Thu, 29 Sep 2022 | Autumn
As the leaves turn brown, many buyers start to get serious about securing their new home before Christmas. With a huge number of quality buyers searching at this time of year, autumn is an excellent time to sell your home – but you’ll still need to make sure it stands out on a busy marketplace, and that means making some seasonal changes.
Here are six of our top tips for house viewings when selling in autumn.
Incorporate some autumn home décor
Where summer is for barbecues and outdoor entertaining, autumn is for cosy evenings in on the sofa. Incorporate some autumnal colours into your home with throw blankets and cushions in your sitting room to present your home as a warm and welcoming retreat on cold nights.
There’s no need to go overboard: just adding a couple of warm colours and seasonal accents to your interiors is enough to send the right subliminal messaging to buyers. Maybe switch out your fresh linen candle to a pumpkin spiced scent – ’tis the season, after all!
Get your home lighting right
For your autumn décor to have the desired effect, you’ll need to show it in the best light. With less daylight hours to work with, your home lighting is an important factor in presenting your home to viewers.
Select some soft lighting like table lamps to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere in your sitting room and bedrooms. For bathrooms and kitchens, you can afford to go a little brighter, but consider switching out your bulbs to daylight bulbs to achieve a natural light, as opposed to a fluorescent, clinical feel.
However, natural light is still the most effective when it comes to illuminating your home, so be sure to have your curtains and blinds open when you can to invite in those autumn rays. Providing it’s not raining, of course!
It is also worth organising viewings in daytime hours, where possible. This will mean accommodating viewings on weekends or perhaps weekday mornings and early afternoons. Though it might cause some disruption to your schedule, it will pay off to have buyers view your property in its natural light.
Clear out autumn leaves from outdoor areas
As the days get colder and colder, we become more and more reluctant to tend to our gardens like we did in Summer. However, be sure to spend some time clearing out those pesky autumn leaves from your back garden, front garden, gutters, and drains. Take away anything unsightly to improve your property’s kerb appeal and make your rear garden shine even in bad weather.
Make sure your property is well-ventilated
It’s that time of year where the dreaded condensation returns, and when selling your home, it’s all the more important to keep it at bay. Whenever you can, crack open a window to allow air to circulate in your property – especially in the kitchen and bathrooms. If you have one, be sure to use your extractor fan when cooking and showering to prevent condensation build up in these areas.
As we reach the stage where hanging your laundry outside to dry is no longer practical, you should try to make sure that wet clothes are not hanging up inside when viewers come round, or at least not in the main living spaces. Be careful not to place clothes horses near the walls to avoid mould growth and damp smells.
Clean your carpets
Whatever the time of year that you are selling your property, you’ll want to give your carpets a thorough clean before viewers come round. Yet after a summer of traipsing in and out of the garden, it is likely your carpets will need some extra TLC at this time of year, so be sure to give them some attention in time for viewings to commence.
You can hire a trusted carpet cleaner with our maintenance provider, The Property Maintenance People, by emailing your request to info@thepmp.co.uk. Alternatively, you can pick up professional carpet cleaning kits at most DIY stores and set aside a weekend to make a date with your carpet!
Heat up your home… but not too much
A draughty home is a turn off, and if your home is like the arctic, viewers will be keen to make an exit before they lose feeling in their extremities! Turn up the heating so that a nice, gentle heat circulates around the house when viewers come to visit. If you have a wood burner or underfloor heating, be sure to showcase these!
Do not turn your heating up too high though - if your home is like a sauna, buyers will be desperate to back out into the cold! It is so important that your buyers are comfortable so that they spend the optimum amount of time viewing your property, so be sure to get it just right.
Ready to sell your property this autumn? Book a valuation with us today to find out how much you could achieve for your property on such a busy marketplace.
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