Selling
Your Property -
How to Present to Potential Purchasers
By Allison Thompson
When you are deciding to sell your property it is always an
idea to make the property a potential purchase too as many buyers
as possible. One of the best ways of doing this would be to
present the property as if it were a blank canvas on to which
a potential buyer can stamp their own individual tastes. Below
are provided a few simple rules which should help you when to
obtain that potential sale of your property without too much
effort or cost to yourself.
1.
De-Clutter
Wherever
possible try and depersonalize the property as much as possible,
such as putting away any photographs that you have of yourself
and your family and try only to leave out a few essential items
on show in each room, which will hopefully still show the property
as a family home, but will give the illusion of space. Also
if possible try only to have a select number of pictures/paintings
on the walls; this will also help to give the illusion of space
in a room.
2.
Smells
An
idea that some people say helps when they have people in to
view their property is to make it smell homely. They suggest
that you either have freshly baked bread or coffee that has
just been brewed in the kitchen. However, if you don’t
have time to do this then just ensure that you make the rooms
smell as nice as possible, there are number of good quality
plug in air fresheners on the market that will provide a pleasant
smell to the potential purchaser when entering your home.
Also
if you have pets then make sure that wherever possible you have
been able to neutralize the smells that they produce. You should
remove their bedding from the house before a viewing starts
and purchase a good quality air freshener that will eliminate
the smells.
Finally,
if you are able to arrange for your carpets to be cleaned, either
professionally or hire a carpet cleaner (these can be rented
from most supermarkets and dry cleaners now day at a very reasonable
cost).
3.
Colours
If
you are able to, keep the colours of the house as neutral as
possible, this will help to make the rooms look both larger
and brighter. Unfortunately bright colours and dark colours
although may be too your taste may not be the preferred option
of your potential buyer. Also by having a neutral colour scheme
throughout the property you are able to provide your potential
buyer with a blank canvas onto which they can stamp their own
preferred styles.
4.
Cleanliness
It
is always good to ensure that your house looks and smells clean.
People when viewing a property have a habit of sometimes looking
everywhere in the property (this includes cupboards, drawers,
toilets and baths). Always make sure that you toilet is clean
and that if possible a toilet block has been placed in it, which
will not only clean the toilet after each flush but also make
the room, smell nice. If you find you have limescale around
the taps, the bath and the toilet, make sure that this has been
removed (there are a large number of products on the market
which would be able to assist you with this matter). It also
helps the potential buyer to see that you have maintained the
property well.
Any
wood surfaces should be either wiped down with a damp cloth
or polished to remove any dust from the surface. Also the same
should be done for any items such as TV’s and Entertainment
centers including the stands that they are sat on.
Windows
wherever possible should be cleaned and a good way of getting
clean windows if you do not want to pay a window cleaner is
to fill a bucket with warm water and vinegar. Use a cloth to
wash the windows in the water and vinegar and then use newspaper
to wipe the water off. You will find that this leaves your windows
streak free.
5.
Exterior of the Property
One
of the first things that you should make sure always looks good
is the front entrance to your property as this is the first
thing that a potential purchaser will view when approaching
the property. Therefore ensure that you keep the front of the
property clean and well maintained. The more kerb appeal your
property has the more likely a potential purchaser will be keen
to enter the property to view it. If you have any plants at
the front, ensure that any dead ones have been removed, the
lawn is kept neat and tidy and if you should have a driveway
make sure it is in good repair, potential purchasers will not
want to be thinking about money they will need to spend on the
property if they decide to purchase it. Many times problems
like this could give your potential purchaser the chance to
lower the asking price.
The
rear of the property should also be shown in a clean and tidy
state, make sure that the lawn is neat and well kept, and if
you have a patio area keep it clean and tidy. Any pots that
are broken should be removed and the same should be done with
any dead plants. Make sure that any fencing is well maintained
and if it is broken then replace it, a few pounds spent on keeping
this in order could mean that extra money on the sale of the
property.
I
hope that you find the above to be of use to you when deciding
to sell your property.
Allison
Thompson now living in Spain and the partner in a small and
friendly real estate company. http://www.inlandpropertyservices.com
Article
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