Secrets to Making a Home More Sellable

Helping a client sell their home and worried about getting its value? If you want to maximize the value of their home, there’s a little more to it than simply putting the house on the market and hoping for the highest price.

Whether you’re selling or looking to prep your client’s house for renting, you’ll want to help your sellers maximize their home’s sellability. That means extra love and care are needed before you show it to potential buyers. The last thing a future homeowner wants to see is clutter, rooms crowded with furniture that’s seen better days, or dirty laundry or dishes in the sink.

Increasing the sellability of a home goes further, by timing house viewings as much as possible to take advantage of natural light. Check out these six design tips to make your client’s home more sellable.

Clean and Tidy

This should go without saying, but a super clean, sparkling house will do wonders for its sellability. Before you start holding viewings, instruct your client to conduct a good old-fashioned cleaning and decluttering to ensure the property is nothing less than shiny. They should store unnecessary items neatly in a garage, attic, spare room, or even under beds.

Remember, potential buyers, need to imagine themselves in the home. Don’t let them be distracted by the seller’s personal belongings and their lifestyle. Clients should do a deep clean so it looks and smells fresh, and remove anything that could be distracting to potential buyers.

First impressions are everything, so the home has to look spectacular, no matter how modest it might be.

Bright Light, Fresh Paint

Going one step further, why not advise your sellers to give the house a fresh coat of interior paint? That extra bit of love could be the difference between a sale or the house lingering on the market. Neutral, light colors are the best because they show the home in — literally — the best light.

If their property receives beautiful natural light, you’re lucky, since natural light looks beautiful without a thought. However, not all properties have good light, and if the home you’re selling is in shade or has small windows, you need to optimize for any natural light it does get.

For example, using light colors throughout creates a lighter space. Light colors reflect light, whereas darker colors absorb it, creating a darker room.

Use The Right Lighting

In addition to a freshly painted interior, you can also brighten the home in other ways. For example, placing mirrors to reflect natural light can do wonders for the brightness of a room. If the home doesn’t receive much natural light, sellers can use lamps or even fairy lights to brighten up the dimmer areas.

Time It Right

Is there a time of day when the house looks best? Perhaps the sun shines through the kitchen window in the morning. Does the sun sparkle in the living room in the afternoon? When showing off your home, you want to show it in the best light. If possible, arrange viewings at times when the home looks best, and sunshine lights up the rooms.

Despite how transformative natural light can be, many prospective buyers have to view the home in the evenings due to work. In the winter, that means darkness. To combat this, keep the lights on. Use several lamps in larger rooms, and skip the overheads — they’re often unflattering. Don’t forget to dust the lamps and the lightbulbs.

Lighting is especially important in hallways or porches for evening viewings. Buyers will see this first, and a great first impression is crucial. Add an extra lamp to make sure this area is especially bright and welcoming.

Add Some Feng Shui

If buyers want to go above and beyond to maximize their home’s sellability, advise your clients to add some love to their home by adding plants, artwork, and photos. Adding a little feng shui is a sure-fire way to make buyers fall in love with their home.

You don’t have to go crazy with it. In terms of design, Feng Shui simply means aligning a space with the flow of the natural environment. One of the best ways to incorporate this type of design into a home is by adding plants. If you have empty space that looks a little dull on its own, add plants. The small investment could pay off.

Remove Shabby Furniture

Be sure to remove any furniture that’s shabby, dirty, or torn. Tattered furniture is no way to give potential buyers a good impression. You might want to cover an old sofa or chair that’s seen better days with a bright new cover.

If the old Cali king-size bed is on its last legs, and the mattress is sagging in the middle, the bedroom will look less than inviting. Measure the room and calculate ideal bed frame dimensions and mattress dimensions, and choose the ever-popular medium-firm mattress.

Summary

So there you have it: six secrets to make your client’s home more sellable. Now you know that just that extra bit of love and care can go a long way in finding a buyer and getting the price you want for your client’s home. Here are those main points again:

• Clean and Tidy
• Bright Light – Fresh Paint
• Use the Right Lighting
• Time It Right
• Add Some Feng Shui
• Remove Shabby Furniture

We hope these design tips make a great impression on potential buyers and make your client’s property more sellable.