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Tips on Selling your house.
So you’ve
decided to sell your house. If you are like most people you really
want to get the best possible price from your buyer. Of course you
know that it is comfortable and well built. The lawn might need a
bit of work and landscaping just isn’t your thing. Of course the new
owner will take care of the repainting and the fence which is ready
to fall….and the faucet which has been leaking for the last five
years (why fix that now?)
Of course the buyer can do all these things but if you think about
it, each little bad impression is going to influence what the buyer
is willing to pay. It may even make him or her decide against buying
your home in the first place. Remember it’s your home but to them
it’s just another house.
What you really
need to do is to make them think of it as
their new home, from the moment
they first step on your property. You want to make them excited at
the prospect of owning their home.
BEFORE YOU START THE PROCESS THINK LIKE A BUYER
Houses for sale appear on the market every day. In my experience,
some sell for much more than they are worth while others do just the
opposite. Sometimes the reasons are obvious; the property may be in
an ideal location for the buyer, it may have snob appeal etc.
However there are many properties where the price paid was based on
more subtle reasons.
First
things first.
First impressions count, whether you are dating, going for a job,
applying for a loan or selling your home.
Remember: The
prospective buyer needs to think of your house as
their new home,
from the moment they first step on your property. You want to make
them excited at the prospect of owning their home. (Am I
overstressing the point?)
It doesn’t take a
lot of money
Lots of things can be done without spending too much
money. Things like painting, filling the holes that your pet Great
Dane has dug in the yard, tossing out the junk that was parked in
the corner since you first moved in twenty years ago…come on there
is no more sentimental value left – just a lot of rust and dust. Did
I mention cleaning? Look up at the rafters in your car port; see
their nice black colour. Bet you can’t remember when you painted
them. That’s because you never did, they were pink to begin with.
Try cleaning them and repainting if that doesn’t work. Get
rid of Spider city in the corner of the spare room, clean the window
sills and lighting fixtures and take a look through the glass on the
windows to see if the sunlight is passing through.
If you have
carpets anywhere, make sure that you get them professionally
cleaned. If your floor is tiled, now is a good time to take a close
look for badly chipped tiles or grout that needs replacement.
Junk is like Body
Odour – you never notice yours!
I’ve visited several of my friends homes and wondered at how
cluttered they look….then I wondered if they were saying the same
thing when they visited mine.
Seriously though, you need to dump the junk. Whatever you do, don’t
stash it on the premises. A room or basement that’s full of junk
creates the worst possible impression that you could imagine. If
it’s really precious, store it at your neighbour while your house is
on show.
A few more tips before I go
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You love your pets so while your house is on the market remember
that the minefield your Great Dane has set up on the lawn, the
results of all that healthy food he eats, needs to be cleaned up on
an ongoing basis. You also need to think of where you will keep him
while you are showing the house.
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Cats also tend to have some favourite areas that need to be checked
out and cleaned well in advance of visits.
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Most importantly, you can save yourself lots of trouble by finding a
good real-estate agent to guide you and reduce the frustration of
dealing with your prospective buyers.
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