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Selling Tips

To help you get the best price from your house sale here are some helpful tips for improving the value of your house this Spring.

It is often hard to think of spending money on the house you are leaving, but you should make a return on your investment, shift your house and not miss out on the home you are hoping to buy!

Tidy the front of the house

Ensure that the front of the house is attractive and inviting. Are your rubbish bins visible, do you have peeling paintwork and rotten windows? Is your hedge trimmed? Do you have any colourful hanging baskets or pots? Does any of the guttering need replacing?

Ensure your hall is inviting

Create as much light as possible in your hall. If you have an ugly radiator, use a radiator cover. Put some greenery in the hall, and perhaps a mirror to reflect light. Paint the walls a warm neutral colour so people feel cosy. If you have wooden floors, lay an attractive runner to break up the floor.

Clear your house of clutter

We are all hoarders to some degree! Take one room at a time, or even a drawer at a time, and sort through every bit of paper, every ornament and every item of clothing. You’ll be amazed how much you throw away! Have four piles: items to keep in your home until you move, items that can go into storage until you move, items to go to a charity shop or sell at a car boot sale, items to skip. Hire a skip if necessary for a weekend. On average, we use just 20% of our belongings, 80% of the time. It will make a huge difference if you remove excess clutter from your home, and people will be able to see the houseinstead of all your stuff!

Clean the house

Your house needs to be spotless. Have your furniture and carpets professionally cleaned, remove cobwebs from the ceiling corners, remove dust from under the bed. You’ll be amazed where people look. No one wants to see crusty washing up littering the kitchen. If the place is messy, many will not be able to see past this and will immediately close up their minds to the house. Ensure the house smells nice. Walk outside and in again to check the smell. If you are a smoker or have lots of pets, you might need to work harder to shift the smell!

Neutralise

You do not need to make your house bland. However, if you are living in a house with swirly carpets and gaudy walls it’s advisable that you change them. More and more people want to move into a house and have nothing to do. They don’t want to think ‘I’ve got to change the carpets throughout’, or ‘I need to redecorate every wall’. Your personality will initially pervade the entire house, and you need to remove it. After all, the house is not going to be yours for much longer! Paint the walls in soft, muted colours. Have neutral flooring, and use accents and accessories to provide extra colour, texture and interest.

Use accessories and artwork wisely

Don’t clutter every shelf up with accessories and hang artwork randomly around the walls. Use architectural features to guide you into how to hang your artwork and choose a careful selection of your accessories and position them to create maximum impact. They should coordinate or complement with your décor.

Create a feature in every room

Many rooms have natural features. For example an original fireplace in the living room, or a beautiful bay window with fabulous window dressings. However, sometimes you need to be more creative if the house lacks architectural features. Always dress the dining room as a dining room and not a dumping ground. A table with a large bunch of flowers in the middle could be the feature in the dining room, a sumptuously dressed double bed in the master room can be the feature there. Allow one feature in each room to dominate, don’t have several features competing for attention.

Check  list

• Clear up clutter
• Don’t leave dirty clothes about
• Don’t leave clothes drying on airers or radiators
• Do all the washing up and putting away
• Avoid strong smells of dog,cat,cigarettes,spicy meals,etc
• Keep carpets vacuumed
• Keep floors washed and swept
• Make beds every morning
• Keep bathroom spotless
• Keep bathroom products in cabinet
• Make sure bin bags are taken outside
• Don’t leave personal papers and files lying around
• Don’t leave ironing board out
• Mow lawns,cut hedges and weed the garden regular