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Top 10 Tips to get your home Show Day ready

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Selling a property can be an incredibly rewarding start to a new adventure. The challenge is presenting it in such a way that still makes it feel like home whilst attracting the right type of buyer who absolutely has to have it and is willing to pay for what it’s really worth.

To get your home show day ready I always advise my clients to do a few basics around the home to make it more presentable to potential buyers. Some of the things that need being done take a bit of elbow grease, the others take a bit of imagination.

1.Curb appeal: First impressions count, so keep your verge looking neat and tidy, do a bit of garden work, plant some colorful flowers if you have a space piece of sand that’s looking a bit drab and cut the grass. Don’t forget to sweep the driveways and pathways, roll up the garden hose and pick up all the doggy doo doo. Last thing you need is a potential client standing in a mess on arrival.

2. The Exterior: Wash the walls of you home down, clean the gutters and paint and the fascia boards on the roof. Let’s be honest here, if you home has not been painted in the last 10 years, then I would defiantly suggest giving it a makeover. Nothing says this home has been loved and cared for like a fresh coat of paint.

3. The garage: Clean out the garage, and make it look presentable. Yes, it’s a garage, but we trying to sell space and opportunities here. Organise the tools, pack the boxes neatly and throw away all that junk that you not carting with you to your new home

4.DE-Clutter and smooth the surfaces: Yes, we all love our bits and bobs around the home, it’s very sentimental us – it doesn’t mean anything to the buyers. The buyer is coming to see the potential the space has to offer, they not there to see all you nick knacks cluttering up the entrance hall and the kitchen counters. Less is always more when it comes to selling space.

5.Tidy out your cupboards: You will be surprised at the amount of people that love to snoop inside your cupboards. You really don’t need it all toppling out over them.

6.In the bathrooms and the kitchen: If you have an older home, you may need to re-do the silicone around the edges of the basins and the bath. It just looks clean and neater. There is nothing worse than looking into a shower and seeing mold festering in the silicone around the edge. This is not a hard job to do and does wonders to the overall impression. If a buyer sees these little things needing done, I can almost guarantee they thinking ‘’Gosh this home needs some work doing to it’’.

7.Lighting: make sure all the bulbs are working in the light as people love to flick the switches when the walk in and out of rooms. If it doesn’t come on, then they think to themselves, what else doesn’t work?

8.Kids bedrooms: Pack all of the toys away and hide them in the garage. Leave some behind in a toy box that’s easy to manage at short notice. Remember we selling space here, not mess. Often I get last minute calls from client’s who didn’t make the show day to go view homes. You don’t really need to be rushing around more than you need to, to get your home Show day ready.

9.Swimming pool: Clean it, take the leaves out and if it needs any maintenance make sure it gets attended to. Buyers get very put off if they see a pool that’s been neglected. Today’s property buyer sees a pool as an additional expense and its often not on their wish list.

10.Painting the interior: This is a tricky one. One the hand I tell my sellers that the buyers will inevitably re-paint the interior to suite their taste. On the other hand, if the paint colours are bight and clearing it’s not going to help sell the potential, and if the paints looking drab then the whole house will look drab.Feature wall colours in larger rooms always work well to create a designer impression, don’t go overboard and try to keep your general interior wall colours, fresh, light and neutral. Keep you patterns and textures on you soft furnishings and inject Pops of colour here and there with scatter cushions, throws and lamp shades. Pick a colour pallet and try to stay as close to that throughout the home. If the décor has a common thread it makes the spaces flow better and appear more welcoming.

In short – tidy up, smooth the surfaces, clean the garden and attend to those DIY duties.

Author: Lloyd Rees

Submitted 27 Sep 16 / Views 3315