TIPS FOR SELLING YOUR HOME? - Week 2

I hope you found last week’s tips helpful. This week we are focusing on decluttering. We have experienced all types of homeowners from the minimalistic to the maximalist, while selling homes over the last 28 years. Everyone has their own unique standards and levels of living. But one thing we at Jordans have come to realise is that less is more when it comes to selling your home. With this is mind we have come up with a few suggestions to help you to declutter your home and get it ready for sale.

Decluttering

Decluttering every so often is an important job for all homeowners, but if you are thinking of selling your home it becomes much more important. You want to showcase your home and make the house look amazing! But, if your home is packed full of personal possessions it can make your home seem messy and smaller. Also it makes it more difficult for a potential buyer to see past these items while putting doubt in their minds that potential repairs are being covered up. Clearing spaces will put their minds at ease. It gives the impression that the house is bigger and ultimately adds value to your home.

One Space at a Time

Rather than get overwhelmed by the thought of decluttering your home, try to focus on a different area each day. Make a simple timetable! Indicate what room or items you want to tackle each day. This will help you keep track of what is done and needs to be done. Keeping you focused on the tasks in hand and (most importantly) keeping you motivated.

Keep, Donate, Storage

Sort through coats, clothing and shoes. Make up different piles to keep, donate or store. It’s always good to consider simple solutions like keeping seasonal clothing in vacuum pack bags and putting them away in attic until you sell your home.

Paperwork

We all avoid the dreaded job of sorting paperwork. The thoughts of tackling paperwork is the hardest part, but once you get into the momentum you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish in a few hours. Start by buying an inexpensive storage or plastic box complete with hanging folders (buy in your local stationery shop or hardware store). Pick one drawer or area to start. Pull out all the paperwork onto a flat surface, then make up different bundles e.g. old bills, new bills, important docs. Anything no longer needed? Tear it up or shred it and put in your recycling bin. Then file away each bundle into your new filing box. You’ll be amazed at how this not only help clears the space in your home but also clears your head space.

Children’s Toys & Buggys

Keep your children’s favourite toys and put the rest of the them away. Plastic boxes under the bed or in the attic are a great solution. Also buy some inexpensive baskets so you can do a quick sweep up of toys when needed. This keeps them together making things so much neater. Store large items like buggys and bikes temporarily away in a shed.

Pets

Remember not everyone is an animal lover so ensure to tidy away all bowls, toys, dog leads and pet beds.

Furniture

Remove any excess furniture and donate to your local charity. This will help make rooms feel more spacious and means there’s less space for clutter to gather again.

Clothing

We all know how unpredictable the weather can be here in Ireland. How difficult it is to get clothes dry, but the last thing a buyer wants to see is someone else’s washing (no matter how clean it is so it is). It’s so important to put away any clothes horses or washing before a viewing.

Depersonalise

Rather than distracting a potential buyer with personalised shelved items replace them with some books or a lamp. This will also help buyers to visualise your home as ‘theirs’.

Kitchen

The kitchen is one of the most important rooms in anyone’s home. It’s the room that can make or break a deal! start by decluttering your kitchen work surfaces. Any rarely used gadgets and appliances go into cupboards. Remove fridge magnets and clear out your cutlery drawer. Lastly, make sure to declutter your window sills.

Bathroom

Replace old bathroom mats with new ones!… Or better again remove all mats. This will help make your bathroom seem bigger. Clear out empty shampoo or shower bottles and replace plastic liquid soap bottles with a soap container. Don’t forget to keep spare toilet rolls and any cleaning products out of sight.

Skip

For the bigger jobs order a skip to clear out broken furniture or an overflowing shed. You will be surprised how motivating this is. Especially when the skip collection day is looming.

Again, all the above suggestions are not hugely expensive but are very effective in showing your home in all its glory. This gives you every opportunity to hit your maximum selling price.

Watch out for more tips next week (the entrance….!)