House & Garden

The Ultimate Guide To Selling Your Home

It doesn’t matter whether you are moving location for a new job opportunity, whether you fancy cashing in on your renovations or whether your brood has simply outgrown the living space, sometimes it’s necessary to sell up and move from our humble abodes to pastures new. It can be tough to say goodbye to a home that we have poured our heart and soul into, but it can also be exciting to start all over again in a new dwelling. Selling your home should be a relatively straightforward task if your home is in a sought after location, you have taken care of it, and there is plenty of demand for housing stock. However, things rarely run smoothly.

Inevitably, you want a quick sale, and you want to achieve the maximum price possible for your pad. To do this, you cannot simply list your home for the ceiling price achieved on your road and expect the offers to flood in if you haven’t dressed your home ready for sale. You need to master the art of selling a home in the fastest and most efficient way.

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Lifestyle

It’s vital that you try and seduce your potential buyers with a glimpse into a lifestyle. If you are the proud owners of a three bedroom semi detached house, the chances are that this will appeal to a young couple, small family or retirees. You need to dress your home to show off the space, the ambience and the atmosphere that they could enjoy. Even though you have outgrown the property, you don’t have to show your buyers this fact with toys everywhere, cramped bedrooms and cluttered shelving.

Selling your home doesn’t mean presenting it in its current form. If you have a dog, make sure he is out for walkies when you have viewings. Clear your clutter into the loft for a little while. And ensure that every toy has a home in a toy box, on a shelf in a kids bedroom or in some sort of nifty storage solution elsewhere. Potential buyers don’t want to walk into a home to feel cramped. They need to be able to visualise themselves living in your pad for three years or more, so facilitate this.

Dress To Impress

Even if you don’t appreciate white walls or the minimalist look, this can create the perfect blank canvas on which your potential buyers can stamp their mark. While it’s good in theory to purchase a home that you have to do very little to, the chances are that any buyer wants to whip up a bit of wallpaper for a feature wall, wants to lay a spot of carpet or wants to knock a wall down. It’s natural that people want to add their own mark to a property.

As such, you should be presenting neutral rooms that they can enjoy renovating even if it’s just a little bit. If you have deep purple walls in your living rooms or there’s a shocking pink bedroom in your humble abode, it’s time to whip out the white paint to get decorating. White walls are useful to create the illusion of space, bounce natural light across your room and generally brighten up a living area. Couple this with a touch of greenery from Bloomspace and you could have an awesome minimalist and clutter free living space that is appealing to a range of potential buyers.

Real Estate Agent

It’s vital that you secure the services of a highly competent real estate agent. Don’t fall for the agent who states that they can sell your property for a third more than any other real estate agent in your location. He or she is trying to seduce you with empty promises merely to get your business. Instead, look at the sorts of properties on sale in your region and look at the portfolios of the real estate agents close by. Match your requirements to the agent. You want to strike up a positive rapport with your agent so be clear from the outset the viewing hours, the open house schedule and the lowest price you will accept. A good real estate agent can dictate the length of time it takes to sell you humble abode. They work on commission so they will be doing their utmost to secure a speedy sale.

Curb Appeal

The first thing that any potential buyer sees is the exterior of your property. If you have an overgrown lawn, loose paving slabs, dodgy window seals and loose roof tiles, this will be noticeable on the walk up your driveway. These problems may be small, but they create a negative first impression. Sort out your roof, secure the slabs and reseal your fascias. Put some colourful potted plants outside, mow the lawn, sandblast the driveway, and create a beautiful entrance to your home. The curb appeal to your humble abode really counts so treat it like any other room of your home.

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Decor

While you may adore your magenta three piece suite and your avocado bathroom, the chances are your potential buyers won’t. For a small outlay, you should neutralise your decor. While it may seem counter intuitive to spend money when selling your home, you could actually save money in the long run by selling up faster and not forking out so much on mortgage repayments. You may even be able to charge a premium price for a home with a newer bathroom suite and freshly painted rooms.

Always ensure that the basics of your home are in tip-top condition. Upgrade the boiler if necessary, check your pipework and always ensure you have the relevant gas safety certification. You don’t want to hold up your sale because of missing paperwork.

 

When selling your home, it’s important to put yourself in your potential buyers’ shoes. By empathising and figuring out what they want, you can cater for their requirements more effectively. With any luck, by following this guide, you will be able to sell your property quickly and for an excellent price so you can move onto pastures new.

 

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