Although selling your family home can be a highly emotional experience, it’s essential to approach the process as pragmatically as possible.
When it comes to making your home more appealing to buyers, there are a number of steps that you can take to catch buyers’ eyes and potentially increase your home’s sale value.
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It’s all about kerb appeal
They say that first impressions count, and that’s certainly true for property. The view that a potential buyer gets of your property can strongly influence whether they decide to proceed with a viewing, so enhancing kerb appeal is in your interest.
Renovation tips for improving your home’s kerb appeal include:
- Repairing or replacing fences or dividers if needed
- Repaving or resealing driveways
- Upgrading frontages, including facades, doors and windows
- Repairing or replacing roof tiles
- Painting and/or rendering a property’s exterior
Cosmetic improvements
Large scale structural improvements are in general best avoided when a property is being prepared to be sold off, as these can result in overcapitalisation, and you may not recoup the costs. On the other hand, cosmetic improvements can be tremendously effective in improving the presentation of your home—and in turn, buyer interest.
Cosmetic renovation tips for improving your property’s buyer appeal include:
- Repainting and re-plastering where required
- Polishing floorboards or installing new carpets
- Replacing or repairing old window panes, doorframes and other woodwork
- Updating tap-ware and fixtures, cupboard and drawer handles, and doorknobs
- Replacing curtains and blinds
- Repairing or replacing electrical or air conditioning systems as needed
A word to the wise: when updating the cosmetic aspect of your home, it always pays to be mindful of the “keep it simple” principle.
Potential home buyers can easily put off a home by something as minor as disliking a colour scheme, which is why it pays to opt for neutral colours and simple, unfussy textures. White cabinets, cool-toned walls, plain tiles and carpets and visually simple bench-top textures can be hugely visually appealing to buyers and can increase the demand for your property.
Go green
Today’s home buyers are increasingly mindful of their environment impact. Environmentally friendly updates can also save a potential buyer a large amount of money in outgoings down the track, so buyers have twice the reason to be interested in being eco-friendly. Green options are also a great way to modernise a property without having to sink in a large amount of money.
In fact, for many of these options, government rebates are available, helping you to recoup costs quickly and easily.
Some options for greening your home include:
- Installing energy efficient appliances
- Installing energy efficient windows
- Installing aerators on all household taps
- Improving your home’s insulation rating
- Installing a thermostat in your home
- Installing solar panels
- Using hardy grasses and plants in the garden
Larger scale improvements
Although you don’t want to overcapitalize by investing in large scale renovations, you should consider having your property inspected by a professional property surveyor and undertaking any suggested improvements. This is because many potential buyers will employ a surveyor to assess a property’s structural soundness, and if the property is found wanting, the sale may fall through, or a lower price may be negotiated. Generally, the cost of making these improvements beforehand works out to be far cheaper than doing so after.
Bearing the above renovation tips in mind when preparing to sell your house can be a great way of making your property more appealing to buyers and to encourage a higher sale value.
Author Bio: Domus Homes offers professional and high quality home renovation, home building and home design services. Contact us for more information!
