How To Prepare Your House For Sale – Estate Agent Top Tips

There are so many different factors that will affect the sale of your property. We are living in particularly difficult times so it is important to give your property the maximum chance of reaching its potential and securing the best possible price on the market. This involves factors like choosing the right estate agents and making sure that the maximum amount of channels are being used to advertise your house. Similarly the way that you present your property will make a big difference to how prospective buyers view it and how likely you are to make a sale.

1. Before you begin assessing your property and how to improve it for sale try and detach yourself as much as possible from the situation. Of course this is very difficult, it is your home that you have lived in so many things that are both selling points and inhibitors may go unnoticed to you. If you are finding it difficult to view your house impartially ask the advice of a friend to help you.

2. Look for signs of damage in your property. Even small imperfections which cost little to fix may turn potential buyers off your property. These could be extremely small and cost little to repair, or it could be a larger project such a kitchen renovation. Think about what improvements you could make and how they will affect the sale of your property – don’t invest over budget in the hope of making up the costs later on but equally don’t cut corners and expect buyers not to notice damages and flaws that you yourself can easily fix with minimal cost.

3. Deep clean your home. We live in our homes everyday and even the cleanest of us can become unaware of signs of dirt and damp in our houses. Firstly make sure that there are no signs of mould or mildew in bathrooms. The second area that is likely to build up dirt is the kitchen. For these two problem areas it may be worth hiring professional cleaners to make sure that the work is done to a high standard. Cleaning your windows (inside and out) is also a great way to refresh the look of room, let it more light and help your property look more attractive to prospective buyers.

4. Step outside. Don’t forget how your property looks from the outside – this will be a viewer’s first impression of your house and this initial reaction is important so don’t neglect the obvious. Basic gardening won’t cost you much money but it will make a big difference to the appearance of your property, make sure your lawn is cut, patio areas are clean (with attention paid to the grouting) and adding a few flowers in hanging baskets to bring the space to life with some colour. All this will subconsciously appeal to anyone looking round the house – helping to put them in a good, positive frame of mind before they’ve even stepped in through your front door.

5. Depersonalise your home. The final top estate agent tip to selling your home is to depersonalise it. This doesn’t mean moving everything out but it does mean reducing as much as you can, if possible put personal items into storage to create the feel of a blank canvas so that when people look around your house they can project their own taste into the space and visualise it as their own. As well as clearing away clutter and personal items it may be worth removing some furniture to make areas appear bigger and painting rooms more neutral colours to remove personal-taste decorating that may put some people off.

These estate agent top tips aren’t exclusive trade secrets, in fact much of it is common sense but it is easy to forget so they are worth remembering. Making your property clean, tidy and clutter free are some of the ways that will make your property more appealing to buyers, as choosing a house is an incredibly personal process an individual’s gut reaction to a property is crucial. Use everything at your disposal to make sure that this intuition works in your favour and you get the fast property sale for the price that you want.