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Selling your property yourself is simple and rewarding, however to ensure everything goes smoothly it is important to have a plan from the start. This private selling checklist will ensure you follow all the fundamental steps needed to sell your property successfully. We go into some of the points covered in this checklist in more details in our private selling guide
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1) Getting your house ready for sale
There is no point in selling your house until you have put some effort into getting it ready for sale. You may be throwing away thousands of dollars simply by not attending to a few minor issues.
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Take a critical look at your house
One of the problems with being in a house a long time, is that we grow accustomed to
the way things are. Often we will not notice small problems or issues with our house,
as they have just become normal to our eye. However, it important before you get your house
ready for sale to walk through and look at it from a buyers perspective. Walk through your house
(with a friend or relative) and note down all the aspects that you think detract from the house.
Once noted, fix or remedy the issue where practical
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Presentation
First impressions can sell
(or blow the sale) in minutes, and as you only get one chance,
it is important to get it right. To ensure your perspective buyers gets
the best first impression possible, follow the steps below and do all that are practical
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Weed and mow the front lawn and council strip |
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Trim hedges and bushes |
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Repaint outside of house if practical, as a new paint job may net you thousands of dollars |
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Sweep paths |
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Clean gutters |
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Tidy up any clutter |
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Remove bins from sight |
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Clean windows and fly screens |
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Plant flowers before open house or viewings |
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Replace worn doormat |
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Paint/clean front door |
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Exterior
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Ensure all gardens and lawns are in order, and yard is free of clutter. Make your lawn and garden look ‘easy care' by having it tidy |
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Water and fertilise lawns if the season is correct |
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Arrange your outdoors furniture an consider putting placemats and pot plants on the table |
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Remove any dog bowls/bones etc |
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If you have a pool make sure it is chemically treated and free of leaves so it looks great. |
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Remove clutter and kids toys. |
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Lounge Room |
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Clean TV screen |
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Tidy up cords of audio visual equipment |
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Remove any excess funrniture if room looks too cluttered |
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Have floor rugs cleaned if they look tired |
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Clean all furniture, professionally if neccessary |
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Bathrooms |
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Clean, clean, clean, the cleaner the better |
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Ensure bathroom is aired and no mildew is present |
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Remove any musty odours with spray or oil burner |
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Consider updating bathroom accessories, this can be done cheaply from a shop like Freedom |
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Replace shower curtain if needed |
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Put nice clean dry towels on the rack |
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Put away things like deodorant and toothbrushes |
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Fix any loose door knobs |
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2) Get Ready For Inspection
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| It is important to create the right mood when you are showing your house. You want to create an environment where the prosepctive buyer thinks "...I can see myself living here..". Below are a few tips to achieve this |
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Remove personal items, you want people to focus on your house and not your family. It will be easier for a buyer to see themselves in that house if there are less personal items |
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Remove clutter, you'd be amazed how much smaller a cluttered room appears |
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Smell is an amazingly powerful sense in humans, so ensure that your house smells inviting. Achieve this by removing bad odours (if they exist) and replace them with something homely such as baking bread or roasting coffee |
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Light is also very important, ensure that overly dark rooms are not made to look dank by having the curtains drawn, and perhaps have overly bright rooms darkened a little by half drawing the curtains. If you are showing your house at night, try to use lamps instead of the main lights |
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To create a serene mood ensure you turn off the television, and put on some relaxing music such as classical |
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Have only one or two people from your family present during the showing, shift your kids to a friends house when the viewers are there, to make the house look bigger, and also so they don't feel like they are intruding, and so they take their time to see themsleves in the house |
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Consider the season, if it is winter, ensure you light a fire or turn the heater on, so the house seems warm and cosy. If it is summer, open the windows and doors to get the summer breeze or turn on the AC |
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3) Set an asking price
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To ensure you set a realistic and achievable sale price, it is important to study recent sales in your area. You can purchase sale reports of your suburb on our site through the 'propertyvalue.com.au' link. Also it is often advisable to employ an idependant real estate valuer to appraise your house. More information can be found here |
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4) Documentation
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| Have a leaflet of your property, with all the relevant detail ready to give to you viewers, so they can easily remember all the important points about your property. More information can be found here |
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5) Legals
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Have a solicitor/conveyancer draw up a contract of sale, and then your ready to sell your house yourself and save thousands....!!! |
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