The first impression a potential buyer has of your property is what they see from their car when they drive past it in the street. It is essential that the exterior of your property is presented as immaculately as possible. This will create a strong positive first impression of your property and will impress potential buyers passing by. If potential buyers are disappointed with the exterior presentation of your house they may choose not view the property at all.

Once the potential buyer is out of their car and at your front door then the next challenge commences. The potential buyer will now conduct a thorough interior and exterior viewing of your property. Potential buyers will look at all the finer details of the property and look for signs that things are broken, not functioning, leaking, cracked or dirty. Once potential buyers find a default in a property they may question the overall standard of the property. Flaws in your property reduce your bargaining power and weaken your property listing price. This is why it is so important that you focus on the presentation of your property and do not overlook any minor faults it may have. Make sure you do everything in your means to make your property perfect.

Home Improvements
The first step involved in preparing your property for sale is to assess your Property Appraisal and the positive and negative features listed for your property. Any negative features which relate to the physical appearance of the property need to be addressed when preparing your property for sale. In particular, you need to assess which of the negative features can be improved. Perhaps you can get a tradesman to come in and fix the roof up, or lay some new grass, even replace the carpet in the lounge room. Any improvements which will take time need to be addressed as soon as possible so they can be completed before the property is placed on the market.

Note: Before you commit to any significant improvements to your property, you need to make sure that the money you spend now will be sufficiently recovered when you sell your property. A common ratio which is used for home renovations is that for every $1 you invest in improving the property now should result in $2 extra when you sell the property.

Clear Clutter
The next step in preparing your property is to go through your belongings including furniture, clothes, toys, kitchen utensils, and any other clutter around your home and dispose or store things which you no longer use. The reason for this is that buyers are attracted to properties which have a lot of space, so clearing clutter will improve this. This may also have the added benefit of reducing your moving expenses as you will have fewer things to move into your new property. There are a number of ways to dispose of unwanted goods including; having a garage sale, donating them to charity, giving them to friends or placing things in the rubbish.

Clean
The third step is to perform a thorough clean of your property from roof to floor both internally and externally. This is one of the major determinants leading to a successful sale of a property and should not be overlooked by any property owners. Below is a checklist of tasks which you should make sure you perform while cleaning your property:

External
• Make sure all your lawns are trimmed, neat, tidy and preferably green.
• Make sure all hoses, sprinklers, lawn mowers, bikes and toys are packed neatly away in your storage area. Any rubbish needs to be disposed of through your local council.
• All gardens should look neat and tidy and all weeds should be removed. If your garden lacks colour you can plant some bright flowers.
• Make sure all overhanging trees are trimmed and nothing inhibits the house.
• Make sure all gates, fences, entertainment areas, verandas and the like are clean and tidy and have been oiled or painted.
• Clean all guttering and remove leaves from roof. Dust and wash down the roof eves making sure all cob webs are removed.
• Wash all windows on both the inside and outside making sure they are crystal clean. Make sure they function correctly and that fly screens are in tact.
• Paint the property if needed otherwise make sure all walls are clean.
• Make sure the front door, door bell and front door lights are all working. Make sure you clean or paint the front door frame. You can even hire some pot plants to place at the front door.
• Clean the driveway and all other hard surfaced areas.
• Make sure the letterbox is clean and functions correctly.

Internal
• Make sure all leaking taps, cracked windows, mirrors, broken doors, holes in walls, stains in carpet are removed as these are things potential buyers do not want to see.
• Make lots of space in your property by rearranging the furniture.
• Wash all walls and ceilings making sure all marks are removed. If necessary re-paint areas which still do not look clean
• Have your carpet professionally cleaned along with any rugs or door mats.
• Wash all curtains and drapes making sure all dust is removed.
• Check all doors in the property making sure they open and close, are not squeaky and doors knobs and locks work.
• Make sure everything in your bathroom functions and nothing leaks water or makes unusual noises. Clean the bathroom making sure all mould is removed.
• Remove unnecessary things from your cupboards and wardrobes so they look spacious.
• Open curtains and blinds along with windows allowing light and fresh air to pass through your property.
• Make sure you have dusted all walls, ceilings and all furniture.

Once you have performed all the above tasks you will have a property which will be professionally presented to potential buyers.

Disclaimer: All information provided in this blog does not come with any guarantee in relation to its accuracy. This is our opinion in relation to issues relating to the real estate industry. Privatepoint or its employees will not be help liable for any liabilities, expenses, losses, damages or costs, that may be incurred by you or a third party as a result of or in connexion with use of this information.