Colchester Property Property Market Update – October 2023
By Tim Wade – Manager Gallant Richardson Colchester
If you are considering a move, here are our top ten tips to prepare your home for sale.
1). Kerb appeal
The front of your home will be the first and last memory any prospective buyer sees of your home, so make sure your home’s first and last impressions are the best.
The front photograph of your home will also be used for marketing and will appear in advertising, this image can often be the decider as to whether people view your home or not. So make it count. Top tips –
Windows and doors – If they are made of wood, make sure they are clean and freshly painted, if they are UPVC get some PVC cleaner and make them shine like new, and finally get the widow cleaner out and make the glass sparkle.
Garden and driveway – Cut the grass, pull up the weeds, trim the hedge, move rubbish bins to the side or make them as unobtrusive as possible, jet wash the driveway and path, and make sure the door mat is clean. Most importantly make your home feel warm and inviting.
2). Clean
To most, it may seem obvious, but making sure your home is spotlessly clean is important, go through each room carefully, paying special attention to those often overlooked areas and give them a proper spring clean.
Buyers should see your home at its very best, so take the time to thoroughly clean dirty marks, hard-to-reach corners and any cobwebs. We want the buyer to be fully focused on the property.
3). Clutter
Or rather declutter, be ruthless, and remove as much non-essential clutter as possible. Buyers need to be able to imagine themselves living in the space and not be caught up looking at your things. We want your home to look spacious and clearing over busy rooms gives a greater feeling of space.
So empty your cupboards and the spare room of all the accumulated stuff, pack it away in the loft and make your home more showhome!
4). DIY
All those little jobs that we’ve been putting off, get them all sorted before buyers view.
Reseal the bath, shower or kitchen worktops, clean the grout, and replace broken light bulbs. Many buyers will not want to start DIY jobs as soon as they move in, so make the effort to get your home in tip-top condition
5). Décor
If you are tempted to redecorate before selling your home, think carefully about your colour choice. Take inspiration from new home builders, and look at how they present their showhomes, they would never use garish colours or quirky wallpaper.
Light neutral colours are always used, this style presents the home as being bright and welcoming and a blank canvas for the buyer to add to in the future if they choose.
6). Pets
As much as we have a reputation of being a nation of pet lovers, not all buyers are, and as much as little Rover is a part of the family, it’s better to present your home without any avoidable distractions. So before a viewing get your significant other or one of the kids to take your beloved Rover out for a walk.
It is also a good idea to not have cat litter trays, pet food bowls and animal beds out on display, discreetly put them away before the viewing appointment.
7). Room arrangements
To take the guesswork away from what can often be very unimaginative viewers, rooms that are used for a different purpose than what was originally intended should wherever possible to returned to the original use.
For example, where a bedroom has been turned into an office/study, make it look like a bedroom.
8). Staging
Home staging is what new home builders do to their show-homes, here are a few of our top tips for staging your home to sell –
Flowers – Have fresh cut flowers on display.
Dining room – Set the table, use a simple white dinner set with crisp white napkins.
Bedrooms – Depersonalise as much as possible, keep it clean and simple, with crisp white bedding and no clutter, open curtains and blinds to make the bright and warm, or in winter light a candle or two creating subtle lighting effects to make that homely feeling.
Lighting – It is important to make your home feel as light and airy as possible, open curtains and blinds or use lighting to present rooms as fresh and airy as possible.
9). Smells
Without going over the top with canned air freshener, use subtle-smelling candles, and open the doors and windows 5 or 10 minutes before the viewing to create a fresh clean smell. The way a home smells can sometimes be a real deal breaker, so pay close attention to the way your home smells for viewing appointments.
10). Final touches
Attention to detail – Just before your viewing appointment, do one final sweep of your home, make certain everything that you’ve planned has been done perfectly, make certain everything is clean and tidy, check the lightly, remove clutter, check that your home smells neutral or very subtly scented.
Selling your property in Colchester
There is strong demand for properties in Colchester and we have many quality applicants looking for a home, all qualified with good references and deposits, just waiting for the right property to come to the market.
Please feel free to call me if you are considering selling or letting your property in the Colchester area, either for an informal chat about the market and how we might help you with this or to book a market appraisal.
To see the very latest homes coming to the market, click ‘New to market homes’, this lists all of the very latest homes as they come to the market.
You can also see our ‘Recently Sold Properties’.
Andy Wade – Gallant Richardson
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