Ways to instantly increase your home’s appeal..

How do I quickly add value to my home? You may well ask, especially in a time of ever-increasing constriction on buyers’ ability to spend. Well, unless you want to spend some serious money yourself, the quickest way to add value is to make your home irresistible at first sight.

Quick ways to add value to your home may not add up to monetary value, but instead to ‘liveability’ value. How many times have you heard someone say ‘We can just move in and live in it, without having to do anything straight away.’ While a lot of people claim they’d be happy with a home that needs some work, it’s our experience that in reality, most people just want to live in a house for a while before they get the ladders out.

So, how do you add value to your home quickly? Here are our top xx tips:

1. Declutter! Yes, you’ve read it here before, but seriously, presenting a home free of clutter, of personal items and where it’s clear there is room to store everything you need, is immediately, subconsciously, very attractive.

2. Clean, polish and add a gentle fragrance. You never know who is going to be coming to view your home, it may be somebody who’s quite relaxed about a dog bowl in the kitchen, about last night’s wine glass next to the sofa and about crumbs on the kitchen floor. Or, it might be someone who simply can’t see past these to the actual beauty of your home, so tidy up, run the vacuum round and light a scented candle to deliver a warm welcome. Take care with your candle choice, however – you are better going for a soft, floral fragrance than something warm and spicy – people might wonder what you’re trying to cover up…

3. Check your kerb appeal 1. As the nights start to draw in, and the days get more dreary, home buyers want to imagine themselves returning home to a welcoming, warm and well-lit home. The first step to promising all of this is to make sure your porch light is working, and that any lighting set into the eaves or along the entry pathway are working, with all the bulbs glowing at the same intensity. If outside lighting isn’t all working properly, it can have the opposite effect you are looking for – creepy house, not happy house. 

4. Check your kerb appeal 2. If at first glance your home looks well-maintained, neat, tidy and obviously cared-for, you are more likely to get people booking a viewing following a drive-past than not. We often hear people say “oh, it looked a bit scruffy” when asked why they don’t want to see a property. This might be frustrating, but it’s so easy to fix, and anything that gets more people through your door has to be worth the effort.

5. Keep your garden tidy. It’s easy to lose interest in a garden when you know you’re going to be moving on, but an ill-kept garden immediately shouts “work!” at a potential buyer. In the colder months particularly, it can be hard to find the motivation to pull on the gardening gloves, but staying on top of clearing leaves, cutting back finished border planting and pruning those roses will pay dividends, Viewers may not pay much attention to a tidy garden, but they will definitely spot a messy one.

6. Do all those little DIY jobs you’ve been putting off. Yes, you’re moving on – but aren’t you hoping to move to a house where nothing needs doing, at least straight away? A dripping tap, chipped paint on door frames, an under-cupboard kitchen light not working, a broken door handle.. All these are simple to fix and absolutely wirth doing. If you’re one who is more likely to break it than fix it, find a local odd-job person, or ask a handy friend to help you. Your chosen estate agent should have a directory of local trades they know will do a good job.

None of these will add to the price of your home, but each one will add to its immediate value in the eye of the beholder. 

(Picture used from High Lane, Chorlton).

Eddie – Friday 9th September 2022.