Everyone knows that buying and selling houses can be stressful. First, there’s the small matter of getting your finances in order, then you’ve got to find a house, then, once you’ve found the property of your dreams you’ve got to sell your house!
With everything else that’s involved, it’s almost enough to make you think twice about moving at all.
However, one aspect of the process that you can control is the sale of your own property, and by following these easy tips, you could be moving into the house of your dreams before you know it.
1. Clear Out the Clutter
When you look round a prospective property, you need to be able to imagine yourself living there, and to be able to visualise where your belongings will go in the new house.
And if the current owner has left picture of their grandchildren, souvenirs from their holidays and accessories for their pets lying around, this is a lot harder to do.
So when selling your home, try to clear out all of the personal clutter, leaving a blank canvas for your potential buyers to work with.
- If your home has any obvious faults, get them fixed
2. A Fresh Coat of Pain goes a long way
Though your home may be in good decorative condition, a fresh coat of paint still goes a long way so roll up your sleeves and get stuck in.
Choose a light, bright neutral colour for all of the main areas of your home as this will be the most welcoming when people come in.
3. Get it ‘move in-able’
It’s bad enough when you’ve got lots of little DIY projects on your ‘to do’ list at home, never mind having one before you even move in to a new house.
So if there are a few nagging problems around you home, get them sorted. It will make your property look more loved and reassure potential buyers that there’s nothing nasty lurking under the floorboards.
4. Price it Right
One of the biggest mistakes that sellers make is to over state the value of their property. And though you will want to get the most money possible for your home, if you want to sell fast, you have to price it competitively.
The best way to do this is to visit other properties which are on the market in your area. This will give you a good idea of what sellers expect and is a great excuse to do a bit of snooping on your neighbours.
5. Improve the Curb Appeal
Most people make up their mind about a property before they’re even walked through the door, so if you want to grab their attention, you have to make sure your home looks great from the start.
Invest a bit of money in sprucing up your exterior by painting your front door or tidying up your front garden. Any money spent will pay dividends when you finally get your buyer.
6. Keep it Clean
It may sound obvious, but a lot of people fail to clean up before buyers come round for a viewing.
Ideally you should give everything a really deep clean, removing and limescale from the bathroom and any grease from the kitchen.
7. Prepare for a Viewing
On viewing day, try to make your home look as welcoming as possible. Draw all of the curtains, place fresh flowers on the tables and make sure everything looks spick and span.
8. Get the Word Out
Last but not least, if you want to sell your house, you have to make sure that everyone knows it’s for sale.
Apart from just employing an estate agent, you should tell friends to spread the word, put a notice in the local paper or even flyer through people’s doors. Anything to get the word out.
Selling houses isn’t rocket science, but it does require a bit of elbow grease and a bit of money. So don’t be afraid to get stuck in, if you have been asking yourself “how do I sell my house fast”, now you know!