Preparing your home for sale is about more than updating kerb appeal and doing a few repairs here and there, so it looks good. That’s not to say they’re insignificant, far from it. Just not the only things you can do to add value to the selling process and set yourself up for a successful and quick sale.

This article is going to look at how you can prepare your home for sale before you pick up a hammer or book a major renovation.

Get a Home Valuation

Before you do anything else, see why not book a free home valuation? Talking to a local estate agent can help you uncover what your home is worth, its potential, and if it has what current buyers are looking for.

The benefit of a valuation is that you can see how it compares to other properties in the area and gives you more realistic expectations of what you can expect to get for your property when you put it up for sale. And it helps you avoid over- or undervaluing it.

Research the Local Property Market

Understanding the property market where you live is just as important as understanding what you can realistically ask for when you list for sale.

At this point, you want to look at current homes on the market, what they’re listed for and what buyers are getting for their money, and compare this to what you’re offering.

Look at when they hit the market and then evaluate the duration between listings going live and eventual sales by checking out recently sold properties. Ideally, you’d do this over a couple of weeks to track any price adjustments for non-sellers or how fast status changes from sale to sold.

Then compare estate agents, how long are their properties on the market for, and what can you expect for them when you list your home for sale. Look at their marketing strategies for current listings, how they target buyers or the general advice they give you for selling your home. Speak to a few estate agents to get an idea of the market, their approach and what you can expect moving forward if you choose them.

Research Potential Improvements

Now here, we’re not looking at making the improvements unless, of course, you want to and are confident you can recoup the outlay or make money doing so. We’re simply looking at future possibilities. 

But why bother if you’re planning on moving? Here’s the thing: if you’re doing the legwork to see what is possible and getting quotes from builders or renovation specialists, for example, you can present this to buyers to show them what is possible for them to put their own stamp on things if they buy. And this can make it more enticing than other properties they might be looking at. The idea here is to give them options and possibilities. Especially if they’re looking to expand, or your property needs modernising anyway.

And this doesn’t require any commitment from you; you can simply take advantage of free quotes and pass the details on to interested parties.