Selling your Property – How to Present to Potential Purchasers

 by: Allison Thompson

When you are deciding to sell your property it is always an idea to make the property a potential purchase too as many buyers as possible. One of the best ways of doing this would be to present the property as if it were a blank canvas on to which a potential buyer can stamp their own individual tastes. Below are provided a few simple rules which should help you when to obtain that potential sale of your property without too much effort or cost to yourself.

1. De-Clutter

Wherever possible try and depersonalize the property as much as possible, such as putting away any photographs that you have of yourself and your family and try only to leave out a few essential items on show in each room, which will hopefully still show the property as a family home, but will give the illusion of space. Also if possible try only to have a select number of pictures/paintings on the walls; this will also help to give the illusion of space in a room.

2. Smells

An idea that some people say helps when they have people in to view their property is to make it smell homely. They suggest that you either have freshly baked bread or coffee that has just been brewed in the kitchen. However, if you don’t have time to do this then just ensure that you make the rooms smell as nice as possible, there are number of good quality plug in air fresheners on the market that will provide a pleasant smell to the potential purchaser when entering your home.

Also if you have pets then make sure that wherever possible you have been able to neutralize the smells that they produce. You should remove their bedding from the house before a viewing starts and purchase a good quality air freshener that will eliminate the smells.

Finally, if you are able to arrange for your carpets to be cleaned, either professionally or hire a carpet cleaner (these can be rented from most supermarkets and dry cleaners now day at a very reasonable cost).

3. Colours

If you are able to, keep the colours of the house as neutral as possible, this will help to make the rooms look both larger and brighter. Unfortunately bright colours and dark colours although may be too your taste may not be the preferred option of your potential buyer. Also by having a neutral colour scheme throughout the property you are able to provide your potential buyer with a blank canvas onto which they can stamp their own preferred styles.

4. Cleanliness

It is always good to ensure that your house looks and smells clean. People when viewing a property have a habit of sometimes looking everywhere in the property (this includes cupboards, drawers, toilets and baths). Always make sure that you toilet is clean and that if possible a toilet block has been placed in it, which will not only clean the toilet after each flush but also make the room, smell nice. If you find you have limescale around the taps, the bath and the toilet, make sure that this has been removed (there are a large number of products on the market which would be able to assist you with this matter). It also helps the potential buyer to see that you have maintained the property well.

Any wood surfaces should be either wiped down with a damp cloth or polished to remove any dust from the surface. Also the same should be done for any items such as TV’s and Entertainment centers including the stands that they are sat on.

Windows wherever possible should be cleaned and a good way of getting clean windows if you do not want to pay a window cleaner is to fill a bucket with warm water and vinegar. Use a cloth to wash the windows in the water and vinegar and then use newspaper to wipe the water off. You will find that this leaves your windows streak free.

5. Exterior of the Property

One of the first things that you should make sure always looks good is the front entrance to your property as this is the first thing that a potential purchaser will view when approaching the property. Therefore ensure that you keep the front of the property clean and well maintained. The more kerb appeal your property has the more likely a potential purchaser will be keen to enter the property to view it. If you have any plants at the front, ensure that any dead ones have been removed, the lawn is kept neat and tidy and if you should have a driveway make sure it is in good repair, potential purchasers will not want to be thinking about money they will need to spend on the property if they decide to purchase it. Many times problems like this could give your potential purchaser the chance to lower the asking price.

The rear of the property should also be shown in a clean and tidy state, make sure that the lawn is neat and well kept, and if you have a patio area keep it clean and tidy. Any pots that are broken should be removed and the same should be done with any dead plants. Make sure that any fencing is well maintained and if it is broken then replace it, a few pounds spent on keeping this in order could mean that extra money on the sale of the property.

I hope that you find the above to be of use to you when deciding to sell your property.