Are you ready to sell? Here's our step-by-step guide
Much has been made of the property market boom in the last few months as buyers and sellers flocked to make the most of the Stamp Duty holiday. Whilst we all wait to hear about a potential extension to the scheme in March there is still enough time to get ready to make sure you’re prepared for selling your home and moving on.
With house viewings remaining one of the few activities possible through lockdown, we are seeing strong interest from people wanting to view your home.
Let’s make sure your home is viewing at its best.
Check out our room by room ‘Ready to Sell Checklist’ and make sure your whole house looks fresh and smart enough to entice a viewer to make an offer. Just email us at nick@inghamfox.com to get your copy today.
First and foremost, take a look at the elements that make up your property marketing, to make sure each one is showcasing your home at its very best.
Photographs
As the seasons change, so do the photographs! Do your outside photographs need updating? Don’t head into spring with pictures of snowy roofs and lawns (or worse, last summer’s sunbaked grass). If your photographs are looking a little wintery, ask us if some of these can be re-taken. As the weather starts to warm up, your garden will quickly become much more colourful. Your images need to really show off your garden to attract viewers, so they probably need updating in the next few weeks.
Look inside
Now you have been cooped up at home over the past couple of months, your presentation may not be up to it’s usual standard! Go through your home checking each room to make sure it matches your agent’s photographs. A spring clean will make your home fresh and smelling delightful once again, so viewers can see it at its best.
You may have spent the last few months accumulating new things (online shopping, anyone?) so before you do anything else - de clutter! Check soft furnishings and carpets to make sure they are thoroughly clean and try to replace or put away damaged items. Giving your windows a professional clean makes a world of difference and will leave your house gleaming.
Sort out your garden
If the cold winter weather has caused your garden to become unkempt, now is the time to tame it. Your lawn needs to be freshly mown as soon as the weather allows (don’t cut too short at first!) and the edges neat. Your flower beds should be free of weeds so your plants and flowers can stand out and any children’s outdoor toys washed and tidied.
If your garden furniture is looking tired and you don’t want to replace it, give it a good scrub or put it away; if it’s wood, paint, varnish or stain it, so it looks smart. Add a colourful scented bunch of flowers to the centre of the table to light up the room.
Terraces, decks and paths may need a power wash, or just a good brush, to show them at their best and get rid of accumulated dirt or moss. If you have gravel areas, try adding new gravel to freshen them up, or raking over the existing gravel and taking out any leaves and debris.
Shrubs may need cutting back or neatening, and rogue shoots over paths should be removed. Hedges too may need trimming.
Boosting clicks online
There are millions of buyers out there and many online advertisements, so your online advert needs to really stand out. These are five key areas that can help make sure your advert gets the click:
A strong and informative headline and summary paragraph to make a browsing buyer click to find out more about your home.
Bullet points to showcase the key features of your home and make someone click through for more. For example, ‘Downstairs WC’ – is not so much of a wow factor. ‘Panoramic vistas’ – better. But ‘Romantic, rose-filled garden’ will and make a buyer read on.
Photographs – these need to be compelling, attractive and up to date, all need to be carefully selected to show your home in its best light.
Flow of images – do your photographs flow in the same way as a viewing would naturally do? Starting with a front photograph, followed by a hallway, and then the living room, makes a buyer feel that they can visualise your home. Great video tours also help.
Property description – this needs to be compelling and visual, telling the story of your home. You don’t need a whole essay here – a few paragraphs should be enough to compel a casual browser to want to find out more, and pick up the phone.
Mortgage boom
Whilst there was a period of time at the beginning of lockdown when mortgages became difficult to obtain, this situation has, in the main, been rectified. And with mortgage rates still so low, many buyers needing mortgages may feel that now is an opportune time to move house.
Family buyers ‘upsizing’
Families have spent many weeks cooped up in a house that is just too small for their needs. What they may be dreaming of now is a house with more reception space, a large kitchen or extra bedrooms Of course, a generous work-from-home space is a must!
Easy to maintain gardens too have recently become a priority for many families. Those without any lawn space may now crave it, and even families with average sized gardens may be longing for immaculate lawns, fruit laden orchards, storybook tree houses or space to build dens. If your home offers a family the room it needs, it will particularly strong appeal to anyone who has just spent weeks suffering from ‘cabin fever’ in a smaller home.
Your next steps
If you have found your dream home, and it’s still available, your focus will be on selling your home as soon as you can. By using our handy ‘Ready to Sell’ list, you’ll have given yourself the best possible chance to sell and move on.
If you have not yet found the house you want to move to, it may be because there is a lack of new homes being marketed. We think that this will only be a temporary situation as the country emerges from lockdown and the demand/supply balance is restored. Having a firm offer on your home from a proceedable buyer will give you the buying power you need once the house you really want becomes available, and you need to take quick action.
No interest? Why not?
Are buyers flocking to view your home? If not, why not? If you’ve addressed all the ‘saleability’ factors listed above, and you’ve used our ‘Ready to Sell’ list to make sure your home is completely ready, then perhaps it’s time to reassess your choice of estate agent.
Sometimes, a fresh approach from a new set of eyes will find new marketing angles, and reach a different group of buyers. Let’s face it, you only need one buyer and a new estate agent could be the key to finding that one buyer.
As an initial step, we’d like to invite you to have a chat with us – we may be able to uncover the reasons you’re not getting the interest in your home that it deserves, just by looking at your online advert. From there, the rest is up to you.
So you don’t miss something that may be the difference between a no and an offer, we’ve created Our ‘Ready to Sell’ list, which is specifically designed to cover every aspect of preparing to kickstart your home sale.
Email us now on nick@inghamfox.com with the subject ‘checklist’ for your own copy.
Getting your home, your family and yourself, prepared and ready to sell will give you the best possible chance to move on as soon as you can. We’d love to help you make your home moving dreams a reality, so if you have any questions not covered in this blog, please email on nick@inghamfox.com or call on 01428 786321 and let’s get you moving.