Kerb Appeal – Making a good first impression
You don’t – or at least shouldn’t – judge a book by its front cover, or so they say, but property is a different matter entirely.
Buyers today make large decisions about a property in a very short amount of time, with recent research from Halifax suggesting that the average buyer spends just 33 minutes viewing a property. In such a short time appearance counts for a lot, with buyers keeping an eye out for tell-tale signs of a neglected home.
Attentional to detail can make all the difference, but how can you get clients to improve their property?
Here are seven simple steps that can turn a property around from setting warning bells off to making people fall in love.
1. Paint the front door
The first thing people see is the door, so make sure it’s a good first impression. Flaking paint or dirty glass isn’t going to help matters, so give it a new lick of paint or if it’s a PVC door make sure it’s gleaming.
2. Clean and tidy
It’s amazing how many people don’t give the house a good scrub before viewings; make sure the hovering and dusting has been done. Don’t clean to the extent that it looks as though no one really lives there, but tidy enough so that people get a real idea of what the space is like – cluttered rooms look smaller.
3. A lick of paint
Similar to the first point, but if the décor in your house is looking old and worn then liven it up a bit – give the impression that it is a cared for home. Anyone moving in is probably going to decorate it their way anyway, but painting the walls with fresh white or cream paint will give the property a new lease of life and show potential buyers the blank canvas they have to play with.
4. Clean your windows
There’s something sad about a house with dirty windows, so ensure any property you are selling is letting all the available light in and that people can see out. Also check the window frames, if they are wooden and have rotted you might want to suggest they are replaced before selling.
5. Light it up
Brighter rooms look bigger, so make sure your rooms look as large as they can by flooding the place with light. An artificial arc light is a little obvious, but really open those curtains (to reveal shiny clean windows) or make sure that the lights you have in the room illuminate every corner.
6. Sort the DIY
If your client has lived in the property for a while then chances are there are quite a few little repairs that need doing. Missing cupboard handles, cracked tiles, loose carpets are all small things be could be warning signs of an uncared for property – fix the little things and make the whole place look more together.
7. Don’t let the neighbour spoil it
Is next door a bit of a mess? Does the grass need mowing or the hedge cutting? Suggest to the owners that whilst they’re mowing their own lawn they might want to ask their neighbour if they can do theirs too. A neighbour’s garden can create a terrible first impression for the property up for sale; moaning probably won’t work so suggest to the owners to enhance next door’s garden whilst they’re doing their own.
The little details can make a much larger difference than people might expect, so getting your clients to have a bit more attention to detail can make the difference between lots of offers and very few.
This blog was brought to you by The Property Software Group, parent company of Alto, Vebra Solutions, Core Systems, CFP Software, Jupix and The Media Design House.
For more information on the estate and letting agency software solutions we provide, call us today on 08446 626 464 or email
info@propertysoftwaregroup.com
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