Finding a professional company to dress your home so that it’s ready for sale is a great way to maximize a final sale price.
If your budget allows, you will find this an excellent investment that will give you additional funds to finance your next home.
As your local real estate agent, I have seen the success that you can achieve by dressing your property professionally. I can advise you on some of the best local companies who’ll help you out.
A consultant will assess your home and then recommend and install suitable furniture, ornaments and artwork that must be rented for the duration of the sales campaign.
The homeowner must move most, if not all, of their belongings out of the house and place them in storage until they are ready to move into their next property.
But not everyone can afford this expense. So, I’ve put together a few tips to DIY the dressing of your property.
- Take out furniture – Buyers respond positively to a sense of light and space. A home cluttered with furniture will give the wrong impression. Put some of it in storage so it’s ready to be moved into your next home, sell it online or find it a good home. Overly large sofas that make a room feel cluttered should be the first to go.
- Remove photos – Personal items should be kept to a minimum. Pictures of holidays at Disneyland, and snow globes from that trip to Canada, need to be boxed.
- First impressions count – Tidy up the front yard and repaint the front door. You can make it a striking, primary colour if you want to funk it up a little. Street appeal is essential. Sometimes, prospective buyers see the front of a property and just keep driving.
- Brush work – A lick of paint will do wonders. Marks and scratches on walls disappear and give your home a fresh feel that prospective buyers always appreciate. Stick with classic, neutral colors. Unless you’re an expert, it’s best not to stray into the territory of feature walls and textured finishes as you could alienate prospective buyers.
- Put artwork on walls – Don’t go nuts and try to keep your artwork to pieces that you think prospective buyers would enjoy rather than those that are an “acquired taste” or have a special personal meaning. Bare walls make a home barren and leave a negative impression. A stunning centrepiece in the living room can have a real impact.
- Light it up – You may have noticed that all the lights are usually on during a house inspection. This is to give the property a feeling of light and space. It also means the light fittings get extra attention. So, consider updating these before we put your property on the market — consistent style of lights and switches offer a subtle but powerful tick in the box with many buyers.
- Timeless tiles – New tiles in the kitchen and the bathrooms are a cheap investment and will give the two most influential rooms in your home a quick facelift.
- Touches of class – Take your time to identify where you can make a strong impression. For example, wainscoting gives a bare wall a classic, timeless finish. It’s not suitable for every home, but it’s still a cheap and quick way to enhance the look and feel of many homes.
- Be thrifty – Contain your budget by using goodwill stores if you feel you need some specific items to make your home more welcoming, or for key pieces of furniture.
- Keep it clean – This is obvious, of course, but hard to achieve consistently during a sales campaign. Make sure you build into your schedule some additional cleaning time and make sure others in the household pull their weight.