Just 3 Things: The Inside Jobs Worth Doing Before You Sell in Wellington

Just 3 Things, Part 2: The Inside. Missed Part 1? The Outside →

Spring has an innate ‘out with the old and in with the new’ vibe.

It’s also a great time to get your property ready for market as this time of year always brings a wave of buyers, the two biggest real estate transaction months in the year for numbers of transactions are typically November and March, with a wave of heightened market activity around them.

In lining up the ducks, you know instinctively that presentation matters, but where do you start? Welcome to the JUST 3 THINGS series, where we’ll give you the plot spoilers and quick wins on a budget.

We’ve been in real estate for 17 years (selling over 500 homes) and been vendors ourselves 4 times in the last 3 years as we renovated and sold our rental properties.

We’re sharing the practical insights and rules of thumb that will help you focus on the right stuff and turn things around easily and cheaply. They answer the question, ‘If I could just pick 3 things on a budget, what would they be?’.

If you’re just joining, you can find the highest impact 3 things for the outside here.

Now onto the inside…on a budget

1. Get Rid of Stuff

Here you’re attacking overcrowded rooms and surfaces because in real estate, there’s a saying: ‘clutter eats equity…like a pac-man’. This will maximise the sense of space and potential…think simplicity! You want just 1-3 things on a surface, remove excess furniture, and thin-out bookshelves if they’re spilling out, and all the c$%p sitting on top of high surfaces. You might think you need those clothes and documents from 1992…but you don’t.

Get 3 piles: pack, sell or donate, & dump, & be brutal! If you pick something up and it doesn’t spark joy…it goes. If you haven’t used it in the last 6 months…it goes. If you have a few of them…it goes.

We moved recently and rented a small storage locker for packed items and things being sold just to get them off site. And the added bonus? Moving is a lot easier after this!

2. Deeeeep Clean

Thoroughly deep cleaning any property helps with impressions more than people realise. Even if a property is a tad dated, being thoroughly and sparklingly clean shifts the needle in buyer impressions and consideration, from an allergic emotional reaction where a buyer gets a negative yuck feeling and shuts it down, to a feeling of it’s homely if a tad dated but nice and clean.

It should look and smell clean and fresh. We have a good contact that our clients have used for deep cleaning if it’s not your thing, just sing out.

3. Style It Up

Styling touches can do a lot to freshen your interior up and make spaces more appealing and needn’t cost much money…think Kmart, cheerful and cheap. These particularly help when a place is a tad dated or older.

Here’s the hit list: remove the curtain nets and rugs. If the curtains are old or tatty replace them or just remove them altogether. Throw more modern bedspreads or covers over old bedding, think modern neutrals. Cover heavily patterned, dated, or marked sofas and chairs with neutral covers or use throws.

Buy some cheap bright cushions for a pop of colour, perhaps some cheap modern art, replace old style light shades with cheap neutral shades. Replace the bathroom towels. Add a few cool knick-knack pieces or plants to break things up if it’s looking empty and to aid better photos.

This is a market where experience really matters and clients start with a unique property preparation plan done for them.

If you’d like some advice or to find out where your property currently sits in the market and how to sell for more or more quickly, drop us an email leonie.snook@harcourts.co.nz or call or text on 027 518 0008. Or check what your home is worth.

No fuss, no sales pitch, no juniors, just service! Leonie & Steve