Selling Your House – How to Maximise Your Price

It’s true that when house-hunting, people are unreasonably influenced by the furniture and decoration inside the property. But that doesn’t mean you have to go to the expense of putting all your old furniture and belongings in store, and hiring fancy furniture and acessories to make your house look like something out of Vogue Living!

Professional “house-dressing” isn’t really about making an old house look new:  it’s about making it look spacious and neutral.  Most people are poor judges of space: a room full of furniture looks much smaller than a room that is sparsely furnished. Also, if a home is full of art and ornaments we don’t like, we switch off and don’t see past them to appreciate the house underneath.  We can also be “turned off” if the home is full of bright colours that we dislike.

You don’t need to bring in all-new furniture to achieve that goal – you just need to be selective with what you already have.  Let’s face it, you’ve got to pack anway, so you don’t really have to do any extra work – all you have to do is start packing early!

The first thing you should do is pack away your precious ornaments. Don’t be tempted to leave your best pieces to “dress the place up”: the more strongly you feel about a piece of artwork, the more likely it is that someone else will hate it!

Now take a good hard look at the contents of each room. What other items could you live without for a few weeks? You may be surprised how many there are! Perhaps you could pack away most of your books and the bookcases that go with them; or your best dinner set and the china cabinet it’s stored in; occasional tables, and so on.

Of course, you will need somewhere to store your boxes and surplus furniture. Perhaps you could park them in a relative’s garage, hire a self-storage unit, or arrange storage with your removalist. Some of these options will cost money, but remember decluttering alone can add five or ten thousand dollars to the sale price – so it’s a good investment. And of course, when you are ready to move, all you need do is pick up those items and take them straight to your new home.

By the way, while you’re doing this, it’s a good opportunity to ask yourself, “If I can live without this piece of furniture/appliance/ornament for a few weeks, do I really need it in the new house?”!

Now that you’ve cleared the decks:

- have the carpets steam-cleaned if the removed furniture has revealed dirty patches;

- rearrange the remaining furniture to maximise space;

- make sure the house is clean and you have fresh flowers in the lounge room at every inspection

If you have a garden, it can also benefit from decluttering. Remove anything that looks straggly, sick, dead or dying. If that means the garden looks bare, keen gardeners will only see it as an opportunity to make it their own! If your budget will stretch to it, some cheap flowering plants from your local garden centre will add colour.

Who knows, once you are used to living “clutter-free”, you may decide you like it!

Photo thanks to S Fadden on Flickr

Tags: house sale, staging