How to make your property more saleable

Repairs

You will, when you think about it, realize that you are putting up with a number of little defects in your property which you have become accustomed to -- e.g. the toilet cistern which needs a special knack to flash, kitchen drawers which don't quite shut, a dripping tap. These are all things you must put right. Anyone coming round the property to view it is going to open and shut cupboard doors and drawers, and will draw the conclusion from dripping taps and similar defects that the property has not been well maintained and is run down. So everything must work perfectly.

If there are any cracks in the walls, these should be repaired. (It's okay to repair and decorate -- it's not okay to simply cover up an ongoing problem. See below under ‘Painting and Decorating’.) Click on the link below for a list of repairs which are most commonly needed, and which you should definitely attend to.

Painting and decorating

It is definitely worth repainting and decorating before you put your property on the market. It is a relatively cheap way of making your home look as close to new as possible. Even if you are selling a period property, it is still important that it should look well maintained and attractive. Another reason for redecorating is to get rid of your personal tastes! It's not because your personal tastes are bad, simply the buyer’s lack of imagination. Buyers need to imagine themselves and their furniture in your property. If everything looks clean, white, and generally neutral in tone, they can probably do that. If you have heavily patterned wallpaper or bedrooms with dark red walls and stars on the ceiling, your buyers may step back in shock, instead of seeing the potential for their own equally individual scheme. You should always talk to your chosen estate agent and find out what he recommends. You are selling the property, so it's purely a business decision. You are probably saying to yourself, "The buyers will repaint anyway, so what's the point?" The point is that you must get them to sign the contract first, and that is usually achieved by presenting them with an attractive but blank canvas.

Removing clutter

All the things that make a property your home -- mementos from a holiday, presents from aunts, pottery jugs -- estate agents call "clutter". The same considerations apply as with painting and decorating: you need potential buyers to see past your presence to how they would live in the property. You mustn't totally depersonalise the place or it won't seem inviting at all, but you should look at it from an outsider's point of view, and get everything which would detract from a sale out of the way. The same applies to furniture. Large furniture makes room seems smaller than they are. If you have had to cram a double bed into a small bedroom, it may well be worth putting the double bed into store and replacing it with a single bed which makes the room seem like a well proportioned bedroom rather than a converted box room. It really is a good idea to get an outsider, whose views you are prepared to respect, to come in and make suggestions. It can be a friend or a relative, or you can ask your estate agent.

Bad smells

Nothing is more likely to put a prospective buyer off your home than bad smells. They might forgive tasteless wallpaper or dark paint, which they know they can solve with a paintbrush and a few litres of emulsion. But bad smells suggest something may be fundamentally wrong with the property -- in other words, too much trouble to take on. Bad smells do almost always indicate something genuinely wrong. It may be wet rot or damp, both of which have distinctive smells, and clearly require treatment and building work before you even put the property on the market. That horrible rotten egg smell indicates something wrong with the trains, but you may be able to cure it with a dose of industrial strength sink unblock. Those are the problems you definitely have to attend to before putting a property on the market. Many houses get to smell bad because of the family dog, all the fish tank or the children's hamsters. You may have do shampoo the dog, along with the carpet. (Not literally). Cooking smells linger, and so does the memory of, the remains of which are still in your kitchen rubbish bin. You should definitely open all the windows and a the property thoroughly before any viewing, and of course remove the coffers cause of any recurring smells. Here's a set of more detailed suggestions.

Good smells

If bad smells put buyers off, good smells are going to encourage them to think well of your property. There are lots of suggestions put forward for producing enticing and attractive smells: fresh bread or fresh coffee for instance. But it's a little difficult to always be producing fresh bread in the oven whenever a potential buyer arrives, and it looks a little bit contrived. Coffee is a bit more practical. Flowers are probably the best bet for an understated effect which doesn't look like it's been done purely for the purpose of the viewing. Obviously, you have to keep on replacing them. Vases of dead flowers aren't going to improve your chances. You definitely shouldn't use any of the commercial “scents” always being promoted on the television. I can only imagine people use them because their homes are smelly and poorly ventilated, and I would expect any buyer to think the same thing.