How does adding value to your home help to maximise its selling potential? That is a question we nearly always have to answer when advising people who are looking to sell their home.
Chiefly, our advice always revolves around advanced preparation before you actually place your house on the market. Put your buyer’s hat on and view your home through the eyes of a prospective purchaser. That lime green chimney breast, personalised items or clutter is not everyone’s cup of tea and can devalue your property.
The key to adding value to your home’s potential is to follow a structured process. This isn’t for wimps, and it may be difficult to clear that clutter you’re attached to, but the rewards you’ll reap is most definitely worth it. To help you further, we have put together 12 top tips for selling your own home.
12 tips for selling your own home to its full potential
Step 1 - Empty your outbuildings
Clear clutter from your outbuildings. This will provide much-needed space to store furniture and boxed personal items, which immediately adds value to your home for prospective buyers.
Step 2 - Remove Personal Items
Pack away personal items such as family photos and your kid’s artwork. Viewers need to see your house as their prospective home, not yours, so the clearer it is, the better.
Step 3 - Invest in Storage
Another great way of adding value to your home is to ensure that any clutter, such as piles of shoes in the hall, toys in the lounge and mail on the sideboard, are stored away. So invest in some nice storage boxes and make sure that these things and anything else that detracts from your home’s attractive features are out of sight, out of mind. Now is not the time to be precious about your personal belongings. Be ruthless with your home accessories, pack away any collections and leave out a few beautiful larger ornaments or statement pieces.
Step 4 - Remove unnecessary furniture
This one might sound strange in a top tips for selling your home guide, however, making sure you store away furniture (in your clutter-free outbuilding) is essential to adding value to your home and ensuring viewers see it at its full potential. Potential buyers don’t want to be colliding into furniture when they visit your home. It disrupts the flow and focus and makes your space look cramped. Try to store at least 1 item of furniture from each room, so your rooms look more prominent.
Step 5 - Clean, clean, clean!
There’s nothing more off-putting than a grubby or smelly home, so it is time to get the marigolds out, the strong bleach and get cleaning. We’re talking a deep scrub clean so your home sparkles. Adding value to your home comes at a price, and in this case, it is a hefty dose of elbow grease.
Step 6 - Repair any damage
Repair and fix anything that’s broken in and around your home. It is important to fill any unsightly gaps and replace missing fixtures such as handles or house numbers. When buying a home, most people will have visions of what they would like to do with the property once purchased. That is their prerogative, as they say. However, the last thing they will want is additional work to repair the damages caused by you.
Step 7 - Paint
When looking at adding value to your home and bringing out its full potential, considering the paintwork is a must. We recommend that you repaint any bold wall colours in neutral colour tones such as grey or creams. As much as you adore your vivid teal dining room, it could turn off a good share of your buyers, allow buyers to focus on the space and not the colour of the rooms.
Remember painting a room is relatively cheap and can be totally transformed for an average of £75
Step 8 - See the light
It is essential to let light into your property. Open up the curtains and blinds to let in natural light and add floor or table lamps to dark areas. A bright, cheerful room looks larger and more appealing.
Step 9 - Get Aesthetic
If you are serious about adding value to your home to secure your sale, you need to consider your home’s aesthetics in fine detail. Consider bringing the outside in! Potted plants or pretty silk flowers will add colour to space. They make great accessories and fill in empty corners or draw attention to feature furniture.
Step 10 - Focus on Definition
Yes, we know this is beginning to sound more like an art lesson as opposed to tips for selling your home at its full potential, but it is essential to define each room. That spare room you’ve been using as a dumping ground is not adding value to your home and its appeal. So why not define it as a usable space such as an office, guest room or hobby room instead.
Step 11 - Bathe in luxury
Before you put the bubble bath in, that is not what we mean. However, turning your bathroom into a luxury spa (assuming it isn’t already, of course) is an excellent way of creating the feeling of relaxation. The best bit about this is that you can do it for less than £50. Simply stack a few pretty towels tied with ribbon, add scented candles and silk plants. All this can be staged just prior to your interior photos or viewing, and remember to remove the toothbrushes and shaving foam when doing so!
Step 12 - Curb appeal
Our final tip for selling your home to its full potential, and possible one of the most important, is to consider first impressions. Most buyers will decide on whether to even view your home based on its curb appeal. Therefore, it is essential to make sure your home’s exterior looks attractive and inviting. Trim your shrubs, weed your flower beds, power wash hard standing surfaces, repair any peeling paint and keep the paths and drive clear. Simple touches like adding a row of large potted plants along the walkway or a pretty wreath to your front door can make all the difference when adding value to your home.
How love2move can help you
Now you have read our top tips on selling your home to its best potential, the next step is to start the process. Reach out to love2move today, and we will carry out a free property valuation to let you know how much your house is worth. Just remember to consider some of our top tips first.
This article has been written in conjunction with love2move by Buffalo Interiors.
Buffalo Interiors – Designers Guild Stockist
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