If your home is for sale, chances are you want it sold as quickly as possible, especially if you require the proceeds of the sale to purchase another property. However, to ensure your home sells quickly, you will need to be willing to put in a little effort to make it as appealing as possible to potential buyers. Here’s how you can do this.
1. Ensure the Outside is Clean
Pick up any rubbish that may have blown into your yard. It is also a good idea to clean gutters out and wash dirty marks off outside walls. Washing windows will also make a tremendous difference.
2. Fix Broken Items
Items like cracked windows, broken or missing gutters, loose door handles, leaking taps or cracked floor tiles can put off potential buyers faster than you can say, “It won’t cost much to fix.” Ensure that broken items are fixed properly before your house goes on show.
3. Make the Front Door Appealing
Something as simple as giving your front door a fresh coat of paint can make your home seem far more welcoming than others on the market. Use a colour that contrasts with the rest of your home to make it stand out as much as possible. It’s also a good idea to replace or repaint faded house numbers.
4. Eliminate Clutter and Personal Items
Consider renting a storage unit for additional furniture and other personal items. This will provide the illusion of more space, while also allowing potential buyers to envision their possessions in various spots of the property. Remove family photos and ensure clothing and shoes are also stowed out of sight.
5. Trim the Lawn and Bushes
Little else renders a home as unappealing as long grass, overgrown bushes or flower beds that have died. Get the grass mowed, trim bushes and hedges; weed flower beds and remove and plants that have died. This alone will increase your home’s curb appeal substantially.
6. Pack Drawers and Closets Neatly
Closets and drawers that seem to have developed a case of indigestion will not only be severely off-putting to potential buyers; it will give the impression that there is not enough storage space in your home. This is the ideal time to get rid of clutter and other unwanted items.
7. Tone the Colour Down
Your kids may love their bright pink and lime green bedroom walls, but these can be off-putting to potential buyers. Paint all walls neutral colours before listing your home for sale.
8. Get Rid of Strange Smells
Potential buyers don’t want to walk into a home and smell a cat litter box or cigarette smoke. Before opening your home for show day, relocate kitty’s litter box to the garage if possible and spray air neutraliser throughout your home to eliminate funky smells.
9. Ensure there is Decent Lighting
Although you may have reduced the amount of light bulbs in your home to cut energy costs, these will need to be replaced before showing your house. Potential buyers will be far keener to purchase a home that has sufficient lighting than one where they fear walking down the passageway because they cannot see what is lurking around the corner.
10. Clean Like Never Before
Although you may have cleaned your closest and eliminated other clutter, it’s also important to ensure all countertops, appliances and even ceiling fan blades are clean.
Although it might seem like a drag to put this much effort into a place that is being sold, doing the above mentioned tasks will help ensure that your home is made as appealing as possible to potential buyers.
