6 things to do before you list your home for sale

There is never a better time to look at your home with fresh eyes than when you want to put it on the market.

When presenting your home to potential buyers, you want them to be able to imagine themselves living in the space. So, when styling for sale, it’s important to dial down personal items like family photos and sporting trophies and to dial up elements that highlight spaces and their functionality.

Here are my non-negotiable, bottom-line tips for getting your house sale-ready.

Checklist for preparing your home for sale

1. Cull the clutter and clean

The starting point is always a thorough clean up and clean out. If you’re known to be a bit of a hoarder, this may be the time to call in reinforcements to help you become a bit more ruthless in the culling process.

Marie Kondo may have had her time in the sun, but her point is still valid – what you keep needs to serve a purpose (sentimentality counts); if it doesn’t, it’s time to say farewell. Not only do you not want to be transporting items you don’t need to your next home, but you’ll create breathing space in your current home. Creating the illusion of space is essential to prospective buyers.

This is also the time to tackle a deep clean, including rarely cleaned areas like ceiling fan blades, which are often coated with a thick layer of dust.

Buyers won’t be able to see through the ick of a dirty home, so clean surfaces are a must.

2. Hook them with kerb appeal

I don’t need to remind you of the power of first impressions, so reinvigorating your facade is important.

Mow the lawn, pull the weeds, whipper snip and pressure hose. Fix broken fence panels, mulch the garden and trim back the overgrown shrub that might be blocking light to your living room.

This might also be the time to reconsider items you’ve added, like garden water fountains or bird baths, that may not be in keeping with the style of the home.

3. Paint it out

I can’t overstate the power of paint. It’s so hugely transformative, and the bonus is that if the budget is tight, it is something you can do yourself.

If you’re going to spend money on paint, you want to make sure you’re not simply painting walls the same colour as they are. This is your opportunity to contemporise your home inside and out.

And don’t just paint everything white, which seems to be the popular sales preparation route. There’s no quicker way to suck the personality out of a room. You want your buyers to feel something, and colours do that.

Use Pinterest to see what works. Sample at least four colours in each space and then paint all the walls in a room. Please, no feature walls. The contrast is jarring, and nobody wants that.

4. Beg and borrow to properly furnish rooms

It might be a good friend who will let you borrow furniture for the duration of a sales campaign, but if you can even borrow some key pieces for the marketing photos, you’ll be doing your home a favour.

You might need a couple of bedheads or some key pieces of art. It might be a dining table or a few side tables to show your buyers how the space can be used and maximised.

If you’re selling in a higher price bracket, it might be worth engaging a property stylist who will come and fill in the blanks or stage the home from scratch, depending on your budget.

5. Ask for constructive feedback

Bring in a friend or family member to critique your place with fresh eyes. We get so used to being in our home that we become immune to its flaws.

On the flip side, you don’t want to spend time, money and energy changing or repairing something that most people wouldn’t be bothered by or even notice.

While your friend is there, get them to do the sniff test. We become very used to the smell of our home to the point that it might be difficult to recognise if certain areas smell like mothballs or your precious pooch. You may need to maximise airflow and light candles to help set the scene at your open homes.

6. Level up your bed covers

Dare I say it, but now might be the time to invest if you don’t have nice bed covers. The bed cover accounts for a large amount of surface space in a bedroom, so it pays to have something of quality here.

For some reason, linen presents well on a bed and block colours rather than intricate patterns, which is a smart way to contemporise your space.

You can get inexpensive linen quilt covers at your discount department stores, but they will likely look better than they feel. So, if you’re going to buy linen bedding that you’ll ultimately sleep in, then get the good stuff.

Led by a passion for interior design, Carlene runs Cedar and Suede, a full-service interior design studio based on the Gold Coast.