Press Article
METRO - 30 March, 2011
Spring selling
By Jo Eccles
Traditionally, April marks the start of the ‘spring market’ and there is usually an influx of properties launched on the sales market. If you are looking to sell, there are some simple ways to make your home stand out from the competition.
The key is for potential buyers to walk in and imagine living in your home, but be careful not to overdo it. There is an old cliché that the smell of a loaf of bread in the oven or newly brewed coffee will appeal to buyers, but in my experience, they are wise to this and it puts them off. I once visited a flat with a client and the vendor had gone completely over the top, even setting the table with a bottle of Pimms on ice – this made my client laugh and distracted them from actually viewing the property and detracted from the flats good qualities. Buyers want to imagine living in the space; they do not want to have someone else’s lifestyle forced upon them.
It is important to remember that not everyone will have the same tastes and interests as you – you should aim to strike a fine balance between too much and too little personality – you don’t want your home to appear sterile and un-homely, but you don’t want to alienate buyers who might picture the space differently. Another property I viewed with a client belonged to a couple who loved to travel; the house was full of artefacts which they had collected over the years and even the walls were completely covered with materials and rugs. There was no space to move around and my client found it very difficult to see past someone else’s possessions – it was just clutter to them.
Televisions shows often preach that homes painted in neutral colours with new kitchens and bathrooms will be more attractive to potential buyers and this is true to an extent, but sometimes this can have the opposite effect – if it is obvious to a buyer that you have installed a new kitchen ‘on the cheap’ and painted the whole property magnolia, they tend to get suspicious and think that you are after a quick profit, so they are loathed to pay a good price because they don’t think they are getting good value for money.