24th September 2020 / Prue Fletcher: Preparing Your Home for a Spring Sale

Preparing Your Home for a Spring Sale

As chilly mornings make way for warmer afternoons, Spring is traditionally the time of year when the property market heats up. Gardens are in full bloom, buyer activity remains strong and despite restrictions, clients are now asking how to best prepare their homes for a Spring sale.

Traditionally, the seasonal buzz in Melbourne at this time of year sees home owners flock to the market just as the weather starts to heat up.

With footy finals migrating North and the Spring Racing Carnival potentially without spectators, the Spring landscape is looking very different for Melbourne in 2020. During this time, the re-opening of Victoria's property market will remain a priority for our state's economic recovery as we move into the new year.

Recent data released by REA and Domain has revealed a definite spike in buyer activity. All signs are pointing to a competitive market where buyers are increasingly likely to make a decision based on a property's online presence. Therefore, once restrictions lift, it's going to be more important than ever to make your home stand out online.

Gone are the days when we drive the streets looking for a 'For Sale' or 'Open for Inspection' board. Ultimately, it really comes down to how well your property is marketed. More eyes means more buyers, greater competition and a better outcome.

So, how can we help make your home stand out in the crowd? We asked resident Property Stylist, Ali Waight, for her tips on how our community can best be preparing their home for market.

First & Foremost, Engage With An Agent

Enlisting the help of an experienced professional is critical to the success of your property campaign, especially in these uncertain times. Here, your agent can guide you through the preparation, timeframe and strategy to ensure you enter the market in the best possible position.

Engage a Property Stylist

Staging your property for sale is a proven tool to help you achieve an optimal sales result in the market. Not only will your stylist help you to declutter, prepare your gardens and provide either partial or full styling options, but will maximise the space and flow in your house to give buyers a great first impression.

Do You Need to Move all of Your Furniture Out?

No. We can work with a partial style, which means working with some pieces of furniture that you already have. We can bring in rugs, artwork and ambient lighting to compliment and help lift your room.

Are You Allowed to Keep our Beds and Linen?

Our clients generally use their own mattresses and we will often bring in linen, cushions, bedsides, lamps and potentially a bed head to help tie the room together. The best way to showcase a bedroom is to dress it to its maximum capacity. Most people can't judge the size of a room online, so a great tip is to always incorporate the largest bed option so they can visualize the rooms full potential.

Should You Turn a Bedroom into a Study?

Bedrooms are always going to achieve a greater result. We want to show the spaces at their maximum capacity.

How Do You Maximise the Space in Your Dining Room?

Most people judge the size of a room online by counting the amount of chairs around a dining table. So it's best to opt for the larger option putting as many chairs as possible. A great tip is to take away the end chairs and squeeze four along each side. This will also create better flow with traffic.

If You Remove Your Personal Items and Photographs, Will You Lose the Emotion of the House?

Remember, we are selling a home which we want someone else to imagine as their own. So, to ensure buyers notice the special features of your home (ie. ceiling detail, cabinetry, storage, natural lighting) you don't want them to be distracted by personal photographs. For this reason, it's best to pop these away. Think layered lighting, soft throws, non-polarizing artwork to help create the desired atmosphere.

What are the Best Quick Fixes Sellers Can Start Doing Now?

• Pressure wash decks, weather boards and driveways. Everything comes up fresh and bright!
• Sugar Soap all of your walls. You may find you might not need to paint them by doing so.
• A little trick is to only paint trims, architraves and skirting boards.
• Mulch garden, avoid black and red mulch as it tends to not photograph as well, instead selecting a more natural wood.

Case Study
12 Hopetoun Avenue, Canterbury
Sold: $3,050,000
Selling Agent: Tim Heavyside

"On Friday the 3rd of July 2020, I had contact via the phone from a retired man named Peter, who wanted to sell his home at 12 Hopetoun Ave, Canterbury, as he now spends all of his time and energy on his farm in country Victoria. Our stylist and I provided a list of the areas inside and outside the home which we all agreed needed some attention and commenced a plan which would make their home saleable with elevating the eventual sale price top of mind. I then explained the importance of marketing.... 'you can't sell a secret'. Why go all this way with the presentation if only a select part of the market may see your beautiful home?

It is vital now to advertise and promote your home correctly, given how far our industry has moved to a digital platform in 2020. Given the current set of circumstances in Melbourne, it is imperative that your home be presented in the best possible light. With that, the vendor accepted our further advice around advertising and given feedback I received from the buyers, this only confirmed the investment paid huge dividends with the amount of buyers who engaged the home and the eventual sale price.

So what happened?

• Marketing was finalised on Friday 31st July and the home went online that day.
• The next day, we arranged 2 x hours of back-to-back individual inspections.
• We then went further and conducted follow-up inspections the following week.
• That Wednesday night, 5th August, we went into Stage 4 lockdown. So in 4 days, we showed 25 different buyers the home and worked extremely hard.
• Exactly 1 week later (still under Stage 4 restrictions), 12 Hopetoun Avenue was successfully negotiated and sold for $3,050,000. Well above the vendors dream price."

Click Here to read the vendor's recommendation.