Is your house going on the market soon? Exciting! After choosing the right sales real estate agent and determining the best asking price, the time has come to show your home at its best to the world. Preparing your house for sale is an art in itself. How do you make sure that your home appeals to a wide audience and comes across well in the real estate agent's photos? Read our golden tips for getting your house ready for sale, and attract as many viewers and buyers to your home as possible!
>> General tips for selling your house
>> Tips for the hall (entrance)
>> Tips for the garden and garage
>> The final check: view like a buyer
>> Frequently asked questions about preparing your house for sale
>> Choosing the best real estate agent
>> Benefits of Mijn Verkoopmakelaar
Below you will find our tips for preparing your house for photos and viewings. While working on your house, always keep one thing in mind: getting your house ready for sale is not about making your interior more beautiful or cozy. It is not advisable to add items to your home. You want your house to appear as spacious as possible, and besides, taste is subjective. The trick is to keep your home as "neutral" and spacious as possible, so that every viewer immediately sees the potential of the house, without having to look through striking colors, items, and furniture.
Selling your house or buying a new home? Discover the best real estate agents in your area and choose a real estate agent that suits you.
Below you will find our tips for selling your home for each room. But let's start with some general tips to get your home ready to conquer the housing market:
Tip 1: potential buyers want a light house. White (or off-white) walls always do well. As a result, the entire house seems lighter and fresher. Does your home not have white walls, but you still want to make the house brighter? Then remove as many things as possible in front of the windows, such as photos in a windowsill, large plants that block the light and open window decorations as much as possible. Clean the windows well for the viewings, so that everyone can see how beautifully the light falls in. Also, provide the right (ambient) lighting throughout the house.
Tip 2: ensure a tidy and clean house. If there is anything important during a viewing of a property, it is that the rooms are tidy and clean. This may be a very obvious tip, but of course we cannot leave this point unmentioned. When preparing your home for sale, walk through the house with a critical eye and store all personal and unnecessary items. Then do a big cleanup or invite your cleaner to come by an extra week. It's totally worth it!
Photo by: Risastla
Tip 3: ensure the right temperature in the house. Buying a house is mainly about feeling. People literally want to feel "at home" when they step over the doorstep of the house. A good way to captivate potential buyers right away is to ensure the right temperature in the house. They may not actually notice this, but they immediately feel at home because of it. And that's what it's all about! So make your house nice and warm for a viewing in the winter and ensure sufficient ventilation on a hot summer day. Not sure about the right temperature? Then invite someone who comes from outside to test the temperature.
Tip 4: a wonderfully smelling house works wonders. Just like the right temperature, smell is also a dealbreaker when it comes to selling your house. The most underrated cause that a viewer retains 'no pleasant feeling' from a property is the smell. If you are preparing to sell your home, pay attention to the smell in the house.
Don't have time to thoroughly prepare your home for sale? Read here our tips on how to sell your house very quickly.
The absolute no-go's are:
The absolute go's (tips) are:
Tip 5: keep cords and cables out of sight. Once the viewings have started, you want people to be distracted as little as possible by details and minor inconsistencies, such as cables and cords. That is often an eyesore during a first visit to a house. No one has ever tried to watch TV or make a cup of coffee during a viewing, so feel free to pull all the cords out of the devices. This makes the house look a lot less cluttered to the eye.
Tip 6: everyone loves flowers. A very easy way to make your home attractive for sale is by placing flowers. Just as everyone loves a light house, everyone also reacts well to a fresh bunch of flowers in the garden or in a beautiful vase. So make sure to give the flowers in the garden or balcony some extra love and place a fresh bunch of flowers at various places in the house. This immediately gives your rooms some color and a fresh look. Make sure you do this not only for the viewings, but also for taking the photos.
Photo by: Jeroen
Tip 7: remove personal belongings. You undoubtedly have beautiful children and very nice friends. But, sorry not sorry, unfortunately no buyer is interested in that. So remove all photos, souvenirs, personal cards and crafts by your children. This helps a potential buyer to imagine that he or she lives there.
Tip 8: erase the traces of your pets. Pets are great fun, but they are not going to help you sell your house. In fact: if you are preparing to sell your home, you would do well to create the illusion that no pets have ever lived there. The smell of pets does not do well with potential buyers, and for some people, one cat hair is enough to run out of the house hyperventilating. So temporarily place your pets at a lodging place and remove all pet items, such as a dog bed, feeders and scratching posts.
Tip 9: carry out minor repairs. A broken window, rickety door handle, fallen out bulb or a loose skirting board. This seemingly "minor" deferred maintenance makes the house appear poorly maintained. Therefore, it is good to carry out minor repairs before viewers come and photos are taken. Are there things squeaking in the house or are hinges stiff? Lubricating oil or WD-40 is your best friend.
Tip 10: a neat frame is fine. Frames are the way to see whether an owner has properly maintained the property. A lick of paint works wonders. Don't you have time to paint all the frames? Understandable. But DO clean the frames when preparing your house for sale. It only takes you 30 minutes, and it makes a world of difference to a buyer!
<p
Want to know more? Then read how comparing real estate agents works in your area or contact us for more information.
You only get one chance to make a good first impression. This might sound a bit cheesy, but of course, it's true. Do you want house hunters to fall in love with your house right away? Then you need to make a smashing impression when the door opens for the first time. Here's how you can enchant viewers from the moment they step inside:
The living room is one of the most important rooms in the house. This is where people gather as a family, relax and where - these days - people often have to work from home. A place where so much time is spent, must of course feel good and look attractive. These are our tips for getting your living room ready for sale:
The kitchen can be a real deal breaker for potential buyers. People want a clean and spacious kitchen with enough storage and space for meal preparation. To show your kitchen from its best side, you can follow these tips:
Choosing a good real estate agent to sell your house can be quite a task, but not with Mijn Verkoopmakelaar! Find the best real estate agent in your area, by entering your postcode below. You will receive - without any obligation - responses from the best selling real estate agents in your area. Choose the real estate agent that best fits your needs!
Still in doubt? Below you can read the advantages of choosing a real estate agent through Mijn Verkoopmakelaar:
The bathroom is the place where you start and end the day and where you want to feel comfortable. Because it is the place where you freshen up, the bathroom - of course - must also feel fresh. There's not much you can change about the layout and interior of your bathroom. To prepare your bathroom for sale, you have to rely on one thing: everything should shine! As if you're stepping into the bathroom of a luxury hotel.
Photo by: Guy Sie
The best tip we can give you in this area is: turn your bedroom into a hotel room. When the bedroom door opens, you want people to feel like they've stepped into a luxury hotel. How do you do that? Follow these tips:
In addition to the hall, bathroom, living room and bedroom, the other rooms of your house should also look attractive for viewings and photos. This also includes the garden and garage. Below you can read tips to prepare these spaces for sale:
Have you (as much as possible) followed the tips above and do you think your house is now really ready for sale? Put it to the test and see what it feels like to enter your home for the first time. Take your house key and go outside. Now go through the front door and try to see the house with fresh eyes. What do you notice? For example, is there something on the roof of the shed? Do you still see some dust under the couch? Or is it a bit too warm in the house when you come from outside? This is the time to adjust these things!
Tip: it can be difficult to look at your own home with fresh eyes. Therefore, invite someone else who walks through the house with a critical eye. That's very helpful!