Selling your house and not sure how to get it ready? Here are 9 must-know tips to prepare your house for sale.
Getting your house on the market is just the first step when it comes to selling your house. However, people have to be convinced enough to actually purchase your property.
House viewings are your opportunity to really convince someone that this is the home for them. The way you present your home can have a big impact on how somebody feels when they walk in.
Here are 9 key things you can do to prepare your house for sale:
1.) Fix Major Issues
2.) Small DIY jobs
3.) Remove All Rubbish
4.) Clean Thoroughly
5.) Make Your Home Fresh
6.) Make It Realistic
7.) Put Away Your Valuables
8.) Don't Forget The Outside
9.) Be Prepared For Questions
This post is all about how to prepare your house for sale.
1.) Fix Major Issues
You may be wondering if it’s worth your time fixing things up in your house given you’re selling it anyway.
However, you should put yourself in the buyer’s shoes and think what you would want when purchasing a home. Would you really want to buy a house that’s mould-infested with broken windows?
Whilst you definitely don’t need to fix up everything in your house, you should definitely make sure to fix the basics. This includes anything related to:
Household Utilities
Make sure the plumbing/gas, electrics, and water system are all working correctly. These are all essential.
Health and Safety
There should not be anything in your house that could be hazardous. This includes broken glass windows, mould-infested rooms due to damp/leaks, pests, or anything which could cause harm to somebody else.
If you're interested in how certain things in you house could be hazardous, you can view the Govt.'s housing health and safety rating system. Whilst this is very detailed, Appendix III (pg. 23) focusses on health and safety hazards.
If you decide not to fix the major things, you’re essentially putting the buyer in a situation where they’re going to have to fix all these issues when they move into your property. This means they could either:
- offer you a much lower price for your property, as they know it’s going to take a chunk out of their budget to fix all these issues
- Not even bother purchasing the property given it’s too much hassle for them to take on moving and fixing up a property
That’s why you want to make it as easy as possible for the buyer to say yes to purchasing your home. Having a bunch of issues just makes it a lot harder for them to say yes.
2.) Small DIY Jobs To Prepare Your House For Sale
Once you’ve fixed all the major things, there may be a few odd jobs here and there that you might want to do to make your house look a bit nicer. These include things such as painting over marks on the wall, straightening a wonky shelf, fixing a dent in a cupboard etc.
Whilst these aren’t essential to do, they can be relatively quick and cheap to sort out and can help show the house is in tip top condition.
What not to fix when selling a house
What not to fix when selling a house includes cosmetic issues and things which are based on your personal preference. For example, you might think your wall needs to be painted a different colour. However, prospective buyers might have a completely different idea of what they think looks good!
If the odd light bulb or screw has broken, you don’t need to fix this if it doesn’t significantly impact on how your property looks. However, if all the lightbulbs have gone and you can only view the room in complete darkness, then you should definitely get that fixed!
If you love DIY, you may want to jazz up your house even further, such as building additional shelves, hooks on the back of doors etc. However, this is completely optional and you should only add things of value or convenience to the house.Adding a hook to the back of the door can come in very handy but painting a wall bright green doesn't add any value and comes down to personal taste.
3.) Removal All Rubbish
When people are coming to view your house, you really don’t want to have piles of smelly rubbish lying around. Whilst this may not be a deal breaker for some, you want to make the environment as nice as possible.
If there is rubbish or clutter lying on the floor, you may end up making your rooms look less spacious. People value space so you want to make your house look as open and spacious as possible.
If you also have lots of clutter, you should consider decluttering for the exact same reason. Your clutter could make your rooms look half the size! If you need help with this, you can view our post on the best way to declutter before moving.
4.) Clean Thoroughly
Now that you’ve removed all the rubbish, you want to make sure your house is clean. The issue with not cleaning is it gives off the impression your house is not well looked after.
This is then associated with a whole host of issues, including mould, dust mites, pests etc. You want to reassure your viewers that they don’t have to worry about any of this when purchasing your house and cleaning is one way to do that.
Places that you should not forget to clean are:
- Toilet seats
- Showers/shower head
- Sinks
- Washing machine dispenser draw
- Dishwasher
- Oven
- Extractor fan
- Microwave
- Fridge/freezer
- Put dirty dishes away
- Don’t leave dirty washing lying around
- Clean up pet food/pet toys. Remember, not everyone likes pets !
- Dust behind sofas/furniture
- Skirting boards
- Inside wardrobes
You'll also want to make sure you do a thorough hoover and mop the floors.
People tend to take extra note of the kitchen and bathroom so pay extra attention to these areas. Viewers may also want to open up your oven, dishwasher etc so that’s why you should make sure you’ve covered everything on the list above.
It’s extremely important to remove dust as the last thing you want is for people to start coughing or sneezing when they walk around your house. Whilst you may be used to your environment and it doesn’t affect you, somebody else might be extremely sensitive to dust.
They may not want to purchase your home if they think it’s filled with allergens that they’ll end up reacting to once they move in.
5.) Make Your Home Fresh
There is nothing better than walking into a nice, fresh smelling home that’s clean and bright. Some key things you can do to help make your home look nice and fresh are:
- Opening the curtains and blinds to make your home look bright
- Air your home by opening the windows
- Use air freshener, although be careful not to spray too much. You don’t want to make the smell overpowering!
- Put clean sheets on the bed. Yes, your old sheet can smell to somebody else and you may not even realise
- Fresh towels in the bathroom. Damp towels can leave a horrible musty smell
- Freshly cut flowers on the kitchen table
- Try to avoid cooking meals which smell strongly or leave a lingering smell the next day that is difficult to get rid of
6.) Make It Realistic
Whilst your home may be nice and tidy, people also want to get a feel for what it’s actually like living there. Turn on your TV/be willing to turn on your appliances so people can see everything is working.
Showcase the furniture within your house rather than leaving it untouched. For example, seeing a wardrobe with clothes in it, gives you a much better sense of what you could fit in there, compared to seeing an empty wardrobe. All of these things will help prepare your house for sale.
Remember to also be careful about stuffing your belongings inside a cupboard. Some house viewers will want to open cupboard/wardrobe doors, especially if the items are staying in the house. Make sure nothing falls out on top of them when they open these up!
7.) Put Away Your Valuables
Keep in mind that you’ll have strangers walking around your house and some may even want to take pictures or videos of the property to remind themselves later. Make sure you lock any confidential information or valuable items away.
The last thing you want is for something to go missing, break, or it to end up in somebody’s video!
8.) Don't Forget The Outside
Whilst you’re busy getting the inside of your house ready, don’t forget people will also want to view the outside of your property. In fact, your front garden/driveway will be the first thing that people see before they step into your home.
You want to make sure that this is all nice and tidy too. Fix any broken paving stones, gates, tidy up any overhanging trees/leaves, get rid of any weeds, and make sure there is no rubbish/dirt in the way.
If you have a garage or garden shed, you should also make sure these are clean and tidy as your viewers will most likely want to have a look round.
9.) Be Prepared For Questions
When someone is about to spend a large chunk of money to purchase a property, they will likely have a ton of questions to ask before they make their decision.
You can view our ultimate house viewing checklist to get a sense of the type of questions that prospective buyers may ask you.
The most important thing is that you’re honest. Don’t hide problems and if you don’t know the answer, say you don’t know. Don’t make it up.
Being dishonest can cause you serious problems further down the line. The truth will always come out so you might find a.) the sale of your property falls through or b.) you could end up in legal trouble if the contracts have been signed and it later comes out that you lied about something in your property.
And that’s it! You've reached the end.
This post was all about how to prepare your house for sale.
If you found this helpful, you can view our upcoming content on our coming soon page to see what's next !
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