“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe” is a life truism.

If you prepare your property before marketing it for sale – you can add between 2% and 5% to the value, I guarantee it!

If you’d like to know what to do, call me o 07855 828 736 as I’d be happy to visit and discuss it with you.

For starters though, this is a good guide to consider –

External paintwork

Instant appeal! – Refresh tired widowsills, your front fence or street door. A good first impression is vital when selling a property.

Colours

Are your walls heavily marked?

Have your children drawn on walls?

Are your colours strong and bold and a personal choice?

Then it will be money or time well spent giving it a fresh (and neutral) refresh.

Don’t forget the impact newly painted skirtings, doors and architraves will have too.

Repainting is the ‘cheapest’ way to add instant impact.

Floor coverings

If you have damaged or badly marked floors, replacing these will give an instant uplift aesthetically.

Again, take advice from an expert on what the typical buyer of your property might prefer in materials and colour.

For example, Karndean or Amtico type Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) floors are much more preferable to laminate floors these days, especially for those with children due to their robustness.

Kitchens

If you are thinking to upgrade it, please take advice as I’ve seen people change an entire kitchen to something 95% of buyers will want to immediately change! That’s an expensive mistake to make.

If you are looking to freshen your kitchen only, then new cabinet doors, A kitchen wrap (yes they wrap kitchens like they do cars) re-tiling, a new splashback or a general paint refresh or colour change may make a huge difference.

Again, get professional advice so you don’t make a costly mistake.

Bathrooms

The most difficult room to keep looking fresh for obvious reasons, and often some new grouting and sealant can make a huge difference if it’s badly coloured or scarred.

If you are considering re-tiling or a complete update, again take advice as to what designs may appeal to your typical buying demographic for your property and area.

Bathrooms that are well designed, needn’t cost more to instal, but can add a lot of additional value.

Garden

Trim and cut back any overgrown areas and fix any damaged fences.

If gardening isn’t a passion, consider a gardener to help make it attractive ready for going on the market for sale.

Add cheap lights if you don’t have any and designate an area for eating/sitting/ or relaxing too.  They can be used to great effect for images.

Dress/style/curate your property for the marketing

Now that you’ve attended to your property to increase its saleability, make sure you put a huge effort into staging it.  I’ll tell you more about that later.

We may be able to help

If you are thinking of selling and want to know how you can improve the value of your property, please do get in touch.

In fact, if you’re thinking of selling and you don’t have the budget to improve your property and it does need updating, please get in touch, as we may be able to help you fund any refurbishment works (I’ve written another blog post all about this here).