Today – 8 top tips when selling your home
There’s no single correct way to sell your home, but there are many methods that can make the process more streamlined – and plenty of avenues that you may not be aware of. Here are eight top tips:
8 top tips when selling your home
1) Make everything great:
Repairs, redecorations and minor renovations should be tackled in advance of the sale. The home should be inviting but not overbearing, and tidy but not sparse and cold. Make minor repairs to annoyances such as loose and broken tiles, and dripping taps. Give walls a lick of paint if necessary and spruce up the garden – create a good first impression that shouts to the visitor: “you won’t regret it if you buy my house”.
2) Create space:
As well as making the home look good, make it look bigger. A little photo manipulation can help when staging the property, but moving furniture so that the rooms appear spacious and give the viewers a chance to picture their own items in place could work wonders. Anything that looks old, out of place, broken or ugly should be de-cluttered.
3) Be careful with pricing:
As Money Supermarket states, the house price market is a mass of contradictions as it’s measured using different data sources. Sometimes house prices are rising and sometimes they seem to be falling, depending on who you believe. Therefore, taking the media into consideration when preparing an analysis of house prices is important but not set in stone. Some people advise asking three agents and going for an average of their valuations.
4) Consider online selling:
If you want to save a lot of money then online sales are the way to go – they’re cheaper, and often faster as well. The fee to sell a home using a high street agent is typically around £4,000 plus VAT, compared to around £500-£750 for an online agent. An agent who charges a low, flat fee, and has gained good online reviews should be paramount.
5) Utilise social media:
If you have Facebook, Twitter or other social media accounts you have access to free publicity – so why not use it? Don’t bombard people, but do encourage friends or followers to share this new property, with links to relevant sites. Twitter can be tailored, using hashtags, to potentially find more receptive eyeballs.
6) Stay away…when necessary:
We all know how annoying it can be when shop assistants follow you around a store offering help when you don’t need it, and there isn’t really any difference when it comes to homes. Potential buyers need space to look around, from top to bottom – they’ll ask questions if and when they want to know more.
7) Prepare the home – ‘cakes and coffee’:
if you can successfully create the illusion of the visitor imagining themselves happily living in the home, then you’ve made an important psychological start in convincing them to make an offer. Smell is as important as sight; scented candles, bread in the oven, fresh flowers, and coffee can all help.
8) Be confident
There’s never been a better time to sell your home. The internet and therefore the proliferation of property search engines and online estate agents, plus digital photography and the ease with which you can market yourself for little cost, are all on your side. Be quick when answering queries from agents and potential buyers and do your research, and your home will hopefully sell itself.
8 top tips when selling your home is a collaborative post