If you’ve made the big decision to sell your home, then you have a lot to think about. Of course you need to think about where you’re going to move to, going with the right kind of estate agent, any online photographs you need for your listing, and then the actual process of showing potential buyers around and moving home yourself. But what about before your house even goes on the market? A lot of people forget about these few crucial things, yet they are so important. So if you’re looking into the possibility of selling your property in the future, here are just a few of the things you should be doing before your house goes on the market.
Find all of the Relevant Documents
One of the most important things to organise when you’re thinking of putting your house on the market, is making sure that you have all of the relevant paperwork to go with. For example, if the new buyers were to ask when your house was built, it’d be helpful for you to have all of the information they seek at hand, and ultimately will make them a lot more likely to buy the house.
Another important document to have is your EPC, or Energy Performance Certificate. You can either have a paper copy, or an online document, but either way it’s important that you have one ready for when your home is on the market. Energy performance certificates rate your home on a scale of A – G of how energy efficient your home is, and from the time of acquiring it, it’s valid for ten years. It also shows how potentially energy efficient your home could be should it be able to be improved, so buyers will get a rough idea of how much their utility bills should cost in the future.
Speaking of utility bills, make sure you have all of your utility bills well organised prior to selling. One of the most important things is ensuring that you’ve paid these bills in full. The last thing you want is to be moving to a new house, paying the bills there, and having bills left outstanding at your old house. The sooner you get sorted, the better.
Improve Your Curb Appeal
Curb appeal is one of the single most important things to improve upon before you even think about selling your home. Haven’t heard of it before? Well here’s a little definition:
Curb appeal is simply how attractive a property looks from a street view, only considering the exterior. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. This is the first impression that people are going to get of your home – particularly potential buyers and estate agents. The reason for this, is because when it comes to estate agents valuing your property, you’ll want to ensure that they’re valuing it at the maximum price possibly for the size and quality of the property. It might sound silly, but something as small as curb appeal can be the difference between it selling for more or selling for less, so be clever about it. The less that potential buyers need to do to the house to make it nice, the easier you’re likely to sell it on.
Declutter
One of the hardest things about living in one place for a long time and then leaving, is the amount of clutter you acquire over the years.
When it comes to the selling process itself, you’ll already have enough to do, so why not make sure you’re decluttered before you even put your home up on the market? Not only will it make your life a LOT easier when buying and selling time comes around, but it’ll also make your property look better for when you’re showing potential buyers round too. Whether you’re into minimalism and Marie Kondo’s decluttering methods, or you’re simply a get on with it and chuck it out type of person, just make sure you get on and do it. you’ll be pleased in the long run.
Depersonalise
Last, but absolutely not least, depersonalise your home. Remember when the kids were younger, and you marked their heights all the way up that gap on the kitchen wall? Well you might find it endearing, but unfortunately potential buyers won’t, and neither will estate agents.
Anything like this, that could potentially make your home look less tidy and showroom like, unfortunately should go prior to you putting the property on the market. It might seem hard, but try not to be too sentimental – after all you still have the memories, and a new house to make all new memories in too.
0 Comments