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Busy mum and school teacher Melissa Nichols' shares some tips for getting ready for sale.
The Sydney mum of two, with another baby on the way, had never sold before.
"We built our house 10 years ago so had never sold before, so we took our agents' advice and painted the house and we spent money on marketing," she said.
“There will probably be a huge influx of homes for sale in spring so you’ll be competing against all of them. No-one has a crystal ball, there could be a second wave coming or prices may fall, no-one knows but right now it’s good."
“We hired a stylist which transformed our house plus we did a video too. I was initially hesitant about the extra expense but it obviously works. Our agents Sara Perry and Karl Anthony came with a skill set and they are very experienced at what they do - so make sure you have great agents working for you. We also styled our house on their advice."
Is it worth it?
“Yes!! Our house has been home to two little kids - aged 7 and 3 and we had toys everywhere. So we had an appointment with the stylist that Sara and Karl recommended and they did a few rooms, not the whole house but it transformed our house," she said. "We had an ‘impact room’ as soon as you walk in, instead of a toy room. “They even swapped out our bedspread and added new pillows, plus a lot of lamps, bedside tables and even artwork! It's almost hard to recognise our house. "Some people just have an eye for styling, whereas I was going to go to K-Mart and get some knick knacks."
How much?
"We paid $2200 - which is affordable - to hire furniture for six weeks and it definitely added to our sale price.
“The property probably looks better in the marketing than it does in real life!”
Why now?
"Lots of people tried to tell us not to sell now but to wait for spring, but why would you wait? My question to others who are selling on the fence, is what are you waiting for? We have bought land to build on and we actually have a delayed settlement there and we could have waited til spring," she said.
