My Top Tips to Selling your Home in Spring - Sue Opie Luke Goggin Real Estate

Sue Opie - Property Consultant for
Luke Goggin Real Estate

TIP 1:  First Impressions Are Extremely Important.

A good first impression IS what sells a property.  Leave your emotions and personal connection to the property behind, and look at your property as if you were a buyer. 

Take a walk through the front door as if it was your first time. Do you like what you see? Would YOU buy YOUR home? How is the street appeal? Eliminate potential buyers forming a negative opinion before they have got through the front door. 

TIP 2:  Take Care of Outside 

Make sure the garden is tidy and well maintained, generally buyers are looking for a garden which is functional, pleasant and relevantly easy to maintain. 

TIP 3: Use the Spring Sunlight

One of the advantages of selling in Spring is all of the natural sunlight. When preparing for a prospective buyer, open all of the blinds and curtains, turn on all of your lights and if there are any dark corners, consider putting a lamp in the space. Are any of your walls dark? Do they need repainting? Is it worth putting a skylight in?

TIP 4: Declutter Declutter Declutter

This can be addressed within the the first stage of moving. Pack up items which you wont need. Less is more, making the rooms look larger and the focus becomes the physical house rather than the possessions within it.

TIP 5: Small Replacements 

If your home is in need of a makeover but you don’t have the funds or time, look at replacing simple things like cupboard handles and tap-ware; even bench tops as this can give your property the lift it needs without spending a massive amount of money.

TIP 6: Clean Clean Clean 

.... and then clean some more! It is important that your house is presented as shiny as it could be.  I often suggest just before the first open day, to have a professional cleaner come in and take it to the next level.  Kitchens, bathrooms and windows should be spotless and shiny.

TIP 7: Presentation and Staging

The presentation of the entire property is of the utmost importance, consider professionally staging your home correctly too, as this could help you achieve an even better price. Remove pieces of furniture if they are cluttering. Remember, we need to make the rooms look as large as possible, whilst still being functional.

TIP 8: Look For Inspiration

Search online for inspiration on how to present your rooms. Google, Pinterest, Houzz and others all have images of display homes interiors to provide plenty of ideas and photos which can be helpful.  If you find it all too hard, hire a property staging professional or stylist; you will get back what you pay and more in the sale of your home. We are more than happy to suggest  some stylists who we use.

TIP 9: Eliminate Unpleasant Smells 

Bad smells will immediately turn a prospective buyer off. A pleasant fresh smelling home combined with a great first impression places your home in the best position it can be. A trick commonly used is 2 caps of vanilla essence in a heatproof container in the oven at 150 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.  This will get rid of any funky smells you may have and leave a nice fresh vanilla smell throughout the house.  Don't try too many different fragrances at the same time as they can be off-putting to some potential buyers. 

Whilst dogs and cats are an important part of many families, buyers may be allergic and not as enthusiastic as you. Minimize their impact as much by removing all pet hair and smells. When the house is open for inspection, take your animals with you.

TIP 10: The Final Touches

To finish off the pleasant ambiance you are creating play subtle soft music, have the fire lit, and the temperature climate controlled.  Set the table both inside and out, and place fresh flowers throughout (don’t forget to change the water every couple of days).  All of these simple things add to the buyers experience being a pleasant experience.

 Part of your sale preparation should be who you choose as your agent. Look for one who will place your property in the best light, uses professional photographs and has identified the correct strategic marketing required.  

Your agent needs to not only understand the local real estate market but also needs to be a leader in marketing your property.  

I am a proven leader in this field and look forward to being able to give you more of the above tips whilst strategically placing your property above the others  currently on the market.

For a free no obligation appraisal of your home and many more tips to share please phone me on 0415 990 981.

Good luck! - Sue.

Written by Sue Opie Property Consultant for Luke Goggin Real Estate

Luke Goggin Real Estate

I often get asked “What is happening with the Real Estate Market at the moment?”

What a difficult question because it varies from month to month.  The Election shied away most of the Investors. And the end of financial year is where things tend to slow down a bit. But as we are coming into Spring and the phones are ringing, which brings me to another question which I also get asked a lot. “Is the Bendigo Market  strong?” 

A lot of factors do affect the market and I decided to do a bit of research into the local factors which are unique to Bendigo. Our current population at 2015 is sitting at 108,437 and is expected to grow to 112,853 by the end of 2016. Our population is expected to grow to 156,151 by 2036. Our expected yearly growth rate is 1386 people. We build in the Bendigo area approximately 1000 new homes annually.   So whilst the council is making provision to provide this land supply to  accommodate these 1000 new homes each year, you could see easily that demand could quickly outstrip supply. Searching today, on Realestate.com it shows only 571 parcels of land presently available. If the 1000 homes are to be built this year it could leave us with only 71 blocks available. With this in mind you would expect land prices to increase as this occurs. We have 45,451 households in Bendigo with the average size being 2.44 per dwelling. By 2036 it is predicted that 58% of households will have only one or two people. Altogether this means that 18000 new homes will be required.

The new Hospital is going to have a major positive effect on the local market. Over time as the Hospital grows into its new home, they will be employing more personnel.  This is going to impact on not only our local employment figures but on local population figures as it attracts new people to the region.  The hospital is being built to assure future growth and attract people to our region who see the security in an area serviced by world class medical facilities.

Historically properties in Bendigo gain 100% capital growth over a 10 year period and this all points to  Bendigo being  solid and here for the long haul. Huge growth over the next 20 years especially  when we reach the expected population figure of 156,151. So yes I feel quite comfortable saying the Bendigo real Estate market is strong and robust and is a great area to be investing your money for the long haul. We all know the old saying nothing is safer than bricks and mortar.

*All statistics mentioned have been taken from the City of Greater Bendigo Website

Written by Sue Opie for Luke Goggin Real Estate