Selling your house? Simple tips to help you get the best price possible

Selling your house can be a daunting process, especially in the current market. With Melbourne's auction clearance rates dipping below 40% and market sentiment hitting a 40-year low, some people will tell you to just wait out the current downturn.
But what if waiting out the storm is not an option for you?

If you need to sell in the current market, the news is not all bad – there are still a few things you can do to get the best price possible for your property. Here are a few tips and tricks for uplifting your property’s sale potential in this seemingly out-of-control market:

Clean and declutter
This might seem like common sense, but it is astounding how many people still forget and just plain cant-be-bothered to do this before selling their house.
It is hugely important to clean your property and present it at it's best. Everyone hates cleaning but this simple but mundane task will bring new life to your property and provide potential buyers the impression that the property has been well-loved and well-maintained. Remember - first impressions ALWAYS matter.

Mow the lawn, tidy the garden and trim the bushes. Vacuum the carpets, dust the blinds, wipe down surfaces, and mop your floors. Have your home smelling fresh and clean rather than musty and sour. If there is something that you can clean and tidy, do it.

If you are going continue to live within your property during opens and the auction, ensure that you tidy away clutter before any viewings and especially before the main auction event.

If you have no idea where to start or even if you just don't have enough time, I strongly recommend that you consider hiring a professional cleaner. You may be hesitant on spending money on something that you can do yourself. Most cleaners will only run you up $40-$80 per hour at most. There are even professional services these days that will help you sort through and dispose of clutter while organising your living space. What’s that compared to what it will cost you when you scare good potential buyers away with your mess?

Make your home everyone's home
What we mean by 'make your home everyone's home' is depersonalising your house. When styling your property for viewings, you want to make sure that you are creating a blank canvas for the buyers’ imagination. For owner-occupier buyers looking to purchase a house to live, it can be a very emotional purchase for them. You want your home to trigger an epiphany or attachment in your buyers when they start visualising themselves living in this space. The stronger the emotional connection to your property, the more likely they put in an offer or bid at an auction.

If you have lived in your property for quite a while you have probably built up a good collection of random furniture and knick-knacks. To you, this is home; this is how you like to live. But when selling your house, you are not selling how you live but the potential of the space you live in. Ensure that any non-essential or mismatched furniture is hidden away or put in storage. Stick to a theme when deciding on what furnishings, artwork, and decorations you keep and get rid of anything that doesn't fit. I’d recommend keeping the theme neutral, light, spacious, and modern, with a few homey touches like warm-toned cushions and rugs. There’s a reason why Ikea’s Scandi-modern aesthetic is so popular.

Another option I’d strongly recommend if your furnishings are dated and/or not presentable is to get your house professionally staged. Follow this link to hear what we think about staging: (Insert topic 36 link)

Outside is just as important as the inside
Imagine walking past a restaurant that had broken windows covered by cardboard, a door that is about to fall off its hinges and peeling paint that’s crackled from the years neglect - what quality of food do you think they’d serve? Would you dare venture in? If your answer is too rude to be said out loud then I would imagine most people would feel the same way.

If the outside of your house bares a passing resemblance to a haunted house with your garden comparable to the Amazon forest, you should definitely do something about it. It’s all about ‘curb appeal’ – a huge factor in potential buyers’ first impressions of your property. Slap on a fresh coat of paint on the exterior of your house, your fence, and even front door. Trim back your garden and mow the grass. Even small touches like painting or replacing the letter box can make a world of difference. If the outside is unkept, buyers will think this is representative of your whole house often deterring most buyers from even attending viewings.

Exploit all the senses
Smells trigger memories, both good and bad. If you want to get a good price for your property, use fresh, home-y smells to trigger the strongest emotional response possible – nostalgia. Whether it’s the smell of warm baked goods or freshly laundered clothes or sweet-smelling flowers plucked straight from the garden, use scents in your house to trigger fond memories for the buyers or forge new ones where they will with your house. After the viewing, if they don't remember what colour the carpet was or how high the ceilings were hopefully they will remember the sweet scent of your house and build a lingering memory that will keep them coming back for more.
Pick wisely when it comes to scents take into consideration what will be pleasant to the general public not what is most pleasant to yourself. Overpowering and artificial smells should be avoided as well. While it may be nice to have a lavender candle burning in a corner, the sickly-sweet smell of fake floral detergent will be a deterrent.Some sellers even go as far as baking cookies or brownies in the morning so that every room in the house will bath in the smell of freshly baked goods. And they also have the added bonus providing some snack for the peckish buyers to entice them to stay longer.

Your best friend might not be a buyer's best friend
Your furry housemate may be, in your opinion, the best thing about your home. No matter how cute they are, I can guarantee you from experience that their presence during viewings will most likely end in tragedy when it comes to your bottom dollar at sale.

According to RSPCA, 63 percent of Australian households own pets, so you may be thinking ‘why does it matter if my pet is around. Heck, they might make my home feel more home-y!’ Well, there are a few very good reasons for keeping your fur-baby away...

Despite being the minority, quite frankly, not everyone enjoys the company of pets. Even worse, you never know who might be allergic. The last thing you want is your million-dollar buyer breaking out in hives and a swollen face. There is also the fact that your pet will very likely fragrant your freshly-spruced space with their animal musk (no matter how clean they might be).

We want buyers to grow a positive emotional attachment to your property. Any risk of inciting a memory of discomfort and bad smells should be avoided at all costs.
As for the 63 percent of pet-lovers, I’m sorry to say your pet will not drive price increases for this lot either. If anything, they could be a distraction from the sale of your home. We want buyers falling in love with your property not your pets. We want them to look around and grow an attachment by imagining them living there, not them figuring the best way to smuggle your pet out of your house without you noticing.

So no matter how much you love your pet, they have to go when it comes to viewings. Find a friend or family member to house them when expecting potential buyers.

Now the pet is out of the picture,make sure to erase all traces of them as if they were never there. Hide away bowls, litter trays, toys everything that can be associated to having a pet in your property. This may be harsh and over the top but there are buyers out there that curl up at the thought of pets and a quick way to deter them from considering your house is letting them know that you have an animal that roams freely around spreading disease, dirt and unseen damage around the house. You might think I’m exaggerating, but there are plenty of people who feel this way.

Get the right guy (or gal)
Now that your property looks beautiful and is ready for sale the last piece of the puzzle to your selling success is choosing the right agent to sell your property.
All of your efforts making your house look and smell beautiful will go to waste if you get this part wrong.

It is very important to ensure that you use the right agent. When we say the 'right' agent we mean an agent that is an expert in your area, someone that knows it like the back of their hand. They should know about the demographics, the type of people living in the area, the potential buyers, lifestyle of the area, and best strategy to sell your property. The smartest thing to do is to keep it local, so while you may be tempted by some package deal your real estate agent is proposing from across town, find someone who knows your neighbourhood and make sure you do your research so you can quiz them on the basics.

Whilst we are not able to guarantee that by doing all of the above you will definitely get the highest price possible at sale it will definitely help maximise your chances. At the end of the day, once you have done all you can to get your property market ready, just relax. Stressing over the sale of your property will not make it sell faster or at a higher price.

If you are still stressed after reading this article, or have become more stressed as there is now so much that you have to do to sell your house, the good news is that there are people who can help. As a vendors advocate, I am my clients’ eyes, ears and mouth. I will advise my clients on what needs to get done to prepare it for sale. I can track and analyse what the market is saying and speak to my clients’ real estate agents to ensure that their sale strategy matches the current market as sale strategies that worked in a thriving market will not work in receding market. In fact, it will most likely hurt rather than help.

Selling your home can be a daunting task. Every day, the media is rolling out scary articles than undermine market stability. The real estate world is cloaked in jargon and protocols that is hellish for a layman to understand. What I need you to understand is that there are always things you can control to give yourself and your property the best possible chance. Rather than feeling mired in doubt, do some research and reach out to resources that can uplift your property to benefit you and your family.