playing with them.

Clean and Bright
Make sure that all rooms are clean and sparkling, especially the kitchen and bathroom. Now is the time to do some thorough cleaning, wash down all your paintwork and remove marks or scuffs on cabinet doors.

Make the most of any natural light – open the curtains or raise the blinds and let the light and sunshine in! If you have dark rooms or small windows, you can still easily brighten the space with lamps and other indoor light fixtures.

If the walls of your rooms are a bit grubby or marked then a fresh coat of paint might be a good idea. Make sure you choose a neutral colour that is likely to appeal to a wide range of people and not indulge your love for vibrant orange or deep purple!

Carpets and Flooring
Are your carpets old, worn and dated? If so, it might be worth replacing them with either a new carpet or even new laminate flooring which is a popular alternative and very appealing to potential buyers. If the carpets are in a good condition, then a deep clean may be all that is required to bring them up to scratch. This can be done by a professional or you can hire a carpet cleaner and do it yourself for a fraction of the cost.

Keep things neutral
Colour is a very personal thing. While one person may love bright, vivid colours this could be another person’s idea of hell! For the purpose of selling your home it is best to keep to a neutral palette such as white, ivory, beige or grey and just add splashes of colour with accessories. The prospective buyers need to be able to imagine their own furniture and possessions in the house.

Personality
Although it is advisable to keep your home relatively neutral in order to appeal to as wide a range of potential buyers as possible don’t make the mistake of depersonalising it completely. Add touches such as fresh flowers in a vase in the hall and books or magazines on a coffee table. It has been said that the smell of coffee or fresh-baked bread is a great ploy to use when selling a home..... Why not give it a go, what have you got to lose?