3 mistakes to avoid when preparing your home for sale

Preparing your home for sale is about striking the right balance.  You want to bring your home alive in the eye of your buyers,  giving it a warmth that creates that all important feeling but also removing items that can overpower a room or unnecessarily clutter a space.

Here’s are 3 tips to help you to avoid  the mistakes commonly made when preparing a home for sale.

Mistake number 1

Its commonly known that removing unnecessary items from your home ahead of putting it on the market is important.  However all to often we see homes stripped of their personality by over enthusiastic sellers that declutter so much their homes become devoid of any personality.

When you’re decluttering keep in mind what purpose does the room want to shout out to your buyer.  If there sufficient colour and interest in the room to bring it to life for your buyer.  How does the room smell,  think bathrooms, clean and fresh, bedrooms calm and relaxing,  kitchens, light and refreshing.  Finally how is the furniture placed and have you got the right balance giving your buyer the sense of space and purpose of the room and what feeling are does the room give you when you walk in,  it it one of clear purpose and harmony.

Mistake number 2

Time and time again you’ll hear that rooms need to be neutral to sell a house,  and more often than not people turn to white.  Now I’m a huge fan of white,  but white inside a home without colour can be stark and clinical and too much white used in the garden fights with nature.

The key is to think carefully about the colour palette across your home when its time to sell.  Where possible use colour as an accent to draw buyers eye to key features of your home,  maybe its a cosy reading book or you using colour to create the feeling of tranquility within a bedroom.  Simple additions such as cushions, rugs,  towels in a bathroom introduce colour and will make your photographs and viewings come alive in a way a neutral room devoid of colour won’t.

Don’t forget garden either,  increasingly our gardens are an extension to our homes.  You don’t need to be Monty Don,  but you should give some thought to picture you are painting for buyer when they take in the view of the garden from the kitchen window or look out from the bedroom.  Is there colour and interest drawing them to want to spend time outside.

One of the key colours to harmonise your garden is the black.  Painting fences black makes your plants pop or a black bench your favourite corner of the garden can draw buyers eye and help them imagine taking a moment to enjoy their morning coffee there in the warmth of the sun.

Mistake number 3

You can’t expect buyer to see past the room or space you’re presenting to them.  If buyers could image themselves living in a property without the help of the seller guiding them, ask yourself why would housebuilders go the the trouble of creating beautiful show homes.

Now you home doesn’t have to be a show home, but what you do need to do is walk in the shoes of the buyer.  Ask yourself or even ask your nearest and dearest what is the first thing they see when they pull up to a property,  what strikes them when they walk into your hallway,  how does your kitchen make them feel.   This level of feedback is invaluable and the more you can see your property as your buyer sees it the easy it will be to help you take the right steps in preparing your home for sale.

Good luck with getting your home sale ready.

Until next time.