Speedy Tips to Boost Your Home's Value Before Listing It for Sale
As you begin to think about putting your home up for sale, moving to somewhere new for a fresh start or a new dream home, it's natural that you will start to consider how much your home is worth.
The equity that you hold in your property will help you to pay for your new home, so the higher this figure is, the higher your budget is to buy. But when estate agents estimate the value of a property, what do they consider? What affects the value, positively or negatively? If you can understand this, is it possible to hack the process and increase the value of your home before you try to sell it?
Just to be clear, you are not going to be able to take a £100k house and increase the value to £1,000,000 with these tips, but it could be possible to make a few simple changes to maximise the value that you have, making the most of what you've got and maybe eeking out the premium few thousand from your home's value.
A property's value is estimated based on various factors, such as location, size, style and interior presentation. Using similar properties on the market or sold to compare and contrast to estimate the perceived value.
It's important to understand that you won't be able to change the property's location. And it's unlikely that you'll want to invest thousands of pounds into kitchens and bathrooms for a total renovation or extension, so these tips are intended to be cheap and easy to do.
It isn't advisable to invest large sums into getting your home ready for sale; instead, you'd be better off setting the value based on the property's general condition today and using these tips and tweaks that you can do, for little or no expense, to push your sale price up a little, and every little helps.
So, what can be done?
- Little jobs - We all have those little jobs around the house that we've been meaning to get to for ages, but they don't actually cause you any trouble, so they are left overlooked until you don't even notice them anymore. But your viewers, or perspective buyers, will look at your home through a hyper-critical lens and will most definitely notice. By getting these small DIY projects done and presenting the property as well as possible, your viewers will not be creating a list of jobs as they look around. They will instead see and remember your property because of how they felt when they looked around, visualising themselves living there.
- Declutter - This tip probably features in every blog post you've ever read about selling a property, but that is because it is so important. Cluttered homes look smaller than uncluttered homes, and the square footage of a property is a key factor in estimating the value, so it makes perfect sense that decluttering your home would be a great way to boost the value of your home without it costing you a penny. If you decide to sell some of your items, you might even make some money while you're at it.
- Staging - A staged property will generate more interest than an un-staged property. Staging creates an ambience and a style that helps depict a lifestyle the buyer could have if they bought your home, and higher demand for viewings and interest from buyers will positively impact the price that you ultimately can sell for. It doesn't have to cost anything, but consider how you could present your home for the photo shoot, using items you already have in the house to show off the various selling features of the property. Perhaps a pot of coffee and mugs on a tray on the coffee table, a jug of iced water and some nice glasses on the garden table in the sun or nice blankets draped intentionally across the sofa or the bottom of the bed, which is of course adorned with crisply ironed linen with perfectly positioned scatter cushions that match the interior design of the room just right. It sounds unnecessary and perhaps surprising that scatter cushions can impact the value of your property, but it is about much more than cushions.
- Smells - We get used to the smell of our homes, so we probably don't know how it smells to other people. Consider air fresheners, scented candles, or a room diffuser to ensure your home smells pleasant and welcoming.
- Lighting - A light and bright home is more appealing than a dark and dingy one. You will unlikely have abundant natural light in every corner of your home, but you can add lamps and mood lighting to brighten a dark spot.
- Garden - An unruly garden will seem as if the buyers must tackle the jungle before they can enjoy the space. Overgrown trees and bushes will also make it look like you have less room outside than you actually have.
None of these tips should cost you very much money and can probably be dealt with in a few weekends, but the potential increase in your property's saleability is huge, which will, in turn, increase the possible offers you may receive.
To find out more about how we estimate property value so that we are as accurate as possible, contact our team today.