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Are you planning to sell your house in the real estate market? If yes, then you have work to do to ensure you get potential buyers fast. Moreover, you also have to ensure that you get the real value of your house by selling it at a high price. The most important thing to do is to prepare your house for sale.
Preparing your home for sale entails a lot of work. You need to keep the house clean, perform inspections, appraisals and negotiate for the best price. Therefore, you need to take time to make sure that it is ready for the market. This article offers you a comprehensive guide on how to prepare your property for the market.
Why Do You Need To Prepare Your Property For Sale?
Makes Your House Sell Fast and Reduces Marketing Costs
It is necessary to prepare your property to make it appealing to potential buyers thus getting you a faster sale. Buyers always look for a good-looking home when searching for a home to buy. As a result, you have to make your home look as attractive as possible so that the potential buyers can see its full potential. This also allows them to picture themselves living in a clean house.
With a well-prepared house, you will get better offers and a faster sale because of the improved curb appeal. Since your home attracts potential buyers quickly, it also means you save on marketing costs.
Helps Your House Gain a Competitive Edge Over Others
When you prepare your house well for sale, it gains a competitive edge over others listed for sale in your area. During pre-purchase inspections, prospective buyers compare listed properties based on their conditions. Potential buyers like buying a house that will not require them to do a lot of work afterwards. They do not want to perform repairs after buying a house as this results in unnecessary extra costs.
To Meet the Set Market Regulations
Depending on your area, there are set regulations on how to list your property for sale in the market. You cannot list a home that is in poor condition. Always keep in mind that if you list a home that is not up to the standards set, it may take longer before you can find buyers willing to consider it.
Therefore, you need to prepare your home to ensure it is up to the standards set in the market. You can ask professional real estate agents or Building Inspectors to give you advice on the requirements your property should meet to be allowed to be listed for sale in your area.
How To Prepare Your House For Sale
It is good to give yourself a few weeks to prepare your house before trying to sell it to prospective buyers. The time it takes to prepare your home is determined by the amount of work that needs to be done. Here are some of the ways that you can prepare your house for sale.
Perform All the Necessary Repairs
One of the most important things to do is to perform all the necessary repairs. You need to do all the minor and major repairs to make your home more appealing and functional. Carry out a thorough house inspection to check all the areas that need to be repaired. You should check the roofs, floors, windows, doors, plumbing, kitchen, and bathrooms.
If you are not sure about the areas that need repair, you can consider hiring a professional to perform a pre-listing home inspection. This is a more comprehensive home inspection that details all defects and issues that need repairs before you list your property.
Declutter Your House
When listing a home for sale, it should be free of clutter. Thus, you need to ensure you remove all the clutter from your home. It may be challenging for potential home buyers to view the home when there is a clutter of personal items and pieces of furniture. Note that with a lot of clutter, your space may also look small, making the home unattractive to prospective buyers. With a clutter-free property, the buyers can focus on the space instead of its contents.
You do not have to throw away the items you remove from your space. Go through your cabinets, closets, and drawers and give away all the items you no longer need or use. Depersonalize your home by removing all personal content like artwork and photos. The main goal for decluttering your space is to make your space look neat and more spacious to attract more potential buyers.
Repaint and Touch Up the House
You can also prepare your home for sale by adding a coat of paint to the walls. This helps freshen your rooms leaving your property looking new. Ensure that you touch up all the dirty and smudged parts, including the door frames, doors, window sills, and baseboards. Moreover, applying a fresh coat of paint makes your property look clean and full of potential.
However, as you do the repainting, ensure that it is not overboard since the new owner might want to do an overhaul of the current paint.
Improve Your Property’s Overall Curb Appeal
Your property’s curb appeal determines the experience you have when selling your home. Take a walk around your home and check its exterior. If the home looks too plain or messy, you should invest more into sprucing it up before you can list it for sale.
You can improve your home’s appeal by mowing, edging, and trimming your property. Weed the garden to make it more appealing. Remember that potential buyers will first see your home’s exterior. They develop the first impression out of what they see. If the lawn, garden, and other parts make your home’s exterior look great, getting potential buyers will be easy-peasy.
Clean All the Rooms
Once you have done all the other tasks, you need to deep clean the rooms. You can hire professional cleaners to provide you with super detailed results. Make sure all the grout is scrubbed and all the dashboards are thoroughly hand washed.
If you decide to do the cleaning yourself, make sure you do it thoroughly to leave your space spotless. Make sure to clean all the appliances, closets, and drawers inside and out. They may not be at the display, but potential buyers will definitely inspect them when doing the inspection.
Apply the Final Touches
Finally, you should add finer details to make your home more competitive in the market. You can add some flowers in the bathroom or sitting room to freshen the air and add a smart welcome mat at the main entrance to make the potential buyers feel welcomed. You can also set the table with cloth napkins, a runner, and a full set of dishes to make the home more attractive to the buyers. These are some of the touches that make your house stand out from others listed for sale in the market.
Check for small issues such as peeling paint or an unkempt garden. Ensure that you focus your eyes on the large problem areas that can affect your potential buyer’s offer. Some of the issues to check for include lack of insulation or roofing issues. If you are unsure of what you need to do to make your home look nice, you can ask for advice from different property managers who have knowledge on what potential buyers focus on and tips to help sell your property at a higher price.
How To Improve The Value Of Your House
The main goal of doing the home preparation is to make sure that your property finds buyers fast and sells at a high price. Since your home is an investment, you should make sure you get a good return on the investment. Therefore, as you prepare your house for sale, it is also essential to ensure you do things that can enhance its value.
Here are some of the ways you can improve your property’s value during the preparation process.
Upgrade or Install a Heating System
One of the ways you can make your home more attractive to buyers is to install a heating system. Most buyers will find the home more attractive as a functioning heating system makes it comfortable to relax during cold weather conditions. With a heating system, you can be sure that your home will attract willing buyers who are ready to pay a high price for it.
Double Glaze the Windows
One of the factors that most home buyers consider when looking for a home to buy is energy efficiency. They will focus on homes with more energy efficiency. One of the ways you can improve energy efficiency in your home is by installing double glazed windows as opposed to conventional window fittings. Double glazed windows are easy to maintain and also keep noise out.
Install or Upgrade Essential Appliances
Buyers are always attracted to homes with essential appliances. Kitchens act as a core point that most potential buyers pay attention to during pre-purchase inspection. You can improve your home’s value by installing and upgrading some of the essential appliances in your home. Invest in professional and stylish appliances to give your home a competitive edge in the property market.
Build an Extension
This is a more expensive option, but it can offer the biggest return on your investment. Building a loft conversion or extension can help your home give a good return on your investment. Before you build an extension, ensure that you get permission from your local council.
Install Energy-Efficient Lighting Fixtures
Another thing that increases the market value of a house is the presence of more energy-efficient lights. You can change the traditional lightings and install LED lights, which consume less energy. These lights also give the house a contemporary look and attract more potential buyers fast.
Hire The Best Pre-Sale Home Building Inspectors
Proper house preparation before listing it in the market is critical if you want to get actual value from it. If it sounds challenging, you should hire your local Jim’s Building Inspector. The professionals can help inspect your entire home and recognize all the areas that need to be retouched or repaired before you can list your home for sale. Since they have also done other pre-sale inspections, they can advise you on how to prepare your house to get quick buyers willing to buy your home at a higher price.
