If you are downsizing you have probably lived in your home for a while, you have created lots of memories – good and bad. You have become used to it and all it’s little quirks – the tap that drips, the cupboard door that doesn’t close properly so you have to wedge it shut with some card. They are little things and you are comfortable with them, your home is like the well worn pair of slippers you gratefully put on when you get in at night. Nothing wrong with that – until you come to sell. Why is that? The problem is that a prospective buyer will come in and notice those little things. They might be little but they can add up and the totality may put buyers off. So time to take off the rose tinted spectacles and put your nosey buyer’s hat on. Here are a few things to look out for.
Maintenance
Walk round your home, including the exterior, with a notebook and pen and really scrutinise your home as if you were a buyer. I recommend doing this with a trusted friend and give them permission to be brutally honest. Make a note of all the things you notice that need attention. Examples are scruffy paint work, dripping taps, broken handles, double glazing units that have “blown” and include all those things that you already had on your mental or physical “to do” list.
Space
If you have ever watched any of the property programmes you’ll probably have noticed how often the participants comment on the space, whether they include a sense of space on their wish list or they comment that the property feels small or feels spacious. Many people struggle to visualise whether it is when they are viewing or assessing a property from a floor plan. So consider the space in your property and ask yourself how you can maximise it. Is there any furniture that you can remove either permanently or temporarily. Are there things on the floor that can be put away. Even reducing the number of ornaments or changing window treatments can make a difference to how spacious a room feels.
Purpose
I referred above to the difficulty people can have visualising. This applies also to the concept of purpose. Does each room in your home have a clear purpose so that a buyer entering the room immediately knows what it is meant to be used for. This is one reason why empty properties can be difficult to sell. It may seem obvious and you might think that it doesn’t matter how a room is presented because a buyer will use a room for whatever they want to use it for. However, making it easy for buyers to see how they would live in your home is key. So if a room is a bedroom, for example, present it as a bedroom (and as a double bedroom if it is meant to be a double bedroom) not as an office or storage room. In an open plan space the equivalent is zoning i.e. creating clearly defined areas for different purposes.
In summary, when selling approach your property from the perspective of the buyer do all those little repair jobs, create a feeling of space and give each room a sense of purpose. Want some more tips? Download my 10 Top Tips For Selling Your Home. For further information or an informal chat, call me on 07745 876182 or email me at info@homestyle4u.com. I cover Wirral, Cheshire and the North West.