Get your home ready for a summer sale by ensuring that it looks its best
We hope that our first five tips on how to get your home summer sale-ready, as covered in part 1, were of use. Now that summer has actually arrived, here are our final five pointers.
6. Spring Summer Clean
If you haven’t already carried out the popular spring clean, then you’re too late. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t perform a summer clean! Thankfully, for most people, selling a property isn’t a regular occurrence. After all, it takes too much energy. So, as it tends to happen infrequently, it’s worth investing time and maybe a little money to get it right. And deep cleaning is one of the aspects that makes a big difference. Before you begin accepting viewings – and preferably before your estate agent arranges photography – deep clean your property. It really will pay dividends, and could even be the difference between a lower and higher offer.
7. Lighten up
Good lighting is incredibly important, so make sure that everything works. It’s easy to overlook those broken bulbs as a minor point, but as is often the case with life, it’s the small things that make a big difference. Let’s be honest, even English summers have their gloomy days – and nothing taints the aesthetics of a room like the shadowy gloom of a dull day. With good lighting, this can be avoided and your property can still shine on even the darkest and wettest of British days.
8. Lock it away
You don’t have to live somewhere for long before you start to overlook all that ‘stuff’ that you’ve accrued over the years. We hate to use the word clutter, but items that take up space and that are surplus to requirements are exactly that – even if they’ve become invisible to you. Our advice would be to take a critical eye to everything. And, if something doesn’t add value to the viewing or is taking up unnecessary space, either get rid of it entirely (shedding items can be cathartic for many during the moving process) or put it in storage. Or, if you have an attic or basement use that – but keep in mind that clutter is clutter, whatever room it’s in. And those viewing a house are likely to want to get a sense of how much storage space they will have once they’ve moved in, which will be hindered if it’s full.
9. Pet peeve
Even the most dedicated animal lovers would probably rather view a house without the lingering smell associated with animals – particularly dogs. It’s a distinctive odour that can be hard to mask. Although the deep clean will address most of it, we would advise either washing dog beds or removing them from a room entirely. Even if those viewing a property have dogs themselves, let them envisage their own pets in the property without illustrating it with beds, toys and, of course, the odours that belong to yours.
10. Prop it up
It’s summer, so flowers in rooms not only bring colour into the home, but a beautiful scent, too. It has become a cliché now, but a well-stocked fruit bowl and the smell of home baking really does project that homely feel onto those viewing your property. Anything that adds vibrancy to a viewing is welcome, and flowers certainly do that. So, if you skip the breadmaking, make sure there are flowers placed strategically around the house.
Of course, finding a good Surrey estate agent is a point in itself – but we didn’t think we needed to major on that if you’ve already found us. So, if you’re ready to sell your home this summer and need the support of a local, trusted and knowledgeable estate agent, get in touch.
Looking for a summer property partner? If so, contact your local Davies Property Partners office to arrange a valuation of your property.
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Cobham
01932 588288 -
Claygate
01372 462323 -
Hinchley Wood
0208 3980265