How to prepare your house for sale in Marylebone
It’s been a while since we talked about preparing your home for sale or rent, so we thought we might give you a little reminder of what you need to do:
1) Kerb appeal is incredibly important. If it doesn’t look right on the outside then any potential buyer may not even bother to go inside:
Wash and clean external doors and windows
Trim the hedges
Sweep away the leaves
Remove any weeds.
It is also worth considering re-painting the front door and replacing the door furniture if looks a bit tired. It is amazing what a difference it makes if the entrance area looks clean and well cared for.
2) Hallways: They set the tone for the property’s interior. If they are dark, dirty and cluttered any potential buyer will begin their viewing with a negative mind-set.
Make sure there are enough hooks and cupboard space to remove clutter.
Replace any out of date light fittings and if the space is a bit dark, consider increasing the wattage of the bulb or add another light source.
If the space is cramped, put up a mirror to give the illusion of space.
Hallways take a bashing, so freshen up the paintwork.
If the carpet is really worn, put a rug down over the offending areas. Or, if it is really bad, you should consider replacing it with some inexpensive carpet.
3) Sitting-rooms: The sitting should look clean, comfortable, inviting and spacious
Give the place a really good clean and consider applying a fresh coat of neutral paint.
Tidy away DVD’s onto shelves or into cupboards.
Buy a magazine rack and throw away any unwanted back issues.
Family photos should be packed away during the sales process. They potential buyer/renter wants to imagine the house as their property, which is harder to do when there are hundreds of pictures of your family staring at them from every wall, table top and mantel piece.
Every property magazine and TV programme tells you to de-clutter and that is for a very good reason - the place looks bigger, brighter and better without clutter. Put all those ornaments in a box, ready for your impending house move.
It is the principal room in the house, so if the carpet is stained and worn, replace it.
If it is dark, add in an extra table or standing light.
Put some flowers on the mantel piece.
4) Kitchens: A kitchen should look clean, up to date and have plenty of storage space.
Give it all a really thorough clean and tidy.
Decluttter.
Get rid of any of those straggly, half-dead looking plants that commonly sit on the window sills. Replace them with fresh flowers.
If you’ve got lots of crockery/pans that you don’t use, put them somewhere out of the way, so it looks like there is plenty of spare cupboard space.
A cheap way to update a kitchen is to replace the doors and or handles and you can also replace a battered worktop with a relatively inexpensive one from everyone’s favourite Swedish store.
5) Bedrooms: These are all about cleanliness and storage.
Clean.
Declutter - not forgetting to put away all those family photos.
Try and part-empty cupboards, as with kitchens, this can give the impression of generous storage space.
Buy some underbed storage boxes, you can get them with wheels on, then fill them up with excess clutter.
Keep bed linen fresh and spruce it up with a throw and some cushions.
6) Kids rooms: These are often a problem area.
Put a mask on and give it a deep clean and a major tidy.
Take those posters down.
Paint over any lurid colour schemes.
If the kids won’t co-operate, offer them money and an ongoing bonus for keeping the place tidy.
7) Bathrooms: These need to look and smell clean. The viewer will be thinking whether they would want to bathe in your bathroom, try and make it as appealing as possible.
Make it shine - clean it with some fresh smelling cleaning agents.
Get rid of any mould.
Rinse down sinks and baths after every use.
No hairs, no toe nails.
Put excess cosmetic bottles in a cupboard.
Polish the mirror.
Chuck out the carpet if you have one.
Buy a new bath mat.
Get out the best towels.
8) Garden: It should look clean and tidy and easy to maintain.
If the garden is in a mess it will look like it is hard work to look after, so sweep up the leaves and give it a general tidy up.
Do the weeding.
Mow the lawn regularly during the sales process - cut lawns look and smell great.
Put in some extra bedding plants.
Trim the hedges.
Replace broken fence panels.
9) General points:
Smells are important, so air out the place after cooking spicy food.
Smoke outside.
Give the dog a bath and wash their bedding.
The temperature can have a very real impact on the comfort of a buyer and can easily put them off. At this time of year, make sure you open doors and windows if it gets too hot.
Finish off all those little DIY jobs you’ve been putting off – such as tightening loose doorhandles, replacing cracked window panes and fixing that bit of loose skirting board.
And finally, if you’ve lived in a house for a long time, it’s sometimes difficult to see what needs doing, so ask a friend to look the place over and tell you what they think.
10) Covid viewings:
Clean all potential contact surfaces before and after a viewing
Open windows to provide good ventilation
Keep all internal doors open to avoid unnecessary contact
If possible leave property while viewing takes place
If you are thinking about selling your home in any of our parts of London - Mayfair, Marylebone, Regent’s Park and Hyde Park – and would like some advice, just give us a call.
