When selling your home, first impressions are important. They are buying more than your home; they are buying the entire property as well! From the moment they pull up in their car they are judging your property. If a potential buyer is underwhelmed before they step into your home, then you are already at a disadvantage. With not much effort, every home can be made to look attractive to prospective buyers. Your aim is to have a bright welcoming first impression.
Kerb appeal is often cited as an important factor if agents and sellers want to impress buyers and now research suggests 60% of property viewers make their minds up within one minute of seeing the outside.
A survey carried out for Barclays Mortgages in the UK found that about 44 per cent of buyers would try to knock between 10 per cent and 20 per cent off a property’s asking price if it looked unappealing from the outside. In the Irish market it may be the difference between getting your asking price and encouraging a bidding war.
Here are some tips and advice on how to make an immediate impact:
Put yourself in the buyers’ shoes:
Assess your home from the outside and be critical. Is it in as good a condition as when you bought it, better? There is nothing like a good clean driveway, clean windows and gutters, and newly painted front of building when people arrive.
Front Door Appeal :
This is invaluable it would be helpful to change the colour in line with current trends as this will show to potential buyers that the house is on trend and that you are house proud and keep the property in good order.
Tidy Lawn :
If you have a front garden be sure to have your lawns mowed and any weeds removed. Have a good clean maintained front garden. Potted plants in good condition on either side of your front door will appeal to the eye. Windows boxes can be a good attractive addition to an older property.
Back Garden Magic:
Most people have the dream of lounging in their back Garden on wonderful sunny days and sharing meals with their family and friends. People love to walk into a back garden that can be classed as another entertaining space. Why not put some work into the garden before you put your house up for sale to create a clean luxurious space that potential buyers will envisage themselves in.
This can be done quite inexpensively by just cleaning up the lawn and shrubs. It can be a great idea to source items from salvage yards etc to put a trendy spin on things. A large wooden spool for example for holding industrial wiring can be spray painted and used as a very efficient table. Things like this can be sourced a lot of times for free. Companies are only happy to get rid of them. These types of items can create charm and a lovely vintage feel to a garden and for hardly any cost. Be creative and imaginative without spending a lot.
Appeal to other senses:
It has been said that the smell of baking or freshly brewed coffee can be a draw for people. I would have to agree. You might yourself think there is nothing like getting home in the evening to something delicious cooking in the kitchen. That smell of home and comfort!!!
They will imagine themselves happily living in their new home!
