From boosting your curb appeal to creating a more welcoming indoor atmosphere, your home should be looking it’s best when attracting potential sellers. In order to sell your home faster, we have highlighted some strategies and key advice to help you best showcase your property.
The Outside – The First Impression
With nearly 90% of homeowners beginning their search online, your home should be able to give off a great first impression. In many cases, buyers are more likely to judge the book by its cover and pass over your listing if your home lacks an outdoor appeal. A few simple touch-ups to the outside will increase the amount of people wanting to come inside.
As we grow accustomed to the exterior of our homes after a while, we can become blind to some of the blemishes and imperfections others may notice. Take a walk around the exterior of your home and note any areas that can be improved. You may notice your roof could use some reshingling, areas that can use an extra coat of paint, cracks in the driveway that can need to be addressed and find areas that could benefit from more plants. After those considerations are made, give your lawn a fresh mow and your home should be picture perfect.
Pro Tip: Water your grass and garden about half an hour before your open house to make the lawn sparkle.
The Kitchen – The Heart of the Home
One of the most important components of a great showing is a beautiful kitchen. The kitchen has the power to close the deal, or make the deal fall through. Due to the importance of this room, it may require the most thought and care.
Clear out as much unnecessary clutter out of the drawers, fridge and counter as you can in order to give your kitchen the appearance of more space. Any clutter will only serve as a turn-off to prospective buyers.
Many buyers will be hyper-focused on the kitchen sink. Make sure it is rust free and looks presentable. By simply purchasing a modern faucet, you can improve the aesthetic appeal of your sink dramatically.
Pro Tip: Set the dining room table with attractive linens and dishes.
Other Areas of Your Home
Now we have the entrance of your home and the all important kitchen covered, we can now focus on the other areas of your home that can be improved. Bedrooms, living rooms, studies and other areas of the house can be improved if you follow some of the following general tips”
- Let there be light
Buyers are attracted to light and bright rooms. If you can allow any natural light into the room, look to do so. Clean the windows, open the blinds and try to find any natural ways to let the light in. Explore some other artificial light options as well to create an open, clean and natural lighting effect.
Pro Tip – Painting your walls a lighter colour will help facilitate more natural light.
- Make general updates and repairs
When sellers are given an HVAC system or an appliance they either need to repair or replace, they could use them as leverage to lowball the offer on the house. If there is any broken or outdated equipment, it can be a worthwhile investment to purchase a new one. Home buyers will definitely put a brand new appliance on the good side of their pros and cons list.
Pro Tip – People love a refrigerator with an ice dispenser.
- Tidy and freshen up the house
Of course, this step won’t be lost on anyone reading this article. Though it’s pretty self-explanatory, there are many home visitations that could benefit from a little extra tidying up.
Clear up any clutter, closet space, shelving units, or any other areas that could help make the house more clean, open and tidy. The home buyers are likely going to want to open any drawer and closet available to them. If there is any off-site location you can store extra clutter at, that would be ideal.
The best measure to ensuring your home is perfect is to welcome an outside perspective. Preferably someone who isn’t accustomed to the smell of the house and will be more likely to notice some areas that could be improved. In any case, purchasing some fresh scent plugins and giving the house a once-over will never hurt.
Pro Tip – The best outside advice you can get is from Toronto’s best real estate agent, Frank Leo.
With his guaranteed home selling system, Frank Leo has becoming the #1 real estate agent in Canada. Included in his system is a home staging consultation that is both guaranteed to wow your prospective buyers and give you many ideas to making your next home look fantastic.
Call Frank today for a complimentary property evaluation at 416-917-LION (5466) or reach him through this online contact form.