In addition to providing you with objective advice that enhances your homes best features, and on trend decor and furniture packages that suit the needs of your home and your budget, I consider the following top tips a ‘must’ for anyone preparing their home for sale.
You have less than 10 seconds to make a positive first impression with your home…make it count!
- De-clutter
Let’s face it, in this day and age, we all have a lot of ‘stuff’ filling our homes. From framed pictures, to souvenirs and gifts from near and far, most houses are well and truly full of treasured mementos. Anyone with children will also know how difficult it is to manage the volume of toys that they seem to accumulate year in year out.
Leaving personal items on open display can create a distraction for buyers as they view your home. Before you begin to clean, try to remove excessive personal belongings from open display while leaving some of the neutral items in place to prevent the space from appearing vacant or stark. Doing this will help create a sense of calm and space as buyers enter your home, and will help them visualize what it could be like if they were to purchase and move into your home.
2. Clean
Once you have de-cluttered your home, the hard work begins, but ask any real estate agent and they will tell you that it is worth it. Cleaning dust off all surfaces (tv units, fans, shelves, and skirting boards) can make a significant difference to the overall appearance of your home. Don’t forget to wipe down walls if they need it, and clean light switches and windowsills too. These imperfections that we grow used to living with each day can really stand out to a buyer when inspecting your home. Ensuring the surfaces and floors of your home are clean can also help remove any odors in the house, which you may not notice when living there.
Tidying is also a key aspect to cleaning. Try to have one designated space for your kids toys or your pets belongings, so that buyers experience a sense of order when viewing your property. Having these items contained to one smaller area also gives buyers the impression that your property has sufficient storage to contain these every day items, which can be a great selling point.
Having these areas contained also makes it much easier on you when doing a last minute tidy-up around the house prior to inspections or open homes.
3. Finish those jobs
We’re all guilty of leaving jobs unfinished, whether it be that single coat of paint on a door, a screw hole that we still haven’t filled in, the light bulb that needs replacing or that door that doesn’t close anymore. Take the time to go through your home, and make a list of all of those little jobs that need to be finished. Then, take a trip to the hardware, get what you need, and set aside another portion of time getting them all done. Ask your real estate agent but it’s likely that you’ll only need to have them ALL done in time for your first open home. Prioritize the jobs that will be visible in any professional photographs your getting done.
4. Function
Return the rooms in your home to their original use. You may have set up a temporary 
study at your kitchen table, or turned a guest bedroom into a space for the kids toys. It’s important that you work with the key features of your home rather than against them, so where possible, try to re-establish the purpose of these rooms. If you don’t have the furniture to do this, engage the services of a professional stylist, such as First Impressions Property Styling, to assist in the staging of these rooms so that buyers get a sense of the proportions of these rooms when inspecting your property.
5. Cohesion
Where possible, try to identify a consistent ‘look and feel’ throughout your home by selecting one primary theme or style and carrying this into each room. Try to base this style off the key features of your home, so that when buyers enter your home they are met with a feeling of order and consistency. It’s not uncommon to have pieces of furniture within the home that have great sentimental value, but clash with the features of your home or the general look and feel of other furnishings or design features. Engage the services of a professional stylist, who can provide you with advice on whether you should leave these pieces in place and work with them or if they’re best moved to a secure space while your property is on the market.
6. Let there be light
Light is an essential element to creating a bright, inviting feeling in your home. Draw back heavy curtains or open those shutters or Venetian blinds to allow the natural light into your home. This will create a fresh and open feeling in your home and will allow your buyers to see the key features of your home and any potential that it will offer them.
7. Don’t forget about outside
Living in Queensland implies that generally, we spend a lot of time outdoors. It’s important when selling your home, that buyers feel that they can enjoy a relatively hassle free, outdoor lifestyle. Getting your garden under control can also help with building and pest inspections when your property goes under contract.
To showcase your home as one that enables a carefree, outdoor lifestyle to buyers, invest some time and effort in increasing the overall street appeal and live-ability of your home through the following tips;
- remove weeds and dead plants and spray weeds in pathways and cracks around the home
- throw out broken toys, old pots and remove old building items (such as bricks, wood etc.)
- prune overgrown trees or shrubs
- pressure wash driveways and/or pathways
- mow the lawn regularly
- repaint or re-stain the front door if it needs it
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