5 steps to preparing your home for sale
Freshly brewed coffee? Oven fresh buns? Who has time? Your property’s about to go on the market and the photographer’s booked to come in a few days to take the pictures that will inspire potential buyers to view your home. So where do you start?
Posted on Monday, October 4, 2021
The reality of selling your home can mean living with cupboards stuffed with things you don’t even want; discovering a stand-up desk that you don’t remember buying, and 16 linen throws you can’t bear to part with.
With the following 5 Steps, not only could you add thousands to the value of your home, but you may also save yourself a load of stress in the process.
1) Cut the emotional ties
Even if your decision to sell has been a practical one, the fact you’re planning to move away from the place you made home can bring back the moments you’ve had here: the memories, the parties; and before you know it, just as you have so much to do, your feet can feel like they’re stuck in concrete. It’s even harder if there’s a separation involved, or a downsize due to your children moving on.
A useful practice can be to say goodbye to this home with grace. Acknowledge that it’s provided a setting for the experiences you’ve had there, good and bad. Remember you’re only taking a different route, your story will continue. Take a moment to thank the space you’re leaving for the home it provided, this can get you mentally geared up for what’s next.
2) Make a list and set a budget
At the time your agent carries out a valuation, talk to them about any snags in the home. Then decide how much you’re prepared to spend. Whether it’s £200 or £2,000, chat to us to avoid spending on fixes that are unnecessary or won’t increase your home’s value ahead of the sale.
For the list: go digital or hard copy, whatever works for you, but add boxes you can tick off. By making a list you organise the actions in your mind and start engaging with the tasks. Sleep research suggests making a list can help you offload your ‘noise’ before bed and help you sleep.
Above all, try and focus on the next step only on the list and delegate.
If you have a partner or friend, split the work. Give kids jobs like choosing which clothes and books are to go to charity, it’ll make them feel involved and help them prepare for the big change too.
3) Find your corners again
Remember those? They’re the bits where the walls meet, now hidden in books, standing plants and leaning yoga mats.
Decluttering early on starts the process of packing to move and saves you time and hassle down the line. You want to show viewers the clean lines of your rooms and shelves with very little on them (because you have so much space to spare in this property).
Start small.
Do one room at a time and for everything in it, think: bin, store or charity? If you have a lot of stuff consider hiring a skip, 80% of everything that goes in gets recycled, (check with your local company).
Notice how you rarely see bins, laundry baskets or cable junctions in interior magazines? That’s staging. Sell them the clutter-free dream by storing that stuff away. Got a friend or family member with a garage? Maybe they’ll let you store your extra furniture there for a few weeks.
People are looking to buy the space of your home, so make it easy for them to see it. Focus on how great it will feel to open up boxes in your new home containing only things that you’re happy to see, or as Marie Kondo puts it “things that spark joy”
4) Give each space a function
You want your home to make sense to buyers and not leave them confused. Repurposing areas can be surprisingly easy: if you have young children consider moving toys to just one place so they look organised.
But try not to mix up the functions in rooms. Although working from home is a necessary part of life for many, having a digital workspace on a dining room table looks cluttered, keep the dining room table for dining.
Try staging a little area somewhere else with a chair and a lamp and maybe a lean-to desk, alternatively store it away. Remember this is only temporary.
5) Book a professional cleaning service
It’s a small price to pay for the value it adds. A professional company will get in the corners and under sofas, and clean the parts of the home that we ‘don’t always reach’ such as cooker hoods and bins which harbour smells. Windows are the holy grail of the fresh home: clean those and you’re sparkling. You want people to view your home and think ‘I could just move in here and start living’.
And don’t forget the garden, if it’s looking like Epping Forest get your trim on, and at least find those edges—they’re out there somewhere.
This is a really exciting time in your life, selling your home is huge.
Ask us about any snags when we value, we’ll help you decide whether it’s worth it to fix or not to keep on budget, plus any other aspect of the move, we’ve all been there.
Once the photos have been done, you can relax a little but have a system so that you can live comfortably and be able to make it appealing for buyers at short notice. And remember if you do end up with 16 linen throws in the back of your car, don’t worry you won’t be the first!
Estates East Team
Call us >> 020 8520 9300
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Find your dream home >> estateseast.co.uk
