10 things you need to know before selling your house

1.   You need a good real estate agent

A great agent makes a huge difference in the listing and selling of your house, not to mention it takes a lot of weight off your shoulders. Find an agent who knows the area, and who you feel you can trust. Ask friends or family members who have sold for recommendations. You want someone who is realistic and honest when it comes to selling your home.

2.   You can increase value without renovating

You should only renovate if you truly believe it will increase the value of the home. A good starting point is to look at the houses around yours, do they offer things that yours doesn’t? For example, if all the other properties in your area have solar panels, you may need to add this element to be on par with the other houses on the market. But changes pre-sale don’t always mean more money gained from the property, they often just make the property easier to sell. Sometimes a few repairs and some paint are all you need.

3.    The front gives the first impression

The front garden and entrance to the house is the first thing people see. It is worth investing in the street presence of your home to make it more inviting, and enhance the overall appeal of the home. Make sure lawn is neat, flowers and plants are maintained, and the driveway is clean. Consider the front as an extension of your home, not just some extra, neglected area.

4.   Make rooms appear bigger by decluttering

Less is more when it comes to living spaces. A room that's full of furniture or other things looks smaller, so keep rooms as empty as possible to give the illusion of more spacious rooms. Light also makes rooms appear bigger, so open all the curtains and add small lights to the areas that are dim.

5.   You need to depersonalise

Those markings of the kids changing height on the living room wall make your house feel like home. But this isn’t the vibe you want to give to potential buyers. Keeping the house as neutral and empty as possible allows potential buyers to envisage themselves living there, without remnants of your life in it.

6.   Be boring with the paint

You might love your feature yellow wall, but there is a good chance some potential buyers will not. Repaint all walls white, or other neutral colours that aren’t distracting. The person who buys the house might repaint after they buy it, but neutral colours prevent people becoming uninterested.

7.   You can’t smell your own home

Notice that when you walk into someone else’s home there is often a certain smell? Chances are, your home has a smell too, but you can’t smell it because you live there. Get a third party in, preferably someone who has never visited before, to get their opinion on whether your home has a welcoming smell.

8.   Pets can be unappealing

You might think your dog is the most beautiful dog in the world, but that’s because it’s yours. Strangers might not think so, and you never know who is allergic or has a fear of certain small animals. Keep your pets away from the house during open house hours, to avoid turning potential buyers away.

9.   Give each room a purpose

Telling a potential buyer “this room is where we store junk” isn’t exactly appealing. Even if you’ve never used the room before, pick a use for it (office, guest room, kids’ bedroom), and show potential buyers how they can make use of the room themselves.

10. You need to break up with your house

If you’ve been living in this house for years, it might be hard to say goodbye. One of the most important things when it comes to selling your home is to no longer see it as your home. Focus on your future, and start seeing your home as a product to be marketed and sold, while also using your experience living in that house to market to potential buyers.

This blog post is the intellectual property of Peter Taliangis of Professionals Fremantle and is being used on this site solely as a representation of my work.