SELLING YOUR HOME
Selling your house or flat in these difficult times requires all the effort and attention to detail you can muster. Some guidance might help.
MY 10 TIPS
1. Get your paperwork ready
Before you intend to put your house on the market, make sure you have collected all the relevant paperwork, including the certificate for boiler maintenance and guarantees for any equipment.
2. The time to sell
Obviously, you need to put your property on the market when it looks at its best. And if your house has a beautiful garden, it makes sense to sell in spring or summer when it is at its peak.
Equally, if your home would suit a family, avoid launching it during school holidays when parents tend to go away.
3. Invest in good photographs
Today we are living in a digital world. Often buyers have made up their mind about your house before even stepping through the front door. One single picture will have fired their imagination.
It is important to point out that you are selling a Life Style. That means taking a modern approach, like capturing the way the light falls into the kitchen, or encapsulates the outdoor space.
4. Timing is key
If possible, make your scheduled viewings at the time of day when your
home is looking at its best. It might be when the natural light is the most beautiful, but also when the traffic outside is at its quietest! If its during rush hour and someone is stuck in traffic for an hour before getting to you, he or she will not be in the most open-minded mood .
5. Make the viewing as enjoyable as possible
A welcoming smile. If it is raining, offer to take their coats and umbrellas, and it might be a good idea to have disposable shoe covers available so they don’t have to walk around, possibly barefoot.
6. First impressions count
It means moving the dustbins into the garage, and parking the car elsewhere
no matter how proud of it you are. People tend to gravitate around like-
minded others. Your brand new Tesla or your “White Van” could be a turn
off .
7. Colours
Your taste for bright coloured walls might not be someone else’s taste.
A simple coat of natural colour paint can resolve it at a minimum cost.
8. Ditch the clutter
Generally, people’s eyes tend to hone in on details and lose sense of the bigger picture. All the nicknacks you collected on your foreign holidays, the presents granny has given you since you were a child, or your collection of vintage dolls, will detract the viewer.
Now is the time to de-clutter, and take a trip to your favourite charity shop.
Make sure to tuck away cleaning stuff, dish cloths, cables etc …
9. Scent
Forget the old trick of “freshly baked bread and coffee”. No one falls for it.
Use scented candles instead. Not only do they smell good, but they bring warmth and atmosphere to a place. And a vase of fresh flowers makes a room smile.
10. Agents and Lawyers
Hiring an estate agent because he charges less than his competitors, or a “cheap and cheerful” lawyer, is definitively a false economy. You only get what you pay for.
The longer a transaction takes, the more likely it might fall through.
And when all is said and done, you only need to find one person who feels your house can become their Home.
BONNE CHANCE