Once your home goes on the market, its critical to ensure your home is presented at its absolute best. It’s something every home seller can do on any budget and almost every real estate professional will agree: a well presented home spends less time on the market.
Here are some friendly tips, advice and proven methods to make sure your home is more marketable and saleable for a premium result.
Maximising Space & Minimising Clutter
When presenting a home effectively, one of the first things we consider is what needs to be removed. The bigger a room looks, often the more attractive it will be to buyers.
Great presentation sometimes means taking away, (decluttering and de-personalising) as much as it means adding to or changing a room. If clutter is a problem, buyers can become distracted —they notice the disorder when they should be imagining themselves and their own furniture in the space.
Start by putting personal pictures, knickknacks, piles of mail, and any other eye-catching distractions away out of sight neatly in a box and store them in a cupboard, in the garage or shed, or even off-site if you can.
Expert organisers suggest sorting through collections of books, magazines, CDs and newspapers, and getting rid of anything you no longer want or use.
Choose containers that are as practical as they are pretty to organise and tidy magazines, toys, kitchen utensils, and other items that can’t be stored away. Don’t forget to organise wardrobes and drawers—buyers have been known to look everywhere!
Tidy up or put away unnecessary electronic devices and kitchen appliances, electrical cables. Ensure your bathroom(s) are spotless and free of any mould, especially around the edges, in tile grouting and along shower cubicle edges. Vacuum daily when the home is on the market.
Street Appeal – Making The Best First Impression
Think of the first thing a buyer sees as they drive up your street searching for your address. Will they be tempted to take a look or drive on? There’s a lot more to street appeal than cutting the grass.
Studies show that landscaping can increase the value of a home by up to 20%.
Other feature enhancers, such as lighting and paint, can also add value and appeal. Ensure you tidy up the section, clean the windows, doors, and front door area.
Plant flowers tastefully, and abundantly! Pressure or chemical wash the outside of the house.
De-moss the roof and if necessary arrange for unkempt parts of the house to be repaired and/or repainted. If possible, enhance and beautify with lighting.
Fragrance, Smells, And Odours
One of those factors that carries a lot of weight is the way a home smells. It’s important to make a home appeal to all five senses, and when it comes to smells, if there is a ‘smell’ problem, it needs to addressed head on.
Nothing smells better than clean and the source of the most common odour problems are pets, smoking, cooking, and mould or mildew.
A zippered pillowcase filled with cedar chips, placed under a pet’s pillow bed, will absorb most of the unpleasant pet odours. Boiling an apple, a teaspoon of cinnamon, and a few drops of vanilla on the stove will remove burnt smells in the kitchen.
Add orange peels to make a simmering potpourri. Sprinkle baking soda directly onto carpets, rugs, and sofas to eliminate odours—then let it sit for at least 30 minutes before vacuuming.
A bowl of vinegar placed in a room for a day or two will help neutralise smoke odours. Small cotton balls with a few drops of your favourite perfume or cologne, tucked discreetly around the home, can freshen a room.
Candles, plug-ins, and home fragrance sprays can also work wonders when the scent is well chosen, and not overdone.