How to Make Your House More Sellable

Posted on 18/01/2016

After buying a new house and going through a relocation, you will probably want to sell the old house and use the profit to have a good start with your new life. In order to do it as quick as possible, you first have to work a bit on the old house and make it more sellable. And that doesn’t mean adding artificial price inflators, like a backyard pool, or a thousand decorations which potential buyers will refuse to pay for. You have to make the house as attractive as possible, both in a practical and in a visual way that will appeal to a potential buyer. If you want some tips, then you have come to the right place.

•    Start with de-cluttering. You should get rid of all the extra items that you had no use for, because they will turn into extra items the buyer won’t have use for, and nobody will want to buy a house which already has an overhanging issue to be dealt with.

•    Make extra space wherever you can, or only leave the essentials in the rooms. That doesn’t mean to make them look like a Japanese cottage, though. Leave the room’s personality intact, keep the decor that makes it what it is.

•    Repaint the place. A fresh coat of paint will be welcomed by everybody who is looking for a place that needs no work right off the bat. Just don’t pick colours that you like – use the neutrals, like white or gray. Personalised painting will only get you half the audience for the house.

•    Work on the exterior as well as the interior. People won’t judge the house just on the inside. They will start judging it the moment they lay eyes upon it and some of them might not like what they see if you neglected the maintenance on the outside of the house. If you are going to paint, be thorough and paint the outside walls as well.

•    Make sure everything works. Inspect the electrical system and the plumbing and all the appliances that you are leaving behind. Fix every issue, and call technicians, if needed. And do change the light bulbs, don’t get petty about small cash if that can give you a good deal.

•    Clean the house thoroughly before any inspection whenever you can afford it. Potential buyers will be grateful that you are keeping the place clean even in your absence and it is not a subject of dust and mould before anyone could get a hold of it.

•    Work especially well on the bathroom. You don’t want you potential buyer to see a good clean house and then enter the bathroom and witness a slimy, greasy room that emits a very particular reek, do you?

•    If you have a garden, do some maintenance. Clear out all the waste and the leaves, tidy it up a bit so as to give the potential buyer an idea of the amount of backyard space they will have.

•    You can add decorations, but not too many, and don’t make them personal. The potential buyer should see that this is a potential home, not that it was your old home – the idea is to change that very fact.

Stick to these guidelines and the process of making your home easier to sell should prove pretty rewarding. Having a good real estate agent will help you as well. Meanwhile, you can focus on your own relocation and moving checklist. Get the right removal company and make the deal that will send you away from that old home and you can proceed with moving house towards a new life.