Selling or letting your home can either go very smoothly and very quickly or it can turn into a nightmare of viewings, no offers and huge amounts of frustration. This is, of course, largely dependent on the state of the housing or lettings market at the time you want to sell or rent, but there are certain things that you, as the home owner, can do to make things go a lot more smoothly.
The Look of the Property
The first thing you should do is take a look at your home. You will have lived there for a quite a while and grown used to the building, including all its faults. Potential buyers, however, will spot these a mile off and it could put them off. Make sure all your interior and exterior paintwork is up to scratch, make sure no wallpaper is peeling, get your garden in order, make sure your bathroom and kitchen are clean, your windows clean, your floors and carpets clean.
First impressions really are important so you definitely want your property to look its best. Just because you have lived with something for a long time, doesn't mean your prospective buyer or tenant will want to!
Incentivise your Buyers / Renters
If your property has been on the market for a while it could be worth offering some kind of incentive in order to entice a firm offer to buyers or renters. You should be careful how you go about this, but the type of incentives you could offer include:
Include white goods
If you can sell or let your property with the fridge, freezer, washing machine, dryer and all the other white goods included, this could prove to be a great attraction, especially for first time buyers or those looking to rent. Not having to fork out extra for essential appliances could give your property the edge over similar ones in your area.
Cover buying / letting costs
You could also offer to cover some or all of the costs associated with buying or letting a property. This includes the Stamp Duty, solicitor fees, letting agents fees, even moving costs.
Obviously you need to be wary with this type of incentive as it could end up costing you more than you bargained for, but if you get your maths right it could prove to be a great selling point.
Something different
If you're in a unique position and can offer something no-one else can you could turn this to your advantage. Perhaps you own a holiday home - would you be willing to offer up two weeks a year holiday to whoever buys or rents your property for the duration they live there? Or maybe you run a nightclub - free admission to the buyer / renter while they are in the property could be a good incentive.
In fact, if you run your own business then whatever product or service you supply could be offered up in some sort of incentive to entice people.
Think a little bit outside of the box, always being careful not to do too much, and you could sell or rent your property much more quickly than you might have imagined!
Ian Grainger is writing on behalf of Shepherd Gilmour, letting agents Manchester and estate agents Manchester.
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