How To Prepare Your Home For A Sale
Whether you’re in Victoria, Cowichan Valley, or the South Island’s Westshore communities, preparing your home for a sale takes planning and preparation. As an experienced real estate advisor, I’ve worked with hundreds of homeowners and know what it takes to make a home open-house ready. I’ve created this quick guide to help you attract better offers and get the full value of your property.
Complete a house and property scan
Before you begin planning to get your home ready to sell, take a tour of each room in your home, as well as the exterior, yard, and garage. Make note of anything that needs to be repaired—from minor issues like squeaky door hinges to major issues like a leaky roof. Jot down cosmetic issues that need attention like paint, landscaping, or refreshed flooring. Your goal is to make your home look and function at its best, giving potential buyers confidence in their purchase.
Make a plan and budget
Most homeowners want to spend as little as possible to get their homes ready to sell. Once you have identified potential repairs, it’s time to prioritize—which issues need to be addressed first, and where do you want to spend your “refresh” budget? For instance, you may not have much funding left for cosmetic upgrades if you have major structural issues. Prioritizing your home improvements will ensure that you’re addressing the issues that are most important to potential buyers.
Declutter and depersonalize
When most potential buyers enter your home, they immediately start thinking about their own families living there. To make your home inviting and enticing, it’s essential to declutter and make each room feel clean and spacious. While some personal touches are nice and add style to the space, it’s a good idea to remove family photographs, religious symbols, degree certificates, or other highly personal items. Depersonalizing your home helps potential buyers focus on seeing themselves living there.
Apply a fresh coat of paint
One of the most affordable ways to get the highest offers for your home is to apply a fresh coat of paint to the interior rooms. Painting each room in a soft, neutral colour will help potential buyers see your home as a blank canvas and move-in ready. A fresh coat of paint is also an excellent way to highlight windows, trim, crown mouldings, and other unique architectural details of your home—all features that add value and appeal.
Invest in interior design staging
An experienced staging team can use your existing furniture, fashionable rentals, or a combination of the two to create a visually appealing living space. They can arrange your furniture to give rooms more flow or remove furniture in other rooms to make them more open. Interior design staging aims to make each room and living area look as large, spacious, and functional as possible.
A picture is worth a thousand words
Quality photographs are an essential part of the home-selling process. Most prospective homebuyers use online real estate listings to search for properties before visiting an open house in person. To showcase your home and make each room appear as large as possible, your real estate advisor will work with a professional real estate photographer to take pictures of each room from multiple angles and in the best lighting. Attractive images of your home will entice potential buyers to take the next step and book a showing.
Are you getting ready to sell your home?
I understand what it takes to get your home ready for a sale—and how to present your property to get the highest possible offers from potential buyers. I work with clients in Victoria, Cowichan Valley, and the South Island’s Westshore communities to sell their single-family homes, condos, and apartment buildings. I’ll work with you to understand your goals and how to get the most from your investment. Reach out today for more information.