How to prepare your home for sale?

Before you put your house on the market, spend some time giving it a little TLC. Making sure your home looks good could make it appeal to more buyers.

And it’s not just attracting them – potential buyers may be extra critical and notice every small defect, so the less they have to complain about, the more your home could appeal to them.

To ensure a smooth sale, entice buyers to pay a premium price and to maximise your property’s potential, follow these steps:

Ensure your yard or outdoors are pristine

When potential buyers stop in front of your home, you want them to love what they see and that starts with how the property and overall surrounds are presented.

Is your garden or your outdoors area inviting? If not, consider giving it a mini makeover. Also check that your lawn is mowed and weeded. When it comes to selling your home, landscaping and gardening is one of the features that has the best return on investment dollar for dollar.

Curb appeal is one of the strongest features, because if a potential buyer loves the outside, they’re already positive about the home before they’ve even set a foot in the door.

Present a great facade

First impressions count, and people are going to see the outside of your home first. So check that it looks good from the street.

Small touches can make a big impact so clean the walls or repaint them if necessary. Also check that any outside stairs, railings and awnings are clean and in good condition.

Use neutral colours with accents and picture how the home will look in various light conditions. For example, are there outside lights?

Fix any maintenance issues

Once the outside of your home is immaculate, focus on the interior. First fix any maintenance issues like leaking taps, dirty walls and carpets. Make sure the doors and cupboards are on their hinges.

Next, consider whether your home needs to be repainted. If you have strong colours, or peeling and faded paint, repainting your home could increase its value.

Tip: if you do repaint your home, don’t rehang all your paintings – only hang a few of your best pieces.

If your home is more than 20 years old, you could ask for expert advice on your kitchen and bathroom fittings and whether it will be cost-effective for you to replace them with modern fittings.

The better your home looks, the less you’re likely to turn off interested buyers or have them start negotiating the price. So consider using professionals like a styling and refacing consultant, or Aurora Living.

Make your home appealing

Once the maintenance and renovation items are sorted, you need to consider your belongings.

First remove as much clutter as possible and put it in storage. Clutter makes a room look small, and your goal is to make the rooms look spacious.

Only leave those items that will add to the atmosphere you want to create – be that cool and breezy on a hot summer’s day or warm and sunny on a cold winter’s day.

Small touches can make a big difference and you want to appeal to all the buyers’ senses. Check the lights, the ambience and the ventilation.

Don’t forget about scent – on days people come to see the home, make your home more appealing by cooking cinnamon and orange in winter, or spraying lemongrass scents in summer.

Hire a professional property stylist

Instead of doing everything yourself, why not let a professional make your home look fabulous?

A property stylist knows what buyers are looking for and can create the right ambience to make your home stand out.

They also style homes with photographs in mind and if your home looks good online, it might draw more potential buyers.

Stylists can also create the right look. For example, if your home is in a trendy suburb, the stylist can dress your home in the hottest new furniture choices and colour trends to attract trendy buyers.

Although maintaining and staging your home could cost you several thousand dollars, the boost to your sales price could be much more than the costs.

Pest and building inspetions

This is recommended especially for older style homes. This will pick up and major underlying issues that may have to be rectified before placing your home on the market.

Aurora Living

If getting your home ready sounds like a daunting task, consider outsourcing it to the experts. At Aurora Living we can expertly handle all these issues and more for you.

We have years of experience in making the right choices to minimise your costs and maximise your value. We’re supported by a vast network of suppliers that can provide whatever needs to be done – whether that’s repainting your home or providing furniture to stage your home.

Our highly experienced staff will manage the process from start to finish. They’ll use your makeover budget to achieve maximum impact and appeal.