The spring housing market, which is annually the optimal time to sell your home, is expected to start to ramp up soon, and the competition for the best sale price will soon begin!
Now is the best time to look into getting your house ready to put on the market, but you don’t want to list it for sale before you’ve got it in the right condition to sell. Here are a few things you need to do to ensure your house is ready to sell.
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Take A Critical Look At The Outside Of Your Home
Have you ever heard of the phrase ‘curb appeal’? Curb appeal is exactly what it sounds like and describes how your house looks from the outside.
You may have the most beautiful interior, full of natural light and bags of space, but if you’ve got an overgrown lawn and moss climbing up your walls, many buyers will be put off before they’ve even stepped through the door.
Declutter Ready for Staging
Caledon real estate agents, Jen Jewell, suggests that staging a home for sale can help speed up sale time by up to 85%, and you may even be able to increase the sale price if you stage your house right.
Staging needs to happen AFTER a good declutter, though, so get into the habit of throwing things out and putting all of those knickknacks you love into the attic until you move. The less busy a staged house is, the more appealing it is.
Do Those Little Bits of DIY
Loose door handle? Hole in the wall from a picture frame? Stained carpet?
All of these little niggles are things you’re more than likely happy to live with for a while and will plan to get around to at some point, but you could be doing your home a disservice if you don’t get them done before you show your house off to potential buyers, and they could even impact the sale value too.
Bring The Outside In
That’s right, it’s time to bring a bit of nature into your space! You don’t have to fill your house so it resembles a Jungle, but having a few house plants dotted around the place and maybe a small bouquet on the dining table is a great way to increase your home’s appeal for very little investment.
Besides, having plants around the place is good for you and should be a habit you’re invested in any way!
Get Some Great Photos
Have you had a look at some of the photos on real estate websites? Some are quite frankly awful! Blurry, dark, and obscure images aren’t going to appeal to anyone, so if you’re serious about selling your home and getting the best price for it, you’ll need to invest in good photography.
Ask to see a portfolio from your relator of houses in a similar price bracket to yours, and don’t let them show you just the most expensive homes in their portfolio. You want to get a realistic impression if you’re going to decide if they’re taking the photographs or you’ll be asking someone else to.