Moving to a new house can be an exciting experience. However, when it comes to selling your house, it can get a bit stressful and seem like a hassle. Furthermore, you’d like to ensure that your home is looking its best so you can get the best price possible at auction.
A lot of people just do a quick cleaning and call it a day, but there are many different actions you can take to make your home look more appealing to homebuyers. Some of these include; removing ugly or overbearing trees from the garden, painting the interior walls, replacing carpet, landscaping, and rendering.
With a few affordable changes, you can transform the look and feel of your home on auction day, ensuring you get a great price for it. Here are some relatively straightforward ideas on how you can prepare your home and garden for an auction.
1 - Tree Removal & Maintenance
Some homes are blessed with beautiful trees that are the centerpiece of their garden. However, other houses are stuck with ugly, intrusive, annoying trees that either block too much light or drop branches and leaves everywhere. Removing them can be a great first step to transforming your garden. Now, I know what you’re thinking.
Removing trees from the garden seems like a daunting task, but fear not! Removing smaller trees is something that can be done alone. If the tree is small enough, you can simply use a shovel to dig the stump out and cut away the roots with an axe or a root saw. If the roots are still intact, you can even replant it in a different location!
However, if you’re unsure about the size of the tree, contact an arborist for guidance. Tree removal, especially if the garden is overflowing with them, will allow more natural light so the garden can properly flourish. This is especially important if there are large trees hanging over the roof of the house or if any large trees have damaged limbs that are close to the house.
These trees can be detrimental if they fall on or near the home. If you plan on removing trees to clear up your garden, please remember to be safe and contact an arborist for any questions you may have!
2 - Painting
Sometimes a fresh coat of paint on the walls is a perfect way to spruce up your home. Painting common areas such as the kitchen, lounge room, or hallways could boost your sale price! However, you need to make sure you pick the right colours.
Painting the kitchen a bright yellow might be something that suits your tastes, but that’s not for everybody. Make sure you choose a good, neutral colour when repainting the interior of your home. Colours such as white, beige, or grey might be your best option.
When painting the exterior of the house, the same advice applies. Don’t go overboard with dramatic colours; choose something soft and neutral. Painting the front door, however, can be a fun way to get creative with the colours! The front door is a focal point of the house, and painting it a different colour, that still compliments the exterior of the house, of course, can be a way to draw people in.
If the buyer doesn’t like the colour of the door, it probably won’t be a deal breaker because it’s an easy fix. So why not go for it? Painting can be a relatively quick and affordable way to make your home look much more presentable.
3 - New Carpets
Changing the carpets in your house is important when you’re looking to sell. Old, dirty carpets don’t look good to buyers when looking to purchase a house. Old carpets can carry a bad odour and a lot of dirt and grim.
Sometimes a good carpet cleaning can do the trick, but new carpets will give the house the fresh, clean smell that it needs. Carpets can also get worn down in areas of the house that you walk through more often. So if the carpet is visibly worn, or if it has started fraying at the edges, it’s definitely time to replace it.
When getting a new carpet, it’s crucial that you get a colour that compliments the wall colour. Again, a good, neutral colour like grey or beige is usually the best way to go. Since some carpets can last up to 15 years, make sure you pick one that isn’t out of style. Sticking with the current trends is a good idea!
4 - Landscaping
The landscaping of your front yard is one of the first things buyer sees when they come to look at your house. If your front and back yards are in shambles, it’s not going to look good, gives off a bad impression, and could result in lower bids when your house goes for sale. Many people don’t realize how quality landscape design can add to the value of your home.
You want to make sure your grass isn’t overgrown and your trees and shrubs are properly trimmed. It would be a good idea to clean up your flower bed as well by laying down fresh mulch and perhaps even adding more colourful flowers! If you don’t have a flowerbed, maybe consider adding some potted plants around the entrance of your home to add some colour and make it more inviting.
You may also want to consider some minor landscaping projects such as retaining walls, new lawn, sprinkler system installation, or a host of other upgrades that can make your home much more appealing for buyers. Since the outside of the house is the first thing people see, it’s one of the most important things to focus on when putting your house up for sale.
Some people may even feel it worth while to replace their old driveway with a new concrete driveway if their old one is bad enough; exposed aggregate concrete and stamped concrete are 2 very popular styles you might consider.
Mark
5 - Rendering
While rendering a house can become a bit costly, depending on the size of your home, it is a good way to improve the outside appearance and boost the overall sale price. Making the house's outside appearance better is obviously a plus, but rendering also provides more protection for the house, which can draw more buyers toward it.
It can help protect the house from elements such as strong winds or rain because of the strong foundation. That’s a big selling point! There are several different types of renders to choose from, including cement, polymer, and lime. Researching which render best works for you, and getting an expert to finish the job, will give your house that wow factor it needs to be a good quality and ready-to-sell house!
There are many different ways you can update your house and garden to make it more appealing to potential buyers. While painting is an obvious choice, many people don’t consider updating the exterior of the house or the landscaping, even though that is the first thing people see!
Removing excess or overbearing trees, fixing up the landscaping, and rendering the exterior of the house are just as important as updating the paint or the carpet. Some of these tasks might seem intimidating initially, but when they’re finished, you’ll know you have a good-quality house to sell. And that’s totally worth it!
