Property Parade | 6 Tips For Getting Your Home Market-Ready

Real estate in Melbourne is a hot topic, as always, with house prices steadily increasing and showing no signs of slowing down. If you happen to own a house, this can be an exciting time, as you might be sitting on a metaphorical gold mine. One problem, however, is whether or not your house will actually sell. If you are based in St Kilda and you search for “realestate st kilda agents”, will you find an agent that can get the best possible price for your home? Are you even going to go through a real estate agency? These questions and more are addressed in our handy guide to getting your home “market-ready”.

 

Garden Maintenance

If your property has a garden, it’s worth doing the garden. Plant flowers with bright colours that compliment your property’s colour scheme, trim the lawn, make it presentable in every possible way. There are people whose decision can be made or broken on the quality of the garden, as they are trying to see it as their own garden, and if they look at it as unkempt and messy they may not buy.

 

Repaint

If your house has a fresh coat of paint on every painted surface, great.  If not, get on that and get painting. Fresh paint breathes new life into old houses, and can make everything seem revamped and brimming with potential. We’ve all seen a house with cream coloured walls, it’s nothing new and exciting, but for a family who has looked at four other cream coloured houses, the one with fresh paint and newer colour schemes might just stand out enough to warrant an offer.

 

Interior Decorate

Even though it doesn’t make much sense, decorating the house with your own things can sometimes be a downfall in selling. People want to see the house as their own before they buy it, and if it looks shabby, or even just lived-in, that can be a deal breaker. Get an interior decorator to give your house a once-over, and in some cases you can even add some to the asking price. If your house looks modern, professionally designed and sleek, it might just turn heads.

 

Hire A Photographer

It’s tempting to get out your own phone and snap a couple of quick pictures in order to save several hundreds of dollars on an actual real estate photographer, but the end result may be the difference between your house being sold and your house being passed on. A professional photograph can catch the eye of a browsing online user, and can draw in people driving past a for-sale sign. Never underestimate the power of a good photograph when selling your house. It could cost you thousands.

 

To Hire A Real Estate Agent?

 Here’s the kicker. If you can afford to arrange for a sign to be made up, open houses to be held, an auctioneer to be hired, advertising to be run and to have someone on-hand at all times to answer the calls and questions of potential buyers, then by all means do not go with a real estate agency. For everyone else, however, with jobs and other things to do, a real estate agent can be the whole reason you find a buyer for your house, and despite the cost, they are well worth the investment.

Valuing Your Home

 Looking at your neighbor’s houses and what they bought and/or sold for is a great way to guess the value of your house, but it isn’t a great way to get the actual value of your house. If you are looking to sell, get a real estate agent to come and have a look around your home and value it properly and officially for you. Not only does this look better when selling, but it also means you aren’t accidentally undervaluing your house, setting yourself up to lose lots of money.

 When selling your house, following these tips can save you thousands of dollars, or ensure your house gets sold quickly instead of slowly and in a drawn-out fashion.