You may be at a point in your life where you’re ready to move to someplace new and to start new memories in another property. This is certainly easier said than done sometimes, especially when it comes to the property ladder. However, there are certain things you can do to give your home that extra boost it needs to sell it sooner.

Pick An Agent Carefully 

Knowing which agent to go with when you come to sell your home is a tough one. There’s probably so many around your local area alone, and the only thing you can really go off is if anyone you know has perhaps used one before. That’s always a good place to start when picking a real estate agent, find recommendations from family, friends, and even your work colleagues. Then start to look at what it is the agents are selling. That will give you a good indication of how popular they are, but you want to find the right balance of properties. Yours needs to be the most unique in its category, so if it’s a four-bedroom new build and they have hundreds of others at various prices, it might be worth going somewhere else. You want to be one of the few rather than one of the many.

Think About The Price

Setting your price is the most important part of the selling process. You want to get it valued by more than just one agent ideally, and this may be how you figure out which agent is right for you. Once you’ve got it valued, you can chat with the agent about what changes you could make to the property now and before you put it on the market to increase its value. They may be small and minor things that are possible, but bathroom or kitchen renovations may be a bit of a push unless you have the contacts and disposable income to turn it around pretty sharpish.

For the price, you want to think about any fees that will be taken off the sale and what you’re trying to buy for your next home. The more profit you can make, the better so give it the best opportunity and go in with the most reasonable price.

Do A Big Declutter

Everyone collects a lot of rubbish over the years, and because we pile it away in storage, up in the attic and out of sight, we forget about it. However, every so often, it’s a good idea to do a declutter of your property. This is something that you can do together within your household because everyone is likely to have things that they need to get rid of and it’s a very cleansing thing to do as a family, whether that be you and your partner or you and your children.

Start going room by room and look at each and every item that you own. Some are going to have sentimental value to it and which is worth keeping, but it’s good to double-check. A train ticket to a destination that may have been where you had your first date could be simply better stored in your memories, rather than something physical. Try and aim to fill as many bags as you can and to reduce the amount in your home by at least a quarter, if not more. Ensure all useable items are going to charity and that anything worth some money goes in the pile to sell. You’ll certainly be surprised by just how much you have accumulated over the years.

Arrange The Rooms

Everyone has a preference for how they’d like their property to be laid out. What once was a spare bedroom might now be a study area, a space for workouts, or just a storage room. However, it’s important that you reset the rooms to how they used to be originally because any bedrooms you can make from other rooms is going to add value in the eyes of those who are buying it from you. If they want to make a study or gym space, they can do so once they’ve brought it. However, they should be able to see the value that’s there with what space is available. Arranging your furniture in the room to fit the aesthetic of the space is important, and if you can remove any furniture to free up some room, that would be ideal. You can always look to rearrange your furniture in a different way to help complement the room even more. This is something your agent might suggest if it’s something they spot, but it’s worth having in mind.

Freshen Up Worn Walls 

Walls are the first thing in a property to look tired, and that’s usually because of paint that has been scuffed or marked up by daily life, bumping furniture into the walls and of course, those households that have young children! So to prep the property for potential viewings, it’s a good idea to freshen up worn walls with this paint. Just going over small marks and scuffs with a touch-up of paint can make a big impact and it doesn’t cost you much at all.

Add Some Indoor Plants

When you’ve managed to get people through the door to look at your property, the next thing is to create an environment that they’ll fall in love with. That means dressing it to sell, and one way that you can do that on a budget is by investing in some indoor plants. Plants are great for adding some fresh color to the space, and they also lift the mood to the room. You can have a boring small space but decorate it with flowers and house plants, and it makes all the difference.

When it comes to the flowers, buy them for when someone comes to visit. Replenishing them each week can be very pricey, and the persons you want to impress are the potential buyers, so just get a nice bouquet of flowers for every visit. Hopefully, you can get a few in a row, so you spend less on the flowers. Plants can certainly help sway the person because it creates that home feeling that they’re looking for.

Fix Or Cover Broken Furniture

With selling your home, you are likely to want to leave furniture behind or replace it with new furniture in your next home. Things become worn, trends go out of style and it might be time for a change. However, it’s more cost-effective if you’re fixing or covering up broken furniture rather than just replacing it and spending a lot of money that you might not have at the moment. Throws, cushions and other soft furnishings can help cover up frayed armchairs, rugs are great for masking faded wood, and wall art can hide big chips in the wall that you’ve planned on filling before you leave.

Get Your Household Out 

When possible buyers are visiting your property for the first time, it may already feel like a bit of a home invasion on both sides. However, it’s going to be more uncomfortable for the buyers if you’re in the property. They are likely to spend less time in the rooms where you and your household are, and that’s going to definitely affect their experience.

It could actually hinder you as sellers of the property because they may come away feeling like they’ve not seen it all and then by that point, they’ll have moved on to more properties. Prepare yourself for viewings to be somewhere else when they happen. You could just be around the corner in a pub or cafe, but ensure you’re out of the property.

Be Wise With Offers

Finally, comes the most exciting part, the offers. When you start getting an offer or two from buyers, be careful with your decision. You may have just gotten your first one, and it is lower than your asking price. It’s important to bide your time to see if you can get a better offer. If the market isn’t looking that great, your agent may advise you to think seriously on offers below your asking price. However, it’s your decision at the end of the day, so go with your gut.

Prepare For Moving Out

Moving out is the final step to saying goodbye to your property. Check that all of your bill providers now know your new address and that you’ve packed up and prepared a van for the moving day. The sooner you do this, the better and as soon as you know your moving date, you should put your plans immediately into action.

Get ready to create new memories in your new home and say a humble goodbye to your old one! Selling your home can be one hell of a rollercoaster ride, so be prepared for the ups and the downs as there’s likely to be many. It’ll all be worth it in the end though.