When your property goes on the market, you need to think like a buyer to attract the right buyer. Your potential buyers will view your home and imagine themselves living there and if they don’t get the feelgood factor, they’re not going to go for it.
You need to make a great first impression right from the start – so before you even start booking viewings, make sure you have the best possible photos up on your estate agent’s website. These photos will hook in buyers and then the rest is up to you.
Here’s how you can maximise your chances of landing a great buyer without having to wait too long.
Declutter your home – hard
To you, your books, sports trophies and special pebbles from that special beach are essentials, but to a viewer, they may just look like tat and clutter. Lots of clutter will distract buyers and, well, make the place look cluttered when you want it to look spacious and airy.
You’ll have to pack everything up when you move anyway, so start off the process by packing up your non-essential items. Some items might not be totally non-essential but can still get in the way, so designate a cupboard or drawer for them and hide them away when you’re expecting viewers.
It’s also a good idea to “speak” to your target market by making your home look like “theirs”. For example, if you know the next set of potential buyers is a professional couple with no children, hide away as many toys and childcare-related items as possible.
You might need to go a bit further than small things if you have a lot of furniture. It’s important that viewers can move around in and see the space easily, so think about any chairs, occasional tables or other fixtures that get in the way and put them into storage.
Look at your lighting and colour schemes
Natural light is the best, so make sure your photos are taken on a bright day (if you can), clean your windows and change your curtains to allow as much sunlight as possible into your rooms.
You also need to think about your colour palettes – if you’re aiming at young families, warm, homely colour schemes are better than colder or metallic palettes, which would appeal more to professional buyers.
Set the stage
When you’re staging your home for viewings you need to simplify things rather than add a lot of frills and glitz. People need to see past “you” to the bones of the building so they can imagine their things and their life there.
You also need to think about the other ways in which buyers might use your spaces and rooms. Your box-spare-junk room works brilliantly for you, but someone else might want to use it as an office, a gym or a nursery, so appeal to everyone by clearing it out and showing its potential uses.
It’s also vital that your property is easy to enter, leave and move around in, so make sure that doors and hallways are free from obstructions and that the space within rooms isn’t interrupted by furniture.
