The current market situation makes it imperative to make the house you have for sale stand out from others in your area. You may need to spend some money on preparing your modern house for sale, but the investment should result in a faster turnaround time in selling your home. The following tips will make your house a more attractive proposition for buyers.
1) Remove clutter. Your home may be full of personal belongings and memorabilia. Maybe your hobby involved collecting art or antiques, cinema posters or toys, dolls or whatever. While these items may be very precious to you, and may even be very valuable, you need to get rid of them before showing your house to potential buyers.
Potential buyers will want to visualize their belongings in your house. You can help them to do this by keeping furnishings and decorations to a minimum. Having too much of your stuff on display will be a negative influence on would-be buyers.
Pack away everything that is not essential to everyday living, and remove the packed items from the house. It is probably okay to move everything into the garage, but it is better to store stuff offsite.
Do not leave unwashed dishes or utensils, clothing, footwear, towels or dirty laundry lying around. Try to imagine your house is a hotel or guesthouse, and your viewers are checking it out. Nobody entering a hotel room would be happy to see evidence of previous occupants strewn about.
2) Remove all traces of pets. Even if would-be buyers are fond of animals, seeing your animals running around the house might put them off. Floors covered with cat or dog hairs will have a negative impact, as will a strong animal smell. Get rid of feeding bowls and litter trays.
3) Strong colors on walls and ceilings can make rooms appear claustrophobic, especially if they are dark tints. Repaint your rooms if necessary using a neutral color scheme. White ceilings and magnolia walls are always best. These colors make it easier for buyers to imagine what the rooms will look like when decorated according to their preferences.
4) In the bedrooms, make sure none of the beds is unmade. It is also worthwhile to have matching bed and pillow covers. Curtains or drapes should be light and airy and will have a very positive effect if they complement the bed dressings.
5) Before the buyer arrives for a viewing, turn on all the lights, including bedside lights, even if it's a daytime viewing. This is a simple technique for relaxing viewers. It gives them a welcoming impression and subconsciously tells them you are not trying to hide anything. Depending on the climate, you should also make sure your house is pleasantly warm or cool.
6) If you have family pictures hanging on the walls, replace them with impersonal pictures, like landscape or nature prints. These can be purchased quite cheaply from home decoration outlets.
Remember, your house for sale is unlikely to be the only one buyer will look at, and spending the time and effort in making it as appealing as possible is well worthwhile.
