Tough Love!
Mon 01 Apr 2019
Charlotte Gill BA HONS MNAEA, Director
TOUGH LOVE!
You might be thinking about putting your home on the market or you may already be struggling to sell.
You might have lived in your home for 20 years or more and it may be that your home is looking a little tired or dated.
It might be that when you move to your new home you have decided to renew virtually all of your furniture and start afresh.
Perhaps you have been working so hard for so long that your home has been left on the back burner and has taken a backward step.
You might have renewed your car four or five times in the period you have lived in your home and you might have spent a small fortune maintaining your own appearance, what with hairdresser’s costs, new clothes, shoes and possibly beauty treatments.
But what if you’ve only spent the bare minimum on maintenance on your property.
So, if your home is looking a little or a lot on the tired side – what can you do?
Don’t you want to achieve every last penny you can before you leave it behind. Perhaps you need to achieve every last penny to help you with your onward purchase.
It’s time for tough love!
If you can’t be bothered to make your home look as attractive nor or better than the day you bought it, why would anybody else find it as attractive as another property; properly maintained and cared for.
If you have fallen out of love with your home – buyers can tell.
Time to take action!
Assuming you have followed the steps in our Preparing to Sell blog and all those little jobs have been finished. You’ve deep cleaned, de-cluttered and tidied till you’ve dropped. Do you still feel you’re home looks tired? If it does – take Action!
Is it only a battered old sofa we’re talking about? Or a fireside rug with stains? Is it out of date ornaments?
If it is simple things. Get to work with rug cleaners, plump the sofa back to life and either, ditch, sell or store those ornaments.
Is it that the sofa is definitely passed it’s best. Why wait until you move to buy a new one? Could you get it now – it might make a big difference. Or buy a new rug or buy some new cushions – they’re all going with you anyway. Would new ready-made curtains make all the difference. If your windows are a standard average size you should be able to find somewhere to hang them when you move.
Is it the bedrooms that are tired looking? What about getting a new headboard now instead of later. Treat yourself to some new luxurious bedding, cushions and throws. Only put them on for the photos and viewings and pop them away for your new home. Don’t sleep in them yet.
Do you have quite individual tastes? If you do, what are the chances of a viewer having the same tastes. Simplify and neutralise and open your homes appeal to more people.
Viewers are very easily put off by something which can easily be rectified or remedied yet seem to get fixated on and can’t seem to get past and will reject a property for what can easily be sorted.
The same with smells. You may love incense sticks for instance. Your viewer may hate them. You aren’t going to leave them your burners and they’re never going to buy them, so the aroma will leave when you do – but that can be too late – the buyer has decided there is a funny smell and ruled your house out.
The key is to appeal to as many people as possible quickly so that you get the best price you can in an optimum time frame.
Perhaps your carpets are 20 or 30 years old. If they are? Can you afford to replace them with a plain reasonably priced carpet?
In these busy times when lives are being pulled in all different directions and buyers simply want to move straight in and get on with their lives. The easier you can make it for them, the easier you are going to sell. Chances are they have had to do all these things to sell their own home and don’t want to have to start doing it all again straight away.
So, if you are planning to move in the next year or so, why not start treating your home to some updating. You can enjoy the benefits immediately; help make your home more desirable and achieve a better price in the long run.
Until next time,
Charlotte