Presale tips to consider before selling your home

10 Aug Presale tips to consider before selling your home

Chances are if you’re considering selling your home you might have been thinking about pre sale house preparation and likely you’ve been thinking about it for a while. And why shouldn’t you? It’s a big decision. There’s something wonderful in looking at and dreaming about moving into a new home, but chances are you’ve also looked around your current place and realised there’s things that need to be done but you’re not sure where to start?

Sometimes when you look at things like the tatty front garden, that one wall that needs some paint, the cracks in the ceiling or that bit of dry rot you’ve been meaning to get fixed, getting your house ready for sale can seem like an overwhelming task. If you start breaking things down into a list of can do’s, must do’s, like to do’s and can’t do’s you can start compiling a list of the things you’re able to complete, you might need help with and elements of the home that might be better left as is.

For the purposes of this article we’re going to start from the outside in as that’s how everyone who’s looking at purchasing your home is going to approach your home. They pull up in the street (checking out the neighbourhood and other homes next door and surrounding your home) then step onto the footpath and the first thing they see is the street aspect of your home.

Landscaping

The state of your front garden (if you have one) will determine how much work needs to be done. There are certainly things that can be done to brighten up your front garden. Here’s a few ideas:-

• Smartening up garden edges or adding edges where there are none
• Adding grass seeds and fertilizer to your lawn (if there’s enough lead time to the sale)
• Adding potted colour in garden beds
• Mulching or pebbles added to a garden is a great way to neaten it up
• Don’t be afraid to remove or cut down scraggly trees or interchange them with established or fast growing replacements
• Having your driveways and footpaths pressure cleaned is a great way to make them pop (particularly if homes next door have dirty or mouldy concrete)
• Replace any missing or broken fence pails or sections
• Replace your mailbox if it’s bent, rusted or old
• Get rid of any dying or dead shrubs, plants or tree branches

Of course, some of these you will be able to to complete yourself and others you may need assistance with. Titan360 can provide you with part or full landscaping services as they’re needed.

House Frontage

The first impression someone gets from your home will be greatly made up of their reaction to the front garden and the frontage of your home. There are several things that you should probably consider about the frontage of your home that often need updating. Here’s a few areas that typically need looking at:-

• Front door – does it look ordinary, plain or shabby?Light fixtures – are they cracked, broken or need updating?
• Paint – are there any areas that need to be painted?
• Fly Screens on screen doors with rips, tears or holes (they’re also a haven for dust, dirt and grime so may need cleaning)
• Doorknobs – are they scratched, dented or old fashioned?
• Cobwebs – it’s amazing the effect brushing away a few cobwebs can make
• Gutters – are there leaking, bent or gutters that need replacing or repair?
• Eaves – are there cracks or chipped paint that requires replacement or repair?

Hallways and corridors

When potential customers open or walk through your front door, it’s your opportunity to give them an experience of imagining themselves walking into the house as if it’s their own home. An open and friendly environment with good natural light is always inviting so we can assist with helping set up your home so this can be achieved either through inviting in natural light or helping things along a little with some lighting throughout the home.

Home staging may help in this area – a simple thing like well thought out and placed photo frames can make a big difference on the impact on your home as someone walks into it. Ultimately you’re trying to get a potential buyer to imagine themselves living in this space and liking what they see.

Paint

If you’ve managed to find this article, it’s our guess you’re looking up lots of information about house renovations, remodelling and all sorts of other things you can do with your home. You would have read in many different house renovation and articles with tips about selling your house that painting walls can make a big difference.

There’s a reason so many articles mention this and it’s because a coat of paint around your home can not only make a vast difference to the overall look and feel, it can help bring your home back to more neutral colours to help with the sale (not all buyers are going to love that bright purple or red feature wall).

Cracks, Damp & Structural Issues

This one is a biggie. If you’ve got structural issues with your home, this is going to be a big turn off to any potential buyers and they will either flat out refuse to even look at your home, or use any damage as a bargaining tool to try and bring the overall price down. They will argue (and they’re probably entirely entitled to) that fixing these issues will need to be taken into consideration when purchasing the home.

If you’ve got any of these issues it’s best to consult a professional with experience (like Titan360) as we will be able to tell you the best plan of action for fixing these types of issues.

Renovations

If there are areas of your home that really need repairs or renovations it’s worth considering these well before you sell. If you’re not sure what may or may not need repairing or renovating, we’re more than happy to come to your home, conduct an audit and give you a list of items you should seriously consider before selling.

Kitchens

Kitchens are usually a pretty busy hub of the home and many people who call us are contemplating kitchen renovations. Brisbane residents will know that summer brings with it lots of BBQ’s and catch ups that focus around food so having a kitchen that’s practical but stylish is the best of both worlds. If you have any of the following issues, it might be worth considering renovation or at least repairs:-

• Cracked or broken tiles
• Old hotplates with rusted or bent coils
• Mouldy or smelly sinks and drains
• Broken cabinet handles or cupboards that don’t close properly
• Sticky draws or broken tracks
• Bad lighting – a kitchen needs enough light to prepare food properly
• Old appliances (a buyer may see these as needing potential replacement soon)

Kitchens can be expensive to renovate but in saying that, the state of your current kitchen can impact greatly on the overall sale price you may be offered and kitchen renovations can increase this considerably.

Bathrooms

This is another area of the home that tends to get focused on and there’s a reason for this – bedrooms and bathrooms sell houses. If your house doesn’t have enough bedrooms and bathrooms for a family it’s not going to be considered. This is why sometimes conversions of laundries, additional rooms or adding an ensuite to a bedroom can be a very profitable approach to selling your home.

When considering your bathroom renovations it’s a good idea to look at the age of your vanity, toilet, showers, etc and decide if you want to only repair or update certain elements (like the shower screen, toilet cistern or vanity) or if you want to renovate the whole lot (pull out everything and get a whole new bathroom). This decision will be determined by the current condition of your bathroom and we are more than happy to provide advice on this if needed.

Patios and Verandas

If you live in Brisbane, there’s a pretty good chance you love the outdoor lifestyle and often find yourself outdoors with a coffee, a meal or a friend. Australians use their outdoor areas for socialising and eating (in the warmer months) so it’s important that your outdoor area is not only inviting but has a nice outlook (again, you need to get a potential buyer to image themselves sitting out there for a meal of a coffee).

Backyard

The humble backyard is a bit of an Aussie favourite. Many a weekend is spent in the pool, playing backyard cricket, mowing and gardening or just having a cool drink in the shade of a tree. There are some simple things you can do to improve a backyard greatly – they’re very similar to improving a front yard, but there’s also a few extras you may want to think about:-

• Fertilise and water grass and add grass seeds to help plump up your lawn
• Fix or replace the clothesline if it’s bent, broken or old
• Add some screenage plants if your fence is wire or see-through
• Define the edges of your gardens
• Mulch and weed all your garden beds
• Prune and scraggly or weedy looking shrubs, plants and hedges

If there’s other areas of your home that you want to look at repairing or renovating that we haven’t listed here, please feel free to call us on 0481 536 900 or contact us and we’d be more than happy to have a chat.