How to prepare your home for sale
- Posted By Trish Goodlet
If you’ve made the decision to sell your home, here are Goodlife’s top 13 tips to ensure a speedy sale.
Key take-away – you want to present a well-loved and cared for home to a prospective buyer.
1. Take a very unemotional and practical audit of your entire home – this includes not just the interiors but the exterior of the property, landscaped area, garage, sheds etc. At this point, it’s worth asking your real estate agent to walk through the property to give you practical advice on what needs addressing.
2. Identify the features of your home that will be attractive to a prospective buyer, for instance, wonderful views, large kitchen, a secluded garden and maximise their impact for viewers.
3. Identify the features of your home that might be viewed as less attractive, for instance, very small bedrooms, narrow stairs and do everything possible to improve these through decluttering, good lighting or repainting the area in a pale, neutral colour.
4. Draw up a list of all the repairs that need to be addressed. Have three lists: structural, mechanical and electrical. Write down everything that could be repaired and updated – without excessive outlay – and decide what will really improve the overall look of the property. Key items to look at: doors and windows that might not close properly, broken roof tiles, cracks in walls and ceilings, heating or air con units not working. Any built-in appliances that are staying with the property should be in working order. Light switches, sockets, TV points etc. The tilework in kitchens and bathrooms may need resealing.
5. Declutter. A small word. A big task. What you need to do is to essentially remove all of the elements from your home that make it very overly personal to you. That means family photos, mementos, quirky collectables. Strip your house back to the bare essentials. You want the finished product to be a house that looks open and fresh yet very liveable and inviting.
6. As viewings will be happening over a period of time, you will want to have a system in place that allows you to quickly prepare your house for visitors at a moment’s notice.
7. As you declutter, please don’t fill your attic or garage with all the items you are taking out of your main residence. These spaces are important selling features in your home, so they need to be presented in their best light possible too.
8. If possible, hire a team of professional cleaners to come in and give the property a really deep clean. You can then maintain this standard yourself during the viewing period.
9. Once essential repairs are complete, it often makes sense to repaint your home. Choosing one very neutral light shade for the interior, is one of the most impactful ways to refresh any property. If you haven’t the time to take this on, we recommend, at the very least, repainting any walls that look shabby with their existing colour. Sometimes you don’t need to paint the whole room.
10. Throw out any stained rugs or soft furnishings – it’s worthwhile having nice throws and cushions that are used only for viewing purposes.
11. When you know you have a viewing, switch on the lights, do a quick tidy round clearing kitchen and bathroom surfaces.
12. Create a folder with all key information for a new owner. This includes all the paperwork and manuals for any appliances or equipment that are remaining within the home post-sale. A list of phone numbers for maintenance companies, plumbers and electricians who are familiar with the property, is really useful too.
13. Lastly, locate any legal documents that you might need to process the sale. Contact your conveyancer and get your section 32 prepared, so you are ready for the sale.