Basic improvements can achieve a premium sale price
Well-aimed improvements needn’t cost the earth and could make the difference in the selling price.
Those of us who have ever visited a show day or two in their lifetimes will no doubt have been shocked to walk into at least a few properties where it seemed the seller just couldn’t be bothered to make the property for sale look half decent.
Right up there with potential buyers opening bedroom cupboards, a show day faux pas by sellers could include anything from the emerald green, leaf-strewn pool to the flaking paint on the eaves. In fact, there are so many potential examples of a poor attitude by the seller that is hardly seems worth mentioning all of them. As one American judge once famously said with regards to x-rated movie content, “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it.” It is painfully obvious when a seller just couldn’t be bothered to put any effort into sprucing up the property for show day.
This is a travesty because carefully-chosen, well-aimed improvements needn’t cost the earth and they could make the difference between achieving that dream sale price or walking away from the deal feeling hard done by. It is an unfortunate fact of life that many sellers are forced into the property market by their poor financial position and their cash-strapped situation is the reason most often given for their ramshackle homes come show day.
The truth, of course, is that it’s all a matter of priorities. Yes, it is possible to be cash-strapped and still be able to afford a can of paint. Bearing this in mind, let’s look at the top three things property sellers feeling the pinch can do to achieve the best sale price with the least amount of hard cash:
That Pivotal Coat of Paint
As alluded to above, all one has to do to literally add tens of thousands of rands on to your selling price is to spend a few hundred rand on a single can of paint. Don’t go to a speciality paint store when you can buy one at a major mass market retailer and try and only buy white because it’s cheaper. White paint goes everywhere and you’ll be amazed where you can use it on the inside and the outside of your property. Also don’t bother with two coats if the existing coat is a light colour.
That Sparking Pool
Like the bride on her special day, your home has to look its best on show day. This means two to four liquid containers of shock treatment poured into your pool the night before your home’s big day should be enough to turn any swampy marsh into a little patch of the Mediterranean. The great thing about shock treatments is that even if they don’t turn the water clear overnight, they do create an almost surreal blue colour in a few hours.
That Handy Hose
Water gives life. No wonder that we install fountains, pools and all manner of water features wherever we live, work and play. Water also cleanses and reinvigorates. It is the easiest thing in the world to take your garden hose and spray down absolutely everything outside your home the morning of your show day. Use the hose to perk up the plants, to make the lawn seem lush and to clean any outside tiles or walls.
All of this seems common sense doesn’t it? Well, as a French philosopher once said, “Common sense is not so common.”
*Article supplied by Private Property.