You have selected your agent - what next?

What can you do with your property to maximise the price you receive from a buyer.

The premium price for your property comes from the emotional buyer. As agents, it’s our job to put the emotional buyer in situation/environment where they pay the best price and work with those emotions to keep them excited and happy about their purchase.

As an owner, the more the buyer falls in love with your property/home, the more they will pay.

So how do you do this?

Presentation !

Starts from street appeal right through to the back of the property. If you need ideas on how to best present your home, take a tour of a display home. The decorators do a great job of giving you feeling that you can just move right in. This is the feeling you want to create with the buyers walking into your home.

Some steps you can follow :

Spray your garden with liquid fertiliser. Its fast acting and cheap and can be purchased from any garden centre

Mow your lawn – neat and tidy for the home open

Get rid of weeds and place some new mulch if required on the garden beds

Clean entry of home and driveway. This needs to be clean and presentable for when buyers walk to your front door.

Declutter your property – This means dishes away, remove personal photos, take items off bench tops and tables. Remove as much of this as possible to create more space

Clean, clean, clean – A clean home gives the impression the home is well looked after and there is little to no work required. Polish sinks, fix leaks and repair cracks or damage to walls. Make sure the beds are made and the house has been aired and smells fresh. Maybe even buy a scented candle or buy a wall mounted air freshener. One of the first impressions buyers get when they walk into a property is odour.

If your carpets are dirty, it may pay to have them professionally cleaned prior to sale.

Open curtains and turn on lights- creates more space in your property

Decorate – If you have the time and money, some decorating items around the home does wonders in uplifting the overall appeal of the property. If you have too much furniture or it’s not in practical positions, consider removing this from the property prior to commencement of marketing. We want to create the impression of more space.

Enhancing emotional appeal by creating a comfortable atmosphere makes the property feel like a ‘home’ . To achieve this, some sellers play background music. Something calm and peaceful is always a preference. A fresh bunch of flowers in the home is always a nice touch if placed nicely. If it’s a hot day, make sure you have your air con on or on a cold day, the heater is going. If you have dogs make sure you take them with you. There are people who don’t feel comfortable with animals and won’t feel at ease with a dog in the back yard.

Lastly, don’t be present. A buyer will not be free to explore a property if they are feeling like they are being watched by the owner or tenant. They won’t be comfortable to have an open discussion with the agent or discuss objections in case they offend you.