You’ve finally finished all your refurbishments for your ‘fixer-upper’ project and you’re ready to turn a profit on your investment. Phew! If you’re at the point where you’re ready to place your property on the market, then it’s always wise to take a look at what you could be doing around the property to increase its saleability and generate viewings – especially if you run a real estate business.
Paint throughout
A fresh lick of paint can do wonders for transforming a house. We all like to put a stamp on our homes and personalize them to our taste and that is no different for rental properties. But when it comes to selling, you need to be looking at your house with fresh eyes and creating a blank canvas for other people. A neutral color palette will work well, so stick to whites, grays and beige. You want the walls to be bright and inviting and a new coat of paint will also cover up any imperfections and scuff marks that might be there. A white coat of paint will do wonders when it comes to making the property look bigger too.
Find a local real estate agent
It may be the first time you’ve sold a property in a particular neighbourhood and you may already have relationships with realtors. However, you should research realtors in your area and find an agent that has experience of selling in the neighborhood as they will be able to achieve the best price for the house. They need to be explaining to you how they plan to market and eventually sell your property and be giving you advice on how to get your property ready for a sale.
Declutter if the house was lived in
Finding the time to declutter your living space will make a huge difference to any potential buyers. Some people find it hard to see past cluttered homes and aren’t able to visualize what the space could look like with their own furniture and belongings in. Help them to see the potential that your home has, by organizing your clutter.
Fix those little jobs
Now is the time to fix all of those snagging issues that you never got around to fixing during your refurbishment. Think of scuffed paint,dripping taps, cupboard doors that won’t close and fixtures and fittings that might be loose or missing. All of these minor annoyances can be picked up by people visiting your property and it will come across that you haven’t cared for the finish of your home. This especially applies to the roof. You may have noticed a small leak to be fixed and that is norma (it may only cost £200 to repair a roof leak), however, buyers know that a whole house can cost up to £6000 to re-roof, which would put them off the sale completely.
Tidy the garden
If you’re green fingered and proud of your backyard, then this might not apply. However, you should always be considering what a potential buyer will be looking for. Most people will be enticed by a garden or outdoor space that is well cared for and not too overgrown and unkempt. Many families will be looking for easy maintenance gardens that will be straightforward to look after.
Research houses selling nearby
Take a drive around and look at similar properties in your area, to see what the exterior of the houses look like, as well as looking on real estate websites to see what price they are being marketed at and have sold for. By looking at ones already for sale, you can see how theirs compare in terms of room size and what adaptations they may have made, such as extensions and renovations.
You will reap the benefits of your time and effort spent beforehand, which will hopefully make the whole process run a lot smoother and with any luck, wrap up a sale quicker than you anticipate.
