How to make your house ready to sell at short notice

Selling a property within a short time-frame can be financially advantageous and motivating.

A professional real estate agent can fast-track the process further by giving you advice on presentation and decluttering, and putting you in contact with skilled tradespeople, designers and stylists.

Better still, good agents are up to date with the current trends in the market. They know what buyers are looking for and can provide invaluable advice on areas of the property worth spending money on and where it’s better to save.

Nelson Alexander Sales Director Arch Staver says the company has a large number of tradespeople and home improvement resources on call. An expert team can be speedily deployed to assist clients preparing to sell at short notice. “We are able to help people,” Mr Staver says. “It’s a little like the TV renovation programs: we can get in there and not quite renovate but certainly improve a house and have it ready to attract the maximum attention come auction day. We have turned some properties around in a couple of weeks, including paint, carpet and staging with some furniture – a real blitz.”

Mr Staver adds the caveat that a professional agent will always provide the client with “straight-up, realistic advice” on whether it is worth going ahead with an improvement or upgrade. For example, it may not be worth painting a particular property pre-sale if a new owner is going to do their own thing.

“That is really the key,” Mr Staver says. “You need to talk to an agent to get advice because often a physical improvement to a property will not translate into an improvement in price.”

“The return on investment is critical. There is little sense in spending one dollar to simply retrieve that dollar. There should be a two-or threefold return on the investment. If you are going to allocate $50,000 to improving a property, it is not unreasonable to have an expectation that you will recoup $150,000.”

Property experts recommend making a list of the things that you need to focus on before open for inspections begin. It’s easy to become overwhelmed, so break tasks into smaller chunks. This includes prioritising: if you’re preparing the house for photos, then you can store household items in a room that won’t be photographed and then sort it out before people come through the home.

The golden rule is that the more effortless a home looks, the more attractive it is to buyers.

First impressions really count. An agent may suggest investing in crucial details such as cleaning the roof gutters and pulling up weeds. Giving the front door a fresh coat of paint and sprucing up the verandah with a fresh coat of timber stain can also be winning moves.

One vital step in preparing for sale is to declutter. Try to remove everything that isn’t essential to a functioning home.  This includes furniture, decorations and ornaments, and additional items stored around your property. Smart vendors always consider how they can quickly create space in the home. It’s a strategy that helps to present a fresh look and allows potential buyers to feel a sense of flow around the house and garden.

If you can’t do everything yourself within the planned timeframe, it’s smart practice to outsource the more time-consuming jobs.

If your property has bulky, oversized and old furniture, it can let down the presentation and make the home look clunky and outdated. It is very important to display a property with furniture that is in proportion to the size of the rooms, so consider styling using rented furniture.

Remember that when a prospective buyer walks through the property, they are imagining their future life there and how they will live in the space. They don’t necessarily want to see your clothes in the wardrobes, bills and files in the study or the kids’ crayon drawings on the fridge.

It’s almost always important to repair obvious faults – such as broken front gates and cracked window panes – but take advice, draw up a budget and closely monitor your spending.

Nelson Alexander’s Arch Staver says: “Spending on improvements does not always translate into a higher price and this is where your agent can give you appropriate advice.”