Whether you are trying to sell your home or putting a property on the market you need to make sure it is looking its best. The end of 2019 and start of 2020 is proving to be a difficult time for letting agents and property owners alike at the housing market continues to be very sluggish – many houses that would be snapped up in days are sitting on the market for months at a time. We have the perfect storm for the property market – a combination of investor uncertainty, economic downturn and the lingering Brexit is putting people off moving house. So, if you want your property to be the next to go off the market you need to go above and beyond to impress customers.
Modernise Your Home
While the exterior of houses remains relatively unchanged, interiors are undergoing a big makeover in 2020. Gone are vibrant colours, deep pile carpets and busy rooms. Today, people are looking for minimalist homes and the most popular colours are grey, white and silver. 10 years ago this would have been considered far too drab, but millennial especially lover the combination of grey and silver. So your first job must be to decorate.
Painting a home is the quickest and cheapest way to give it a fresh new look. A £30 tin of paint will usually be enough to complete an average sized room, so grab some subtle grey paint and get to work. Give ceilings, skirting boards and doors a fresh coat of white paint too. The latest trend in carpets in Essex is also grey, but with a lush thick pile.
Bathrooms are always the hardest room to quickly modernise, but so long as you have a white bathroom suite you’ll be OK. Tiles can quickly date a bathroom, but you can also paint tiles. Painting over bathroom tiles is much easier and more effective than it sounds and when done well people cannot tell the difference between a painted tile and an original one. A bathroom is one room where a little colour can complement greys and whites really well, so a using a vibrant colour on old tiles is a good idea.
Freshen It Up
There is nothing worse than a home that smells of previous occupants. If there is a hint of smoke, pets or dampness in the home, give it a deep clean to get rid of the smells. Before people view open all the windows for 10 minutes to get some fresh air in and put out some strong smelling fresh flowers to disguise any iffy smells. Installing an AOV System is a great way to keep a propery fresh automatically without having to visit to open and close windows.
A house should also look fresh. Old windows can be disguised with some stylish new shutters, and shutter fitters in Essex are using the latest styles to give homes an amazing makeover that can add thousands to the value of your property.
Look After the Exterior
If the property is empty, make sure you get round every week to keep the front of the house looking neat and tidy. Clear away rubbish, keep the garden looking tidy and wash the windows. Give the front door a lick of paint too – it is often the first thing people see when viewing a house!
Make sure the driveway is looking fantastic too – if you have block paving, remove all weeks and moss, and if you have gravel give the stones a quick rake to even out bumps and patches.
These three simple tips might well be enough to get a few more viewers and more importantly, encourage somebody to sign a new rental agreement, or make an offer to purchase.
