How to show off your home: property presentation

March . 2015

After careful consideration you have selected the right estate agent to market your home, they have produced a lovely brochure with lots of well taken photographs and a floor plan, advertised it in the local press and displayed it on a wide variety of websites. Now comes the key part in selling your property, the viewings!

Although ultimately the house should sell itself, when it comes to viewings get it right and you can hook a buyer, get it wrong and they can be put off irretrievably. To succeed, there are a number of points to consider.

Firstly, before the phone starts ringing off the hook with appointment requests, take a look around your home with a critical eye and put yourself in the shoes of a prospective purchaser, is there anything that would obviously put you off buying it? Seek advice from your agent and ask yourself whether it needs de-cluttering, have you done those routine maintenance jobs that you have been meaning to do since last autumn or is granny’s old disused caravan with the mouldy green roof still languishing in the drive?

A fresh lick of paint here and there using light, neutral colours can help to brighten up a home and make it more welcoming particularly in dark rooms such as Suzie’s bedroom when she was going through her maroon phase before heading off to uni. It is important however to know when to say stop and sometimes new decoration in one area can emphasise how dowdy another might be. I also would not advocate spending a fortune on titivating your home, the new kitchen cliché comes to mind and sometimes one has to accept that a new owner will see your home as a project.

Prior to a viewing, it is only fair to expect a reasonable amount of notice to have time to tidy up, make the beds, put the washing away and mow the lawn etc. before visitors arrive. Although this can involve a couple of hours of hard work, it will help to create a good first impression but do remember that it is still your ‘home’ and that most buyers do not necessarily expect to see five star hotel standards.

There are a few basic ‘tricks’ that you can employ. Although it is not necessary to go to the lengths of baking bread or percolating coffee, make sure there are no unpleasant odours by opening windows before the viewing whilst scented candles or reed diffusers are to be encouraged. What lights to have on really comes down to the individual property, time of day and the weather. Avoid having every light blazing away but a few strategically placed lamps, particularly in dark corners can be helpful.

Turn off televisions, radios and Motorhead playing on the music system. Quiet classical music in the background is fine but the best sound if one lives in the country is simply birdsong in thegarden. Make sure the house is neither too hot nor too cold, just pleasantly warm. We may be a nation of dog lovers but our furry friends can get in the way or jump up so it is normally best if they are taken out.

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