Thinking of selling your home in the coming days? Getting your house ready to sell is essential to ensure you present your house to the market looking its best. Meaning you can achieve the best price in the best possible time. These wonderful tips with tell you how to get your house ready to sell in 30 days.
Take the time, allocate a budget (even a small one!) and make a list. How to get your house ready to sell in 30 days should really help you tackle the most important things. In my professional experience, houses which have been prepared for selling will sell better!
#1 Timeless decor
This is a really common piece of advice. But it is probably THE most important piece of advice when getting your house ready to sell. Our homes are our own space to express ourselves, and that can mean lots of bright colours & characterful items. When selling your home you are trying to appeal to as many people as possible. I would 100% recommend that you paint all rooms, in fact the entire house, in a neutral colour.
This does not mean painting woodwork and doors, this is simply the walls and ceilings. Magnolia is no longer a favourite colour. In fact avoid it. (Its far too peachy!) Some people alsoavoid pure brilliant white because its very clinical, but i think brilliant white still works great on a ceiling. For walls I would highly recommend, Timeless by Dulux. It is simply perfect!
#2 De-clutter
We fill our home with things we love. Furniture, trinkets, clothes, gifts and I could go on forever. Its our space to have the things we love. When selling you are trying to get people to buy your home and to imagine themselves living there.
One way to ensure this happens is to de-clutter, removing personal items and creating a feeling of space and openness. This works for the smallest of homes right up to the larger mansions. Clutter can cause problems for everyone!
Go round, room by room with a cardboard box, looking with a fresh open outlook and clear the physical surfaces as much as possible. Reduce the amount of ornaments or ‘things’ sitting on shelves, tables and work tops. The more surface space you see the better when preparing your house to sell.
Remove excess side tables or chairs. Reduce the items sitting on your bed side tables and on your bathroom shelves. Reduce the amount of shoes sitting at the front door. We all have the ‘random pile’ of things in our kitchen.
Remember this is all temporary and for an important purpose. Be decisive and strong and once you get your new home you can bring everything back out! You may sell your house in 30 days, but 30 days is also plenty time to work through your clutter.
#3 House odd job list
We all live in our homes and adapt to all the outstanding small jobs. The damp stain from the old bathroom leak is still there, the toilet seat is still wobbly, the doorbell doesn’t ring and the knob on the kitchen cupboard has been missing for months! All these small jobs are things we forget about because life is busy and they become unimportant.
Now is the time to attend to all these small issues. If you are handy do them yourself. Make a list and work through them. Alternatively employ a handyman who can work through them all in a day or two.
#4 Clean & Sparkle
I have been in some really dated homes over the years. Often these dated homes have been exceptionally clean and tidy making the house feel and look great, despite its older style. Cleaning costs nothing when getting your house ready to sell and has the biggest impact. 30 days gives you lots of time to clean!
If a house feels dirty to a potential buyer then I am certain they will score your house off their list. A dirty vibe with sticky floors and grubby bathrooms creates an un-kept feeling and they will probably walk away disappointed.
#5 Bedrooms matter
One of the most important aspects of any home is the amount of bedrooms. This is also one of the most used filter options on web portals when people are house hunting. If you have spare bedrooms which are currently used as hobby rooms, or play rooms or home office rooms I would highly recommend you return these back to bedrooms. Bedrooms are often more important than ‘bonus rooms’.
It does depend how big your home is. If you have 4 double bedrooms and then have a home office and hobby room beyond them, then you wont have this issue. But if your home as 3 bedrooms, and one is currently a storage room, then I would certainly recommend presenting this room as a bedroom.
#6 Home office space
Post covid there has been a huge increase in home working. Meaning many people have had to consider home office space when moving house. If you can, a great tips is to see if there is anywhere you can incorporate an office space. This does not need to be a whole room, but could be a hall landing, corner of the kitchen or even under the stairs.
You can buy very clever and sleek home working desks that help create that separate area, even in the smallest of houses or apartments. The requirement for home office space is on the up and extremely important. This can be done easily when getting your house ready to sell and you have 30 days to order that new desk.
#7 Garden goodness
Come Summer or Winter, the garden is super important. We don’t need to make huge investments and landscape our gardens! But you do need to make sure its tidy and as attractive as possible. Cut the grass, tidy the borders, sweep the paths and line up the bins. These are small things but can make a world of difference and giving yourself 30 days is plenty of time to get your house and garden ready to sell. Look out those gardening gloves!
Seek out cheap bedding plants and fill up the borders. If your garden is mostly patio fill some planters and even pop a few planters beside the front door, this helps with first impressions. I have always found garden planters to be really expensive. I often find great planters being sold on Facebook marketplace at a great price and often close to me too, so easy to collect. Wash them down and fill them with cheap plants.
#8 Soft furnishings
Important for viewings and for your professional photography, these are great soft furnishing tips for when your getting your house ready to sell. Look at your beds and make sure your bed linen is simple and neutral. If you have your 20 year old faded bed linen on, even if it is your favorite, now is the time to pack it away. Bring out the neutrals, soft whites and soft coloured bed linen, throws & cushions. Charity shops can be great for these along with Ebay.co.uk. You can even borrow from friends and family. I have done this many times in the past, because bed linen can be expensive. Also look at your tea towels hanging on the oven door. Make sure they are clean and attractive, not old and heavily stained.
Check out your cushions on the sofa to make sure they match the surroundings and the same goes for your hand towels displayed in your bathrooms. Always remember – borrow from friends or family and hunt in those charity shops when your getting your house ready to sell.
If you are panicking about how to get your house ready to sell, remember 30 days is plenty time to take on these important tips. Once your ready to go, the next step is to find your estate agent. Read How to choose an estate agent. Or if your thinking about taking your own photos check out Can you take your own estate agent photos?