Halifax Sellers: What to Know When Preparing for Viewings

When your Halifax home is on the market, there is potential that many eyes will be peering in. You will of likely had professional photos taken, and a home staging completed. This kind of marketing will highlight all of your home’s best features, and you will want to keep your home up to those picture-perfect standards when curious buyers see the home in person. 

The most obvious step in preparing your home for viewings is to do a deep clean. While most understand this, they tend to overlook the fact that this deep clean must be maintained for the duration of their listing. 

There are several things that you can do to make it easier on yourself to maintain a high level of order and cleanliness while your Halifax home is for sale. Read through for some tips on how to set yourself up for successful home viewings!

Deep Clean

We all know that a house that is about to hit the Halifax market needs a deep cleaning. You are going to want to ensure that everything sparkles. The obvious areas are the windows, countertops, baseboards, floors, mirrors, surfaces, bathtub and toilet. Areas that are sometimes forgotten are the trash bin, arranging toiletries, wiping out cupboards, dusting behind furniture and organizing underneath the sink. You do not know what your potential buyers are going to look at when viewing your home, so you need to make sure you’ve got all of your bases covered.

Reduce your clutter

Removing clutter is an essential component of prepping your Halifax home to sell. You want your home to feel as spacious as possible to incoming buyers because space = value. If you are toying between leaving something personal on the mantle or putting it away, you should probably put it away. The less personal you can make your home, the easier it is for someone else to see themselves in it.

This goes for the closets too. Do not simply take all of your extra items and store them in your closet. Buyers will look in the closets to see if they would have enough space for themselves. A cluttered closet will not sell a buyer on your home.

Take control of odours

Smell is a very strong sense and can sway buyers to or away from your home. It is best to avoid scents in general so that they are not distracting to the buyer, and in case a buyer has a scent allergy. Try to cook milder dishes that do not leave scents lingering as well. If you insist on adding fragrance to your home, opt for candles or air freshers with very common smells such as fresh linen, lavender or vanilla.

Leave the home

It is often very hard for a buyer to picture themselves living in your home if you are present during the showing. It is also hard for their agents to receive honest feedback from their buyers on what they thought of your space. Sometimes, this feedback is crucial to adjusting your home or listing to lock in a sale. 

Not only should you physically leave the home, but you should also remove any family photos or decor specific to your family. This will aid the buyer in picturing themselves in your space.

When a showing is scheduled, step out, and enjoy some of the beauty Halifax has to offer!

Open Concept

Buyers in this day and age love open-concept homes. If your home is built like this, you are in luck. If it is not, however, you can still succeed! Ways to make your Halifax home feel more open-concept are to: remove bulky furniture, keep sight-lines open, and rearrange existing furniture to invite people into the room. If you are not sure how to do this, there are professional home stagers who can help you immensely. 

Freshen up your yard

The yard often gets forgotten when families are preparing their homes for buyers, but this is a very important aspect of the home to make presentable. Your yard is the first thing buyers will see when they pull up to your property, and first impressions often stick.  Be sure to keep your lawn mowed, tuck away trash and compost bins, clean your doors, arrange patio furniture in an inviting way and wash or hose your decks and steps.

A fresh coat of paint

A fresh coat of paint on the walls can do wonders when you need to renew a space. Walls get dirty and scuffed over time, and we do not want the buyers thinking about that when they are looking at your home. If you are going to paint your walls, opt for a light and neutral colour that matches everything, and opens up the space.

Do not leave anything broken in sight

This may seem like an obvious one, but it is still worth mentioning. You should fix things that are visually broken. This includes leaking faucets, missing tiles, broken handles or hinges and so much more. If you can see that it's broken, the buyer can too. 

Adjust the temperature

Make sure that the temperature in your home is comfortable when buyers walk in. If your home is too cold, the buyer may not feel like they can relax after a long day of work. If the home is too hot, they may think there is not enough airflow. The most preferred room temperature is typically between 20-22 degrees Celsius.

The bottom line

Your top priority as a home seller is to get your home sold. And not only get it sold but for top dollar. By following these tips, and any other tips that your REALTOR® or home stager provides will not only make it easier to reach your goal, but to make the process much smoother from start to finish. When your home is clean and marketable, it not only increases its value but can add a much more pleasant and excited buyer.

Thinking of selling your Halifax Home?

Give us a call anytime at 902-488-0012

Andrew Perkins