Did you know that a well presented property is more likely to receive closer to, or even above in the current market, the asking price, quicker than similar, untidy properties? A whopping 98% of buyers look online for their next home, where the imagery is their first impression of your home, making dressing your home for selling, a vital part of the property selling process.
When dressing your home for selling, it doesn’t mean more, it often means less, which can take a skilful eye to achieve.
We asked our trusted referral, Julia Murray of the The House Ministry Interior Design Studio, for her six top tips for presenting your home to sell:
Declutter
As part of dressing your home for selling, get rid of visible clutter and tidy up. A messy house is visually unappealing and equals limited storage in buyers’ minds. It’s easy and inexpensive to rent storage at somewhere like Big Yellow Self Storage. When viewing buyers will open cupboards and if they are full to overflowing they may conclude there is not enough storage.
Repairs
Dressing your home for selling also means mending those broken fixtures and do the repairs you’ve been putting off – inside and outside the house. Give a fresh coat of paint to high traffic areas where the walls get marked like the hallway, boot-room, the downstairs WC, kitchen, etc. If you are repainting then choose neutral colours which translate better in the listing photos.
Listing photos are not photographed in the same way as home magazine shots, which require specialist lighting equipment and lots of time to get right. Therefore a room with the currently fashionable very dark walls may appear gloomy not cosy and can be off putting to buyers – who will think about the cost and hassle of repainting?
Clean, Clean, Clean...
Ensure the house is spotless for the photos and viewings, including cleaning the windows inside and out. There is little point in dressing a home for selling, if neglected but visible areas are going to remain dusty! This also helps to eliminate the smell of pets which you may not notice, but your buyers will, as well as help with potential allergies that buyers may have.
Depersonalise
Not only do buyers need to be able to mentally move in and imagine themselves living in your home and you need to appeal to the widest number of people. If you have huge numbers of framed photos of family, or unusual collections or anything that might divide opinion such as political memorabilia think about packing them away in preparation for moving.
Show the Purpose of Rooms/Spaces
Dressing your home to sell isn’t only on the inside, if you have a fabulous garden or terrace make sure the photos show the connection between indoors and out and the garden furniture is visible in the shot from inside the house. Add some hurricane lanterns, cushions and throws to give a feel for outdoor living. After the past year many buyers are looking for spaces for home offices – consider setting up a desk and work space somewhere in the house for this purpose even if you haven’t needed it.
Stylise & Accessorise Your Principle Rooms
Less is more! Small decorative pieces get lost in photos, so ideally choose items that are the size of a cantaloupe melon or larger and group in 3s or 5s with items of different heights and widths in the grouping. Symmetry also works well in photos – either side of the front door, or on mantlepieces, sideboards etc. Make sure all loo seats are down!
We Hope This Helped!
As important as dressing your home for selling is, dressing a property to sell is no easy task to get right, especially for a person who has lived in the property for many years, as it means seeing the property from an entirely different perspective than what you’re used to.
Robinson David Estate Agents offers all new home sellers the opportunity to speak in depth with Julia, about how to present your specific home for sale, either online or in person – from £350 (inc vat) – to achieve the best possible outcome of your home sale.