First impressions count when it comes to selling a home. It is beneficial to do what you can to ensure that your property is staged well. Within budget and reason. Thankfully there are loads of inexpensive ways to make your home feel like a great contender for prospective buyers.

Street appeal is a valuable way to strike interest in buyers. This means that you would benefit from ensuring that the front yard is always in a neat and tidy state.

• Keep your lawns mowed, make it look manicured.
• Throw some native (eucalyptus based) mulch in the garden beds to release its perfume and help to keep the weeds down.
• Do some spot planting to add blooming flowers.
• Give your mailbox a fresh coat of paint & shine up the house numbers
• Remove all the cobwebs from the entrance to the doorway and windows
• Check your gutters to ensure that they are not overflowing with debris.
• Give the front door a fresh coat of paint or just a wash & shine the door handles

When a person enters your home, the ideal presentation will be designed in such a way that the buyer is easily able to imagine themselves living there.

• Depersonalize your home. This means, remove the family photos, take the magnets off the fridge, take away anything that would remind a person that they are in some-one else’s home.
• Where possible, aim to keep the colors and styling as neutral as possible.
• Declutter, kitchen bench tops, bathroom sinks, bedroom benches. A minimalist design is best as it allows people to appreciate the size of the rooms. The simpler you keep things the better.
• Ensure that the items in draws are neatly stored, the wardrobe has the clothes hanging in order.
• The carpets must be clean and the floors polished. Ideally, you want the windows washed so it is clear to see out. If the curtains are dusty, wash them.
• Make sure all the items that are broken are repaired. Eg: Replace that cracked tile, fix the leaking facet, get that old bathtub resurfaced.

One area that will help you stand out for the right buyers is creating an atmosphere that possesses a truly welcoming atmosphere.

• You need to be mindful that something that you like may be off putting for some-one else. This means that you will need to maintain a sense of developing an atmosphere that still embraces the ideals of keeping things neutral.
• Placing flowers in the home in different spots can be a lovely effect but try use blooms with little to no perfume. (Eg: Sunflowers, Dalia’s, Carnations etc)
• Use a nice smelling cleaning agent in the bathroom and toilet that people associate with cleanliness. (Eg: Domestos)
• You really don’t want to have too many fragrances happening in the house, so keep the oil diffusers, smelly candles and such, to a minimum.
• Delicious cooking smells on the other hand are well known to be a favorite and they do help to make people feel a sense of comfort. (Eg: Cookies, Muffins, Popcorn). 
• A bowl of fresh fruit on a table can also add some pop and contributes to the aesthetic appeal of a place.
• Leave some of the windows open so the breeze can flow through.
• Indoor plants are another option that you can leverage to help give the place a lift.

Pet owners – be mindful.

• Clean the litter trays and ideally if you can, have them placed out of sight. It is important that you also make sure that the backyard is cleaned of any steaming divots.
• Vacuum and de-fluff the place to minimize allergic reactions that some people may have to the presence of pets indoors.
• All pet toys, either neatly stored or ideally placed somewhere out of sight.

Author: Sherrie Lee