Getting your home ready to sell: What you’ll need

Sam Richards
Authored by Sam Richards
Posted Tuesday, November 5, 2019 - 9:49pm

They say that selling your home is one of the most stressful processes you can ever go through. Getting it ready to appeal to new viewers, looking at potential houses to buy and getting ready to move your entire life over to a new destination can certainly take its toll on your patience. Creating a checklist, therefore, is one of the easiest ways to get your ducks in a row. It will help you to know what to prioritise, and what you have left to complete. It also prevents those gut-wrenching moments when you realise you’ve forgotten to do something.

Some basic DIY

You’ve got to get your current home ready to sell, and unless you have a fantastic budget, you may need to overhaul it yourself slightly. Knowing how to repair plaster, re-grout your bathrooms and do some basic woodwork fixing could make a surprising difference. You want your home to need as little work as possible, so visitors can walk around and imagine themselves being able to move in right away. Be sure, too, that viewers can tell what each room serves a purpose; for example, if you have a room that is sometimes a study and sometimes a bedroom – pick one. 

It’s helpful to start redecorating your home. If you haven’t given the walls a coat of paint in a number of years, then giving them a refresh will give the new owners far less to do. If you have a bit of a wacky taste in colour, however, then perhaps reserve this for a new abode. Potential homeowners might find bright, poppy colours a bit much. Instead, stick to more neutral shades that can be applied anywhere seamlessly.

The name of a reliable tradesperson 

There are some renovation tricks that may be out of your depth. On top of that, in your new property, you will want to check that the plumbing and electrics are all sound. Hunt around for a well-reviewed tradesperson who can come round and get your home safe and ready to go, without worrying about their handiwork. 

A solicitor

This is the legal crossing ’T’s and dotting ‘I’s that you will need to do when you finally sell your home. A conveyancing solicitor will be needed to sign over the property and formalise all the legal and financial documentation. Once they give you the thumbs-up, you can toast to the fact that you have successfully moved home.

A trustworthy estate agent

You don’t want an estate agent that has the gift of the gab but makes life unnecessarily difficult for you. Finding an estate agent who is trustworthy, and has a real eye for the market you’re looking in will make you resent paying those agency fees less. Going round different estate agents in your local town to see what’s on their books is the best way to meet different estate agents and find someone who you fundamentally trust. 

The stress of moving house can easily be minimised. By creating a list of your ‘must-haves’ and ‘must-dos’, you can tick them off, one by one, until before you know it, you’ve dropped off the last box of personal items. 

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