Preparing your Home for Inspection
Our Top 10 tips to make a great first impression with prospective buyers
Tip #1 to preparing your home for inspection: Clean your home like a pro
Having a property that sparkles the moment a buyer wWindows and mirrors
Make sure you clean each and every window until they all sparkle before each inspection. Windows let in much more light when they are immaculately clean.  This can make a big difference to those all important first impressions. This also applies to mirrors especially in bathrooms. Make sure you clean and polish them to within an inch of their life.Flooring and Ceiling surfaces
Make sure your carpets are properly cleaned and tiles are reflecting the light as much as possible. Don’t forget grime and dust on the skirting boards when you are doing this step too. Check for cobwebs high up near the ceilings and make sure any ceiling skirting are dust-free.Cleaning your Cupboards – inside and out
People DO look inside your cupboards. So make sure you’ve cleaned them inside and out. Make sure you only have the essentials in them and there is ample space in your cupboards – not a pile of junk just waiting to tip out onto the floor!Doors and drawers
One of the biggest mistakes people make when thoroughly cleaning their home is not cleaning their doors and drawers. TBathrooms and Kitchens
Pay particular attention to bathrooms and kitchens; including glass doors, sinks, behind the toilet, taps, stoves and oven-tops. Pretend like your home is a 5 star luxury hotel that your favourite celebrity is going to come and stay in, and clean accordingly! Make them sparkle. (And don’t forget to empty the rubbish).Tip #2 to preparing your home for inspection: Â Do a mini garden makeover
Tip #3 to preparing your home for inspection:  Repair any obvious problems – well presented suggests well maintained
- Re-grout tiles
- Fix broken glass, mirrors or tiles
- Paint over stained (or chipped) surfaces on walls
- Fix any plumbing issues like leaky taps or water pressure issues
TRUST THE PROCESS, NOT THE AGENT
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Tip #4 to preparing your home for inspection: Â Style your Home
Tip #5 to preparing your home for inspection: Â Create an inviting scent
Ideally your home should not smell. However if for whatever reason yours does, you should mask it. Even if your home doesn’t have a bad smell, you want to make sure it feels fresh – which includes having plenty of fresh air circulated around the home well before inspection time. So, in plenty of time before your prospective home buyers arrive, open as many doors and windows in your home to get fresh air in as possible. If this is not enough, you may spray air freshener into your rooms about an hour or so before inspection time.  Keep it simple – many people are sensitive to these smells and you don’t want them wondering what odours the smell is hiding.Good scents
Interestingly, a scent test by MasterChef judge Gary Mehigan and aroma specialist Dr Megan Thornton put some popular scents to the test.  Prospective home buyers had to test the impact six scents had on the perceived value of a home.“Overwhelmingly a citrus scent came out as the most likely to persuade homebuyers to pay up, nosing out freshly baked brownies and bread.” (read the full article here)
Tip #6 to preparing your home for inspection:  Maximise the light
Tip #7 to preparing your home for inspection: Â Control the temperature
Keep your prospective buyers comfortable during their inspection by controlling the temperature of your home.  Turn the air conditioning or the heater on as required. You don’t want buyers sweating as they inspect your home because it’s the height of summer; nor do you want them clinging to their jackets because they’re soooo cold! Even if they love your home, if they’re not physically comfortable, they may be itching to get out of there and into a place where they are. This means you lose the potential to really connect with them and talk to them about their needs and how they might match all the features of your home. When they are comfortable, they will associate your home with comfort and positive feelings; and will be more likely to stay and talk with you.Tip #8 to preparing your home for inspection: Personal but not too personal
Anything fresh and colourful (if tastefully done), can add an inviting, ‘lived in’ feel to a home, without being too personal. We recommend a vase of flowers with one or two colours in a living room and/or entrance way. Be sure to avoid any highly scented flower that may put off buyers with an allergy or sensitivity to smell. Fresh fruit is also a nice touch – we recommend just sticking to one type and having it stylishly placed in a beautiful bowl in the kitchen. Also hang fresh towels in the bathroom perfectly aligned; and fresh tea towels in the kitchen. Make sure they compliment the colours of the rest of your home and are new if possible to keep that fresh feeling. Anything beyond this like setting the dinner table can be a little too contrived.TRUST THE PROCESS, NOT THE AGENT
Need more help? Learn More about our Assisted Private Saleâ„¢ Services
 Tip #9 to preparing your home for inspection: Remove pets and any sign of them
Tip #10 to preparing your home for inspection:Â Leave Marketing Materials
It’s great if you can leave buyers with something to go away with like colourful brochures or flyers. Put them in an obvious location and invite them to take one home with them. Include your best photos and useful information like the sale price, contact details and best features of your home. You also might like to include some well selected examples of homes that have sold recently in the area and what they sold for, if you are wanting to pitch your home in a certain price range. We hope you have found these tips useful and wish you all the best with your home inspection!Other Useful Links
- How to sell your own Australian Home
- I want to sell my  own home without an Agent – help me!
- How to sell my home privately with low commission in QLD
- Why it’s delusional to think your home can be sold
- Can I sell my home without a Real Estate Agent?
- 7 Step recipe for selling your home like a Pro