Selling Your Home: How To Attract Buyers

Imagine waking up on a summer morning with the sun glistening through your window, feeling its warmth on your face as you take a sip of your morning cup of tea. You then stroll out of your bi-folding doors into your south-westerly facing garden, where you marvel at the fully bloomed flower bed you planted in Spring. Suddenly, you’re transported back to reality with the sharp pop of your toaster and find yourself staring out of your kitchen window, looking at your shaded courtyard garden where a sunny morning cuppa is out of the question.

Traditionally, springtime is the prime time to sell a property as the warmer weather tempts us to relocate to be closer to the coast or to have a bigger garden so you can finally have that vegetable patch you’ve always dreamed of. But where do you start? Should you replace your bathroom or paint the bedroom wall? Moving house is a very daunting thought, especially if you haven’t moved for years. We’ve looked into some easy tips, tricks and some advice when selling your home and attracting the right buyers.

VALUATION

The first step is finding out how much your home is worth. It’s recommended to have two to three valuations to work out a good average on the price and ensure the valuing agent brings and leaves a copy of a ‘Best Price Guide’ which shows evidence of their pricing. A good Estate Agent will talk you through the journey of selling your home and clearly explain how they will achieve the best price for you. Ensure they offer professional photography and a floor plan as this what buyers will want to see straight away.

PRICE

Now, let’s talk about price. Of course, we all want the most for our homes as possible but pricing the property just right makes all the difference, so be realistic about the price. It’s good practice to do your research and have a look at properties that have sold within the last year in your area to give you an idea. The Estate Agent valuing your home should provide further evidence and information to support their valuation and outline what they do to achieve the best price for your home. Statistically, the first two weeks of marketing your home are the busiest time so it’s important to have the marketing right. A quick tip, don’t be fooled if an agent comes in with a price a lot higher than the others, this could be an overvaluing tactic to win your business with the intention of reducing the price within those first crucial weeks.

IMPRESSION

You’ve chosen the agent to sell your home and you’re ready to have your photographs taken, brilliant! Now let’s talk about first impressions. Buyers will form an opinion on the property within seconds of seeing the listing on the property portals such as Rightmove or Zoopla and that’s just from the front of your home! Ensure driveways, front gardens, and even the front door looks as good as can be!

DECLUTTER

It may go without saying but giving your home a good declutter feels cleaner, more spacious and also shows to a potential buyer that the property is well cared for. A great interior design tip when it comes to décor is the rule of three, arrange anything from home accessories to visual artwork in to threes creating a unified and appealing effect. The items remaining on display should simply suggest the room’s purpose, just remember that you want people to be looking at the house, not the belongings.

DEPERSONALISE

Keeping personal memorabilia on display such as family photos can create a mental block for some prospective buyers, they’ll be reminded that the property is already someone elses home, distracting them from visualising their own life in that space. If there’s any important or sentimental framed photographs well placed on the wall, a great option could be to cover them with printed depersonalised images that you can easily remove after viewings.

LIGHTING

One of the most important aspects of selling your home is of course, lighting. Keep those blinds open and curtains drawn, let the natural light flood into the space. If you’re not in ample supply of daylight then that’s where artificial light comes into play. Mirrors are also a great tool to help create light and space in smaller or darker areas of the home. Estate Agents should turn on all lights before a viewing takes place, but another tip to create ambience is to turn on any lamps and accent lighting, this also applies when you have your photos taken. It can set the scene and add depth to the room.

REPAIR

A popular question raised when selling a property is, ‘Should I replace the …’ and the answer is no. Installing a new kitchen or new bathroom of course looks nice for photographs but it doesn’t add much to the value of the property, particularly enough to cover the cost of fitting it. Nine times out of ten, your new buyer will change the property to meet their tastes and will end up changing things like the kitchen and bathroom. Smaller jobs like tightening a leaky tap or painting a couple of walls that could do with a fresh lick of paint will make the property feel more fresh and desirable.

When moving day comes, Devon Move Removals & Storage has over 40 years of experience and has built its reputation on their first-class service. They cater for house moves and commercial relocations to help you move across the South-West, nationally and even to EU destinations. Devon Move also sells cardboard boxes and packing material to help with your removal or storage needs. Give them a call today for a free no obligations quote: 01626 363430.