Small changes to help you sell your home quickly

Selling your home is a stressful decision, and it’s made no easier because it can often be slow, with potential sales falling through or simply a lack of interested parties.

Buying a house is a big step, and for the process to go as smoothly as possible, you will want to have a good look around your property and make sure that you are presenting your home in the very best light.

If there are areas of your home that you’re not happy with, then possible buyers will notice, and it doesn’t take a lot to turn a potential sale into a close-run decision.

You don’t need to install a swimming pool in the garden or add a new extension to the back of the house, but there are some small touches which can optimize your chances of a faster sale, and none of them will break the bank either.

Clear out the evidence of you.

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve lived there or the beautiful memories that you’ve created while living in the house; your first step should be to remove the bulk of your memories out of the way. It means looking around and packing all of those beautiful family photos you have scattered in the front room or going up the stairs.

While potential buyers want to see that the house is lived in, they also don’t want the reminder that people have lived there, and they certainly don’t care about your daughter’s graduation or Uncle Roberts’ wedding day. You don’t have to remove every photo, but replacing them with more generic photos allows potential buyers to visualize their lives there, making them far more likely to buy.

Clean up

When showing someone around the property, you’ll have tidied up beforehand, but that might not be enough. You may need to look around and study those problem areas that prospective buyers might notice.

Ensure your fridge is clean and tidy, the dishes are washed and put away, and your laundry isn’t hanging on the line. It may be that you need to make a spring-cleaning day of it to tackle those bigger jobs, such as cleaning the oven or jet-cleaning the garage floor.

However, by removing these issues, you give buyers a clean sweep of the home, making it far more likely that they’ll remember the property positively.

Give the property a breath of fresh air.

Tidying up is all good, but it won’t help when it comes to that old wallpaper or the cracked paint in the bathroom.

Giving your home a breath of fresh air with a new paint job can make a significant difference when it comes to showing buyers your home, and if your bathroom still has that wallpaper from the 80s, then you’re going to want to get rid of that.

Buyers don’t need perfection, but they do need to see the possibility, and painting in light, fresh tones gives them a chance to visualize what they would like to do with the place. There are even suggestions that different colours can influence a sale. Taking a day to give a bedroom a paint makeover could be the one thing that tips the scales in whether they buy or not.

Lights, action!

A gloomy house is a house that isn’t going to sell. Unless the buyers are wildly imaginative, you will want to optimize what you have, and you may be surprised by the changes your lighting options can bring to the table.

From dimmer bulbs in the dining room to soft lighting in the hallways, the range of options for lighting is impressive, and if you’re unsure where to start, Philips Hue Bulb Buyers Guide is a great resource to get you going in the right direction.

Good lighting decisions can add space and character to a property, and you can take advantage of both with minimal effort and significantly increase your chances of speeding up a sale. Experiment with different lighting effects and determine which suits your home the best.

Make it look like a home.

You’re going to want to remove as much of the clutter as possible, and you need to be brutal when it comes to it. As well as the family photos, you can remove tables and chairs in the way and those unnecessary products in the bathroom. However, this is not to say that you should try and remove all traces of your living there.

Buyers still want evidence that someone lives on the property, and the small touches can be hidden yet can make a huge difference. A fresh vase of flowers or the smell of home-cooked food can help, and even a bowl of fresh fruit can add colour and vibrancy where it’s lacking.

You want general evidence that someone lives there but nothing that prevents possible buyers from picturing themselves there. Stay simple and don’t overwhelm them with your experiences of the home, and you’ll be one step closer to making the sale.

These simple, yet small changes you can make will increase your chances of selling your home much more quickly. While many people limit themselves to making sure that the photos of their property are professional and enticing, and others take steps to remove the smell of smokers or pets from the living areas, you want those to be the first things you do rather than the last.

Getting the big jobs out of the way leaves you free to examine your home with a fresh perspective and means that you’ll be able to see where the essential changes need to be implemented. Only once you have cleaned out and given your property the once over, then it’s time to get started on those improvements that will speed up the process for you and everyone involved.