Sometimes time is of the essence when it comes to selling your home. Maybe you’ve found your dream home but can’t progress until you have an offer on your current place. Or perhaps you need a quick sale to avoid a chain falling apart. In this guide, we share 12 tips for effectively marketing your property to potential buyers and making a quick sale – without compromising on price.
How to sell your house quickly
1. First impressions
If you want to quickly sell a house, don’t forget that first impressions matter. Giving your house kerb appeal ensures you have an advantage from the very start.
How can you make sure that the first impression is a favourable one? Above all, make sure the house number is visible from the road, if applicable. You’ll get no-one even over the threshold if they cannot find it! During hours of darkness, an exterior light can also be a practical and welcoming touch – especially as we enter the winter months.
Tidy the front garden too. Trim back any overgrown shrubs, mow the lawn, pull out any weeds and replace any dead potted plants with healthy new ones. Sweep the drive and pathway too so there’s a clean, clear route to the front door. Also hide away any rubbish or recycling bins that might be kept at the front.
2. Clean the windows
Clean windows help to give a good first impression and will make the interior and exterior of the house look well-kept. On a practical level, it also means viewers can clearly see what’s outside.
3. Wash and brush up
Next on the list of tips for selling a house quickly is staging the property for sale. Making sure the house is clean and tidy is a given.
Pay particular care to the kitchen and bathroom, where people prepare food and wash. Sparkling taps, crumb-free worktops and a grime-free bath are musts.
4. Declutter
While you want the home to have some personality, clutter is a no-no. Keep personal items to a minimum and tidy away what you can to create a spacious, streamlined look.
Give each room a clear purpose. Is it a dining room, a study, or a bedroom? Place the furniture that fits that theme so the viewer can imagine using the space in that specific way.
5. Freshen up
Using a subtly scented candle can keep unwanted odours at bay, whether they’re caused by cooking the dinner or the family pet. While baking bread and making coffee may seem too obvious, an appetising scent that lingers from making a cake earlier in the day is more understated.
Airing the house thoroughly in advance of a viewing can also ensure it smells fresh. Don’t let it get too cold though!
6. Make it fresh
Dot some fresh flowers or potted plants around the place to inject some life, colour and nature. You don’t need to go over the top: a vase filled with fresh blooms in the centre of the dining table might well be enough.
7. A lick of paint
While this is included on many lists of how to sell a house quickly, it is a time-consuming and potentially costly job. The question to ask yourself – honestly – is does your home need a lick of fresh paint? If it’s some years since you decorated or there are many marks, scratches and scuffs, then clearly the answer might be yes.
It’s about striking a balance. Do bear in mind that the new owner may redecorate right away, so don’t spend a fortune on fancy paints and professional tradespersons. If you can give the place the once-over yourself with some bulk-bought neutral emulsion, then great. It creates the perfect canvas for them to add their own colour palette to once they take possession.
8. Don’t forget flooring
While we’re on the topic of looking beyond a quick clean and tidy-up – is your flooring up to scratch? Giving it a deep clean, a little TLC or replacing it altogether are all options to consider. What does it really need?
Again, beware of spending too much money, as the new owner may rip it out as soon as they start to put their own stamp on the place.
9. Let there be light
Whether you go for new paintwork and flooring or not, one step that’s guaranteed to make the place sparkle is to let in lots of light. Open the blinds, shutters and curtains as fully as you can during daylight hours.
Or make sure each room gives off an inviting glow once the sun has set for the day.
10. A warm welcome
Getting the temperature right can be a deal-breaker. If your house feels chilly and draughty or stiflingly hot, then the person viewing it might not want to live there during winter or summer. A temperature of around 19 to 21 degrees is comfortable for most people.
11. Tidy the garden
A garden has the power to make or break a house sale, so don’t forget about the outside space. You want anyone viewing the property to imagine themselves hosting a barbecue, enjoying a drink on the patio at sundown, kicking a ball around with the kids or savouring al fresco lunches out there in summer.
Cut the grass so it’s neat and tidy, and make sure any paved areas are completely free from weeds, animal droppings or any other unsightly marks and stains. As with the front, remove any dead plants and replace them with new ones. A scattering of bark, slate or gravel over any weed-prone areas can help to give the impression of a well-maintained outdoor space.
Do any fence panels need replacing? If so, then it’s a job worth doing. Most people tend to value privacy when it comes to their garden, so any broken panels that mean the neighbours can see through may be very off-putting. As well as making it look unkempt.
12. Choose the right estate agent
Ultimately, much of the house selling process will be out of your hands. It’s the job of your estate agent to effectively present and market your property to potential buyers. Make sure you ask a potential estate agent information on how they will go about marketing your property and whether they have anyone on their books who is looking for the type of property you are selling.
You want to choose an estate agent who will be proactive in selling your house. Not just uploading it to Rightmove and waiting for requests to come in.
13. List at the right price
You shouldn’t just choose the estate agent who has proposed the highest price for your property. A good estate agent will know the right price to market your property at and won’t try to over-promise – especially in the current property climate.
If a quick sale is important for you, then you’ll need to be competitive with your asking price. It doesn’t mean you need to sell it for less than it’s worth. But if you go in too high from the outset, then the risk is that it’ll sit on the market for a while without gaining traction. You then may find yourself reducing the price, which can put potential new buyers off as they may wonder why it hasn’t previously sold.
14. Check out the competition
Finally, don’t forget to take a look at what others in your area are doing. Can you pick up any tips? Does your home seem worth more or less money than their asking or guide price, and why? Can you do anything to make sure yours is the one to sell first, or for the highest sum of money?
If you’re looking to sell your home and you’re based in the Lewisham area, arrange a valuation with our knowledgeable estate agents. We can ensure that your property is marketed in the best light and for the right price.