If you’re thinking about selling your home, make sure you’ve done all the preparation in advance first. Interior design guru Vanessa Webb has 10 steps for you to follow when presenting a home for sale in order to attract buyers and the best price.
First impressions count and making the right impression on buyers can mean extra dollars in your pocket when selling. In part one of a two part story Deb Tapp outlines steps one to four in a 10-step process to maximise your home’s potential.
IF YOU’RE thinking about selling your home, make sure you’ve done all the preparation in advance first. Interior design guru Vanessa Webb has just gone through that process herself.
She knows exactly how important presenting a home for sale is, in order to attract buyers and to attract the best price.
As owner of Wellington interior design business Dress My Nest, Vanessa has helped numerous clients prepare their houses for sale over the years.
Now it’s her turn, she’s got a 10-step process of her own she’d like to share to help other vendors maximise their home’s potential.
It’s not about making major changes, says Vanessa, it’s more about going through a to-do list of low-cost chores like decluttering, repairs and maintenance, cleaning and touch-ups, all of which will make a difference.
Remove the clutter, it will make your home look larger and more appealing.
“Even when I’m working on designing people’s homes, whether it’s redecorating or renovating, I can’t do a good job unless they declutter first – it all starts with the art of tidying.”
Everything should be either beautiful or have a specific purpose so that you appreciate it, says Vanessa, and if it doesn’t fit into those two categories, get rid of it.
Room by room, start with items that are the least meaningful and finish off with the more sentimental items.
Place each item in one of four piles – sell, donate, throw or keep.
Vanessa’s just gone through that process in what is the eighth house she’s about to sell - five trailer loads have gone to the tip, one truckload has gone to the Salvation Army and every day for the past two weeks items she’s sold have been sitting on her front porch for the new owners to collect.
In the garage, boxes that were never unpacked from her last house are gone too.
Go through drawers and cupboards in every room of the house as well
“People need to see what the storage is and they’re going to completely underestimate the space and size of the rooms if they’re full of junk.”
Get right up-to-date with the to-do list.
Fix any issues, like leaks, attend to things like tired paint, holes in walls, sticking doors, replace lightbulbs and even obtain a builder’s report to ensure there are no surprises come sales time.
“I’ve just gotten up-to-date with my laundry and gone right around the house so that it looks as good as it can - if it looks unmaintained it’s going to give the house a bad look,” says Vanessa.
“We’ve had our house washed and windows cleaned, we’ve gone through and touched up any paintwork, repainted window sills if they needed freshening up, patched up any paintwork, anywhere where we’ve moved a piece of art and it’s left a hole in the wall…”
If you have a feature wall that mightn’t appeal to the majority or a colour scheme that is dated inside, consider repainting.
Vanessa has given one particular room a makeover, her children’s playroom that featured bright pink wallpaper, kids’ art on the walls, and a ballet bar to boot.
“It was a really bright colourful cluttered room that was completely functional for us, we loved having a room that we could close off and leave Lego all over the floor, where the kids could practice their ballet and play.
“But that’s not going to appeal to everybody, so we’ve turned our bright crazy room into a true second living area – we’ve fixed up the holes from the ballet bars, painted it white and replaced old wall lights that have always bugged me with new ones that totally transform the space.
“It’s functional and tidy, a space that children will enjoy but equally adults could happily watch the rugby in there, teenagers could entertain their friends or you could have friends over for a drink, it’s completely multi-purpose living.”
The new living area is also decorated in the same style as the lounge to ensure flow and to give that sense of connection.
“A lick of paint isn’t going to cost you much, it’s more about time and elbow grease but it’s definitely worth it, those tweaks can make a big difference.”
A home must be presented in the most attractive way to appeal to as many buyers as possible and to give them that “I want to live here” feeling.
And research shows staging a home properly will fetch a better price.
Think about functionality, says Vanessa, give each room a purpose and dress it appropriately.
“Think about what people are looking for in the market, a lot of people have boxes to tick, it might be four bedrooms and two living areas, three bedrooms, a study and two living areas, so think about what will make your house most appealing.”
The playroom she has since turned into a second living area was dressed as a bedroom when she bought the house.
“It has big cupboards and shelves which has provided plenty of storage for us as a playroom, but we didn’t want to dress it as a bedroom again, we know many buyers are looking for two living areas.”
Her daughter’s former bedroom had become Vanessa’s office in recent years, but she’s turned that back into a bedroom in preparation for selling.
“An office doesn’t look that attractive, so we took the office furniture out, made a study nook in the second living area and dressed that room as a bedroom again.”
By that Vanessa means going through every room with the specific intention of making it look as large as possible.
“You might have some furniture you want to keep and you love, but they might make spaces look crowded, think about removing some of the furniture if you need to.”
Vanessa speaks of homes she’s been into that have been cluttered with six occasional chairs in the lounge, or multiple nests of tables and even foot stools that take up valuable floor space.
“Even in bedrooms some people have two or three chests of drawers, try to keep it to one and hire a storage unit or borrow garage space in the meantime.
“It’s important to give every room as much floor space as possible, you don’t want them to look over-stuffed and cluttered, and therefore small.
“You want people to imagine their furniture in your home, and they can’t do that if rooms are over-crowded.”
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