How To Prepare Your Home For A Property Viewing

It’s no secret that making your home look presentable and impressive before hosting a property viewing or taking marketing photos with an estate agent is an incredibly important process. Realistically, however, a lot of people end up underestimating just how much of a difference presentation can make when selling your home. 

Appearance can be the difference between a property that stays stuck on the property market without getting the offers you hope for, ending with you lowering the asking price, and a property that attracts decent and impressive bids shortly after going up for sale. 

It’s all about making the most of your property’s assets and minimising the flaws for both the marketing your estate agent will do and for impressing potential buyers on the day when they visit for a viewing in person. Today’s housing market is incredibly competitive, and the honest truth is that doing the bare minimum often isn’t enough. The more you can do the better – a new lick of paint is great, but there’s plenty you can do to craft a fine visitor experience. 

Selling your home is stressful enough as it is. Here at Jordan & Halstead, we always pride ourselves on making the process and quick, enjoyable and stress free as possible for our clients and customers. We understand that preparing your home to be viewed by potential buyers can feel like a daunting and insurmountable task. That’s why we’ve taken the time to make this guide to help you in making your home ready to impress potential buyers. 

Clear out and clean, clean and clean again

Fortunately, if you’re planning on moving home then there’s a good chance that you’ve been spending a bit of time clearing things out already anyway. This really helps when selling your home. After all, property value has a lot to do with space, and if your home is full and cluttered with belongings thanks to a bad hoarding habit, it’s going to look like you don’t have as much space as you do. 

The clearer and emptier your house for marketing photos and property viewings, the more spacious your home is going to look. Plus, potential buyers want to be able to visualise and imagine themselves living in any property they’ll consider putting in a bid for. An emptier and uncluttered home will make this a lot easier. 

But clearing out your home is only half the battle. While it may seem like it goes without saying, it’s worth saying anyway – cleaning is a vital part of preparing your home to be sold! There might be nothing that makes a home feel less inviting, welcoming and appealing than an overabundance of dirt and grime. 

Of all our tips, this one is probably the most important. You really do want your property to be as spotless as possible before inviting any potential buyers in through the front door. From cleaning windows and frames, dusting your skirting boards, scrubbing your tiling and more, cleaning is probably the biggest chore you’re going to face when selling your home. 

But this is a silver lining! A lot of sellers do this half-heartedly – by going the extra mile, you can make sure that your property stands out on the market. By standing out, you’re more likely to sell faster, get more interest, and attract more generous offers. The good part is that cleaning doesn’t cost you anything – just time and effort. 

Depersonalise your property

As we touched on above, one of the best things you can do when selling your property is to make it as easy as possible for potential buyers to visualise themselves living in the home. This often means spending a bit of time depersonalising your property – which might require some level of emotional detachment to do. At this point, it’s easier and better to view your home as a product to be sold. 

Essentially, this means making your property more neutral. Whether you have an abundance of family photos or outlandish art making up a lot of the decor, this can prevent buyers from imagining their own style and personal touch and possessions within the home. This can put buyers off. Homes are all about you and your family and putting your stamp on the home. Personal letters, kids drawings and similar items can subconsciously take away from this when people come to visit your home. 

Make use of lighting and scenting

Lighting can make a huge impression on those coming to your home for a property viewing. Dark, shadowy and dingy environments can be a real turn off, whereas light and airy spaces look bigger, brighter and more appealing. A great thing to do is to go around your home and try to make sure that each room has as much natural light as possible. 

Consider pruning trees or plants that might be blocking your natural light, or think about rearranging your furniture to make the most of your windows and lighting. Blinds and curtains can prevent light so it might be worth temporarily taking them down. Even if a room simply suffers from poor natural light, you can hide this by using various light sources, bulbs and mirrors to make your space feel brighter and bigger. 

Scent and smells are other things that are worth considering before hosting a property viewing. Ever walked past a store or food stall and been enticed towards it simply by the lovely aroma? We certainly have. Scenting is actually a powerful retail marketing tool and it’s something you can use to great effect in your home. 

Smells are linked to emotions and memory, and unpleasant or offensive smells like those from bins or damp can powerfully impact how potential buyers feel about your home. Air fresheners are a simple and easy solution, but for the best effects try to go for more natural odours. Fresh flowers, baking bread and potpourri are great options. Also make sure you air your home before a viewing to get rid of any bad odours too!

Get in touch

We’re passionate about marketing properties for sale and for helping people enjoy the selling process as much as possible here at Jordan & Halstead. Want to find out more? Just get in touch with us today. Discover how we can help you make the most of selling your home!