Prepared by Nick Duff, Flemings Property Services.
As the year draws to an end, for many, we look forward to a well-earned break. It’s a time spent with family and friends at home, providing you with a great opportunity to catch up on those ‘around the house’ tasks.
If you are considering a 2023 new year sale, it is a great time to get ahead and prepare your home before the busyness of another year starts up again.
Given we are in the warmer months, the new year is all about exhibiting your home’s summer living attributes, along with ensuring the standard home preparation fundamentals are met.
Here is our guide to ensure your home is ready for a successful sales campaign in 2023.
Identify pre-sale renovations or repairs
With a fresh set of eyes, walk through your property from the perspective of your ideal buyer. Although you may not normally notice the chipped paint on the wall or the loose paver out the front, prospective buyers will.
As you conduct your walk through, ensure you are piecing together a list of repairs or renovation ideas.
Break this list down in to two parts.
- What can we do on our own? Now is the time to start these tasks.
- Where do we need to engage an industry professional? It’s time to book these tradesman in.
Landscaping- Street appeal
The exterior is the first aspect of your home a potential buyer notices and passes judgement on.
It’s important to make this space inviting, particularly if selling in the warmer months.
Buyers look at landscaped areas as extensions of the home. It is a place to entertain family and friends whilst enjoying the beauty of the Hilltops Region.
See below a few easy tasks which have a big impact on the sale result.
- Weed the garden
- Mow the lawn or show your lawn some attention if need be
- Edge your walkways
- Plant new trees, hedges or flowers in areas where privacy is a concern
- Spread fresh mulch
- Clean or upgrade your outdoor furniture
- Paint your front door
- Inspect window trims and exterior surfaces, do these need patching or a fresh coat of paint?
Clean and declutter
This step is to create a flow through the property. Potential buyers want to see a blank canvas and by providing this, buyers can easily picture themselves, their family and furniture in the space.
Start by going room to room, identifying items which
- Can be re homed
- Can be packed into storage
- Or can go in the bin
By doing this step first, it makes de cluttering and cleaning your home much easier and faster.
Pay particular attention to things such as;
- Kitchen appliances- store in cupboards
- Personal items, remove items such as photo frames and children’s drawings
- Bathroom items- store in cupboards
If there is a piece of furniture which feels too large for the space, reorder the layout of furniture. Take a step back and look at the areas and flow in which you create by the positioning of those items.
Everyone loves January, fresh off the Christmas break, soul and belly full, feeling refreshed, relaxed is a word that comes to mind.
With that being said, January and the earlier months in the New Year are a great time to sell.
Buyers are actively planning for the year ahead, considering a tree change, downsizing or looking for an investment to start the year.
Over recent years, we have witnessed an increase in traffic to the Flemings website across January and February. We believe this is due to having more time over the break to view properties that purchasers are potentially interested in.
Please contact your local Flemings branch today for a free appraisal.