Thinking about selling your home?

Thinking about selling your home?

With slightly tougher conditions ahead Craig Smith, Managing Director Copperfield Windows, talks about ten home improvements that are guaranteed to help you sell your home.

Recent reports show that while far from having a catastrophic impact on the housing market, house sales have nonetheless slowed as buyers wait for the dust to settle on Brexit.  

This cooling of the housing market is probably no bad thing – house prices are still causing major problems in the UK – but for anyone who needs to move, it makes things even tougher.

Maintaining your home is key when it comes to selling up. While a whole host of buyers may find a ‘doer-upper’ welcoming, many more will be put off by peeling paint work, rotten timber windows or draughty doors. And even if you do find a buyer who’s prepared to take on the work, they will almost always try to negotiate on price.

Maintaining your home, by contrasts, maximizes the appeal of your property and helps you stave off potential price negotiations at the point of sale.

10 tips to help you sell your home

1. Central Heating

Making a home warm and welcoming is key to its appeal. Energy price increase means that buyers are more interested in home efficiency than ever before. Central heating and an efficient, regularly serviced boiler are important to anyone buying a home and more so going into the colder months.

2. Double Glazing and Triple Glazing

It's the same story with windows and doors. They will have to fork out to heat it, so potential buyers will want to get as much return on those costs as they can by locking heat inside the house. Old windows can be responsible for up to 25 per cent of the heat lost from your property. PVC energy efficient double glazed windows and doors can cut this heat loss by up to 75 per cent.

3. Outside space

People love outdoor areas. Give the fence a lick of paint and pot a few plants. Even small spaces can be transformed with a few pots, colourful planting and a little TLC!

4. Secure windows and doors

People want to feel warm and safe in their home. Rotting timber windows or old PVC-U or aluminium windows and doors can be easily forced. New multi-point locking windows and doors, will make potential buyers feel like their new home could be like a secure castle.

5. Off-road parking

If you’re loaded with groceries or shopping bags – and even more importantly, young children and all of the paraphernalia that goes with them, off-road parking is key. This is something you’re either going to have or aren’t but if you do, de-clutter driveways or garages.

6. Smart and well-maintained frontage

First impressions last. Badly maintained, windows, doors gardens and driveways can create a negative first impression to a potential buyer. If your house is painted make sure that you give it a fresh coat.

If windows are old, or worse an unsympathetic design, consider they’re replacement. The cost of doing so may be considerably less than you think and with a wide range of colour choices and finishes, you can pick the perfect design to give your property a wow factor.

7. Add square footage to your home

A recent survey by the Nationwide Building Society found that adding a space equivalent to the size of a typical double bedroom can add around 11% to the value of your property. Energy efficient glazed extensions and conservatories are a great way of adding new year-round living and flexible living space to your home. Add a new living-room, dining room, or kitched to your property for a fraction of the cost of a traditional ‘bricks-and-mortar’ extension.

8. A second toilet

If you’re selling a two-bedroom property or more, a second toilet always helps sell. If you don’t have one, consider installation of under-stair and compact solutions or if you do decide to extend, build it into your design. Modern family life is just too busy to be queueing cross-legged outside a single bathroom!

9. A bath tub

Even if you don’t have time to take long relaxing baths, don’t be tempted to rip out your bath tub. They’re listed as a key selling point by prospective buyers time and time again.

10. Fall in love with your home again

A little investment in your property can change the way you think about it. Unless you have to, you may find that adding a little more space or new energy efficient doors and windows, a lick of paint and a tidy-up of the garden means you decide to stay after all!

Copperfield offers an extensive range of home improvement products including energy efficient and low maintenance, double and triple glazed windows.  We offer a wide choice of high security front and back doors, including police approved Secured by Design Specifications.

We can also help you to extend your home at a fraction of the cost of a traditional build.  Call 02476 452688 or email admin.copperfield@btconnect.com to find out more.