Looking To Sell Your Home?

Get rid of all the excess “stuff” that has accumulated but don’t make it look like a hotel; leave some personality. Also, consider temporarily removing any bulky furniture that makes the room feel small and replacing it with smaller furniture if this is possible.

Giving your walls and woodwork a fresh lick of neutral paint will make your home seem lighter and larger. This will make it easier for the viewer to feel that they could move in and use the rooms immediately. A good tip would be to create a good first impression – give the front door a new coat of brightly coloured paint.

Make any minor repairs necessary – holes in walls, broken door knobs, cracked tiles, torn or threadbare carpets. This will again help the potential purchaser to feel that they could move in without the time, effort and expense of essential jobs – they can concentrate on potential improvements.

As a minimum clean everything and use air fresheners, smelly candles and hang up fresh towels. This will make the place more appealing and allow viewers to imagine living there.

Gardens can be good selling points and are eye catching, especially on a sunny day. Cut the grass, tidy up large bushes and shrubs. If there is a good place to sit and enjoy the garden, set out the garden furniture, so people could visualise themselves using the garden.

The kitchen can be the most valuable room in a house and could make the difference when buyers are unsure. Clean and de-clutter the surfaces and just leave a bowl of fruit out. Take out any bulky appliances on worktops to help give a sense of workable space.

Wall mirrors make a room look much bigger and lighter. Consider putting some up, especially in smaller rooms or hallways. Cleaning windows inside and out always helps. Try and position lamps in any dark corners. Plants and flowers bring colour, life and light to a room and also smell great. So does that fruit bowl on your kitchen counter.

You’ll have chosen a good estate agent, so let them show the property. It’s their job to know what things to say, what to highlight and what to downplay. A good estate agent will work with you to understand why potential purchasers should buy the property using your experiences and then convey that to the potential buyer.

Be honest with the estate agent about the downsides of the property, if there are any. It will help the estate agent to effectively answer any tricky questions about the noisy neighbours, the area etc.

If there are any obvious conversions – adapting the garage into extra rooms, or going up into the loft – and you have some spare cash, why not take advantage of this rather than letting the new owners make easy money out of improvements. With the right advice, you should usually recoup your money.

If you don’t have enough spare cash to make the conversion, consider getting professional help in obtaining planning permission anyway. Ask about our Building Surveying services.

A good experienced estate agent should be able to give advice on the potential for value adding changes to your property and arrange professional support if required.

Our commission for selling a property is 1% plus VAT of the achieved sale price, payable upon completion.