In the current property market, you need to work extra-hard as a home seller to get close to your dream sale price. Here are five sure ways to sell your home’s appeal to buyers.
1. Let go of your property
Letting go of your home starts as soon as you put it on the market. This means handing over the sale to your agent and trusting them to act in your best interests. This can be hard to do, particularly if you are very attached to your home. But stepping away makes it easier to come to clear financial decisions about the sale.
On this point, steer well clear of open homes. People may be turned off if they feel they are a visitor to your home and not a potential buyer.
2. Neutralise your interiors
When people come to a viewing, you want them to start mentally moving in straight away. This means decluttering, removing all personal items, particularly family photos. Your aim is to turn your home into a neutral space that appeals to a wide range of buyers.
By seeing your home as a product and presenting it as such, you stand to increase the pool of potential buyers who can imagine themselves living there. This in turn will increase competition between them, and gives your agent valuable negotiating power.
3. Create a comfortable viewing experience
If you are selling in winter, ensure your home is heated and welcoming. If you have a fireplace, always put it on. In summer, make sure your interiors are cool and provide water so viewers will stay for longer.
If your home is particularly pleasant at a certain time of year – for example, it receives lots of winter sunlight – time your sale accordingly. Ideally, buyers shouldn’t even notice feeling warm or cold when they view your home. Between 22 and 26 degrees Celsius is the perfect temperature. This may increase your bills slightly during the marketing phase of your sale, but it will be worth it.
4. Provide as much information as possible
Buyers will start the search for homes online. They will then view ones that they like in person, and often return to the internet to look up more details afterwards. These may include room sizes, local schools and property features.
Anything that boosts the appeal of your home, including lovely photos, information about fixtures and finishes, and attractions in the local area, should be included for buyers in marketing material and the online advertisement.
5. Appoint a local agent
Buying a property through an ‘out of area’ agent can be great. However, for sellers, it’s always worth listing your property with someone who has experience selling homes in your suburb. Not only will they have a good idea of the potential sales price, they will also know who is looking to buy in your area, and what they want. When it comes to preparing your property for sale, they will know what you need to do in advance to appeal to your particular buyer pool.
Appointing a local agent has another advantage: when potential buyers come to view your property, your agent will be able to talk knowledgeably about what makes the area unique, and answer any questions buyers may have with authority.
Talk to us
As inner-Sydney specialists, we would love to talk to you about how to achieve a great sale price in the current market. Please get in touch today for a no-obligation chat if you are thinking of selling your home and would like to find out more about what the buyers on our database are looking for and how we can help you.
