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Alexanders    19th April 2020
 
Our advice on preparing your home for market | Cleaning, Snagging and General Maintenance
 
 
In the next of our blogs on the best ways to present your home to market, we look at how very simple general maintenance and cleaning can help to attract a buyer willing to pay the top market rate for your home.
 
It is sometimes easy to overlook snagging issues or clutter in your home. Our advice is that you walk through your property from front to back with a notepad and view your house as a potential buyer. How might you think differently about a house if you tried to open the front door and it stuck or the handle was loose, or there are water marks from historic bathroom leaks on the sitting room ceiling? Below we list our top tips for ensuring that buyers aren’t detracted from your home when viewing because of issues that are easily overcome.
 

 
1. Paintwork - Areas of the home that suffer from heavy traffic such as hallways and kitchens may benefit from a refresh of the emulsion work. It is sensible advice to opt for neutral tones and colours if complete redecoration of a room is required prior to marketing, but we are happy to offer individual advice on request.
 

 
2. Carpets - If your carpets are tired consider having them professionally cleaned. Showing pride in the presentation of your home will have a knock on effect to the way a potential buyer sees it through their eyes.
 
3. Doors, Joinery and Fixtures - Loose door handles, cupboard doors out of alignment or missing, broken window catches and the like are all telltale signs that a property may not have been maintained as well as a seller would like you to think.
 

 
4. Lighting - Whilst replacing lighting can be an expensive process, ensuring that the lightbulbs are working and bright bulbs are used isn’t. A cleverly placed lamp can help to brighten up any dark areas of a room.
 
5. Heating and Ventilation - In a cold season or when the weather is typically British outside, temperature can be the first thing that hits anyone walking into a home. A well heated home will give a warm feeling to prospective buyers, and likely set their mind at rest about the operation and ability of your heating systems. Pungent smells can also be a problem, so ventilation is key in summer, or where rooms have little use under normal conditions. Ensure that windows are opened prior to a viewing so that these areas feel fresh.
 

 
6. Cleaning - The value of an immaculate property cannot be overlooked. Many buyers will in time replace flooring wall coverings and fixtures and fittings to a point, but very few would be happy to move themselves or their family into what they perceive to be a dirty property. Clean, clean and clean again is our mantra. First impressions count for everything, so don’t let dusty surfaces, dirty floors or pungent smells put a potential buyer off.
 

 
We hope our advice will leave you feeling inspired and motivated. It is absolutely natural to have questions and queries about the current market and future market conditions, and whilst we are working in completely unprecedented times we welcome the opportunity to speak to you and update you on our observations.
 
- Take a look at all available properties on our website here.
 
- If you'd like to discuss selling or letting your property, we would be delighted to hear from you and we can also arrange a virtual valuation of your property via video call. Please contact us by telephone or email, our details can be found here. 
 
 

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Alexanders Property Services Ltd trading as Alexanders. Tel: 01509861222
Registered in England: 08476446. Registered Office c/o The Point, Granite Way, Mountsorrel, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE12 7TZ.
VAT Number: 171925008
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