We moved house just over a year ago, while there is sooo much that we still want to do we realised that some projects add more value to a house than others. Someone visited our house earlier this week saying that they had been interested in purchasing it while it was on the market. She walked past the newly revamped bathroom and stopped dead in her tracks – she could not believe the transformation! It made me think about the things that people value in a house.
We’ve sold both our previous properties privately without much hassle, but realised that there were some elements in the house as well as the process we followed that interested buyers appreciated. This probably made selling our properties a little easier. After reading an article on 6 Ways to Make Your Home Sell Faster I thought I would share my 6 tips based on my own experience.
6 Ways to Make Your Home Sell Faster
- Kitchens and bathrooms really make an impression. When we moved into our previous home all 2.5 bathrooms as well as the kitchen boasted the same tiles and finishings and they were quite dated. I did a small revamp on my kitchen, painting the cupboards, re-tiling and then changing the door handles. This made a huge difference. We then proceeded to do a make-over on the master bedrooms’ en-suite bathroom and it was definitely a wow-factor!
- Outdoor maintenance – A garden does not have to be professionally designed or be expected to have flowers in bloom all year round. Doing simple house-keeping like removing weeds from the pavement and neatening bedding edges as well as trimming shrubs, trees and bushes already does the job. It really irritates me when I can’t see where the grass starts and the paving begins or visa versa.
- Take a step back – The living area of our house was quite neutral in colour and design, but our bedroom not so much. I found that people either really loved or really hated the decor there. What made it easier was that I made use of vinyl that is easily removeable and that I could tell people that before they started thinking of all the monies they have to spend in getting renovating when they moved in! It is difficult to think that your ideas might not always be pretty to everyone around you, but I had to take a step back and ask myself “If I do x with my house, will it increase or decrease the potential value of my house for others”. When in doubt – stick to neutrals…
- Great photos go a long way – Photos are often the first impression people get of your house, if they like what they see they are likely to visit a show day if not the lead is lost. While my photos have improved immensely, I don’t think that I will ever be able to add the words ‘professional Photographer’ to my resume. It is essential to make use of a wide angle lens for smaller rooms when photographing the inside of a house. It is very difficult for people to visualise a room when you take five individual photos of one room. A wide angle lens just does so much more with just one image.
Carike Ridout photographed our previous house beautifully and I used these images for the on-line listing. See our home tour here.
- De-clutter – There is nothing worse than walking into a cluttered space. As a blogger I have learned that not everything you see on photos are how things look in real life. We move plants, couches and desks around the whole time to get ‘the best shot’ but it made a huge difference to our following on social media spaces such as Instagram for instance. It is vitally important to style your house for viewing – get rid of things that just stand around and have no purpose. Whether you pack them away neatly or donate them, clear the space so that people can move around freely. You might even be able to save on household insurance with less items to show!
- Leave people with something to remember – It is all about the details! Most people who are house hunting visit quite a number of houses before they decide on ‘THE ONE’. You need to leave them with that something special. I made use of a free design tool called Canva.com to make a neat brochure of our home. Stating possible fees, re-payments, levies and rates & taxes. It also contained images of the property as well as our contact details. This was something pretty and useful people could take home with them to remember what they saw.
There are off-course so many other things that you can do, adding flowers to tables and more. These are just some of the tips that I found useful and thought I’d share with you! I would love to hear your tips – please leave me with a comment below.
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