Selling a house in summer is relatively easy, with plenty of sunshine and a great looking garden to entice potential buyers.
Winter on the other hand, tends to make houses look incredibly drab, often making a house sale drag out longer than it should. However, with a few tweaks here and there, it is possible to speed up the sale of your home.
In this article, we cover a few of the easiest ways to present your house in the best possible light, making sure that the sale doesn’t take longer than is necessary.
Get rid of Christmas!
If you are planning to put your home on the market in January, make sure that you have taken down all your festive decorations. Potential buyers will lose interest if your decorations are still up because it will gives the impression that you didn’t even try to make your house look presentable for the sale.
Spruce up your garden
Although January isn’t a good time for flowers in your garden, there are several things you can do to make it more appealing. Give your patio a good clean, add some accessories like bird feeders, or even hanging a few lanterns with candles here and there.
Make your home look cosy
January is a time when people want to stay inside, so add a few cosy touches to your home before it goes on show. Set your heating to a high temperature, cover furniture with colourful throws and scatter cushions and add a few warm rugs to laminated floors.
Freshen up with a lick of paint
Freshly painted walls will not only make your home look bigger than it is, but it will also give it an overall clean and crisp look. Best of all, it’s cheap!
Create an illusion of space
Make sure to get rid of all clutter in your entrance hall on viewing day to avoid the space looking cramped. According to the Homeowners’ Alliance, another great idea is to hang a mirror each side of the entrance hall, since it will give visitors the illusion that the entrance is spacious and airy.
Remember, first impressions last!
Make sure that the first thing potential buyers see is a clean and tidy exterior. If your front door looks a bit tired, spend a little money on a stainless-steel house number, a new doorknob, a steel letterbox, since all these little things can give your home more eye-appeal in an instant.
Go for the right colour scheme
If the walls of your house are dark-coloured, adding a few white and cream accessories like throws and rugs will brighten the place up immediately. Stick to soft colours like beiges, whites, greys and light blues to optimise the feeling of spaciousness.
Use clever storage solutions to make your home look streamlined
Use trunks and other types of multi-purpose items in small rooms. They can be used as coffee tables as well as storage space to keep household odds and ends out of sight.
Be an amazing host
If you will be conducting the viewing yourself, you can make potential buyers feel welcome and at home by offering them a choice of a hot cup of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate to stave off the cold. Greeting potential buyers this way will have them associating your home with the warmth and friendliness they expect from a house they are interested in buying.
