Property - How To Sell Your House
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Property Guru Liz O'Kane is here with a market update and will give us her top tips for selling your house.
Is it a good or bad time to sell?
In my view there is never a bad time to sell...although lots of people believe that the market is seasonal and won't put their property up for sale until the spring when the evenings are getting a little brighter and the gardens are looking good.
However, what you have to remember is that if you wait till the spring, competition will be stronger in that there will be more properties out there and more buyers with more choice - whereas in my view if you sell slightly off season, there is always a punter out there who is looking for a quieter sale and possibly a bit of a deal who is willing to negotiate on a house before the hoards go out buying again in the Spring.
Personally I have never bought a house during the height of the season and in fact I bought one house on Christmas Eve! And when people found out I had bought it they didn't even realise the property was for sale!
Will the new stamp duty reforms help the property market?
Well, firstly I am delighted with the new stamp duty reform...and not before time! We've previously had 7 brackets of very confusing stamp duty thresholds and with savings to be made up to €1.0k I predict this should get the market moving again. Now, I don't mean that there will be growth in property but, that the buyers will come back to the market.
Everyone has been waiting to see would there be any stamp duty changes, Mr. Cowan categorically said 'no' pre the budget and then obviously had second thoughts and needed to do something to get the market moving again and to get some money into the exchequer.!
I am hopeful that those potential buyers who have been sitting back, now have what they wanted i.e. a reform and that the counties and provinces who have been hit hard in the last 18 months with zero sales will now get some movement again.
Interestingly with our population set to grow to over 8 million in the next 10 - 15 years, housing will be more of a priority than ever. And, with rent soaring it is actually less expensive to buy than rent...if you can get the finance, but that's another story!
Liz's Top 5 Tips for selling your house:
1. Please, please, please de-clutter your home before you let any auctioneer across the door to take photographs - get a small skip and really dump the junk! If you're not up for the dumping there is help out there in the form of de-cluttering services who will gently hold your hand through the process!
2. Then you clean like you've never cleaned before...and that includes outside as well as inside - give your property some 'kerb appeal', and get it noticed from outside first.
3. Walk around your house and make a 'house selling snag list' or better still get a friend or family member to do it for you. They won't miss the things you might. Then attack the list - painting touch-ups in the rooms where furniture has been up against walls, skirting boards, remove posters from kids bedroom walls, and all broken taps, handles, kitchen drawers, shelving to be repaired.
Small things that you've left for a rainy day...do them now!
If you've got kids at home...get rid of as many toys as possible...toys are the worst offenders and end up taking up oodles of room!
4. Your house needs to say 'buy me', and people buy into other peoples lifestyles. Buyers view houses several times before committing so it's vital they remember yours for all the right reasons.
5. Always remember 'The simpler the better!' lose most of the family photographs - let people imagine their own family photos in your home, box most of you ornaments and candles, keep your home looking clean, contemporary, minimal, bright and an easy home to live in. Then sit back and fingers crossed, let the bids come in!
Finally remember - Simplicity sells, so keep things simple. Not everyone will like your interior design and by de-cuttering, cleaning, repairing and touching up, your home will look quite different even to you. It's not hugely expensive to present your home for sale - and you need to speculate to accumulate!
Launch - Help Sell My House Appeal
Do you need help selling your house?
If so our property expert Liz O'Kane is here to help. She will come to your house, cast her expert eye over your property and help bring your sale to a faster conclusion.
So if your property has been on the market for a long time or you're about to put your property up for sale but don't think it's ready; Liz will give you tailored advice that's bound to speed up the sale!
To apply: Send us photos of your property (inside and outside), plus your name, address and contact numbers to: Send all of your information to emails@theafternoonshow.ie with Help Sell My House in the subject line.
Or you can post them to us: Help Sell My House, The Afternoon Show, Montrose House, RTE, Donnybrook, Dublin 4
Send them in as soon as possible as Liz will be filming around Ireland in Jan & Feb