Seven cheap ideas to sell your house
Enhance your home’s appeal, on a budget, with these quick and cheerful tips, writes Anabela Rea.
If you’re concerned that preparing to sell your home might cost you a bomb, rest assured there are a few easy ways to achieve your goals that won’t break the bank. From a fresh coat of paint, to simply clearing some room, here are seven straightforward (and cost-effective) ways to improve your home’s appearance and help it make that essential great first impression.
1. CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN
A deep clean should be your first port of call when preparing your home for sale and the good news is, you can do it yourself.
It’ll need to look as clean as you would leave it when moving out, so now is the time to tick off all those cleaning tasks that you usually leave for just a few times a year. Some could be: cleaning your oven, descaling the showerhead, and even cleaning your whiteware, or any blinds if they are to stay.
Wiping down the walls with sugar soap is also worthwhile, first of all for its cleaning properties, and secondly, if you plan to repaint some areas later.
Don’t forget the floors, ceilings, and any moulding, window trims, or architraves, as these are all places that can gather dust.
2. TICK OFF SMALL REPAIRS
Got a kitchen drawer that’s a bit sticky or a door that doesn’t quite close? Allocate yourself an hour or two and tick off any small, outstanding maintenance tasks.
If it’s visible to buyers, it needs to be fixed.
3. TRY A FRESH COAT OF NEUTRAL PAINT
It’s often said by real estate agents that homes with neutral coloured paint themes sell better. Prospective buyers just seem to love to be able to more easily picture themselves and their belongings taking up residence.
New paint is one of the cheapest yet highest impact ways to update an interior. So for a few hundred dollars, you could give the entire inside of your home a fresh new look that’s worth thousands on the other side of your sale.
A general rule for paint is to choose a ceiling tone that is half or quarter strength of the colour on the walls, so as to draw the eye upwards and make the room feel bigger.
Wet areas like laundries, kitchens and bathrooms will require a more durable form of paint, while a standard low sheen paint is fine for hallways, living areas, dining, offices, and bedrooms.
Make sure to use a semi-gloss paint on any trims, doors and surrounds, as these areas are considered ‘high touch’ and therefore need a more hard-wearing finish.
4. STAGE YOUR HOME FOR SUCCESS
If you have a bigger budget, using professional home staging can seriously enhance your home. For those operating on a shoestring, there are still a few tricks you can pull from a stylist’s toolkit.
Although you are still living in it, to prepare your home for sale, you need to think like a buyer, rather than as the person who currently lives there.
Take a step back and examine the way in which you have your furniture laid out. Does it encourage an easy flow into and through the home?
To encourage a more appealing atmosphere, make sure that no furniture is blocking doors that may lead outside, and group furniture conversationally, as if people could sit down to easily talk to each other, rather than having it all facing the TV.
In the bedrooms, strip away clutter and dress the beds so that the pillowcases and duvets are matching. A throw rug and/or cushions in co-ordinating colours can help to add the final touch.
If you don’t have items like this at home yourself, check out some local op-shops or take a trip to Kmart. You might be surprised what accessories you can find that will greatly lift the look of your home.
5. IMPROVE KERB APPEAL
Simply put, kerb appeal is how good your home looks from the outside. Does it look like a happy home that’s beckoning people in?
Mowing the lawn, weeding the garden, and waterblasting any paths and surfaces will do wonders for transforming your home’s exterior. Again, this is a great place to enhance with paint, so fix up any chips on your fence or letterbox.
Finally, adding symmetry at your front door with a plant each side is a great way to define your entrance and draw people in.
6. DECLUTTER
Pairing back the visual noise from your home via decluttering is entirely free and is maybe the single most effective way to make your home more appealing.
You can do this by going room to room with two big rubbish bags or two washing baskets – one is for things to be donated or sold, the other for items to stash away.
Try to clear surfaces so only one to three objects remain, and definitely put away any photos. Remember, this is not a museum of you – for now, the goal is to sell your house.
7. BRING IN GREENERY
Don’t have the budget for flowers in every room? That’s quite all right.
Simply head outside with a pair of clippers and fill some vases around your home with luscious green leafy strands and branches.
Magnolia foliage, eucalyptus, fern fronds, kowhai, or even lemon blossom, can all look amazing and add texture inside.