Buying and Selling a home is stressful. It is even more stressful if you are buying and selling at the same time. This week we will give you some tips on selling a home and next week some tips on buying a home.

Selling a Property

We asked Rebecca Mitchell from Stone Real Estate for her top tips on presenting your home in the best possible light.

Rebecca’s Top Five Tips were:

1. Declutter and store items if necessary (sometimes less is more);
2. Spring Clean and make sure the windows are clean both inside and out;
3. The initial impression is important, the garden must be pruned, and lawns mowed and trimmed;
4. Painting and Recarpeting a home makes it look fresher; and
5. A professionally styled house can make a huge difference.  If that is outside your budget, even some small extras can help such as vases with fresh flowers, prints, lamps, cushions and mirrors.

With Rebecca’s tips in mind, ITC has put together some local contacts for you to use when preparing to sell a house.

Declutter

When moving house you need to be ruthless. Get rid of things that you have not used in a long time. You need to create four piles Throw Out, Donate, Sell or Store.

Throw Out – if you have not used something in a year and it has no sentimental value or cannot be sold or donated. Get rid of it.

Donate – There are two goodwill stores in Lane Cove where you can donate goods (St Vincent De Paul and Goodwill)

Sell – Have a garage sale. You can advertise your garage sale on In the Cove at this link. You can also put up flyers on the local noticeboards. If you do not know where you local noticeboard is – we have listed them on our blog here. If you are are selling in November or December, you might want to have a garage sale during the Garage Sail Trail day in October.

Store – Storage King Lane Cove is a great place to store your excess furniture and items. They DO NOT have a minimum contract period. They have a huge range of boxes and packaging material. They can also recommend people to pack and removalists. If you like their Facebook page, they have regular tips on what to do when moving house.

Clean

If you do not have time to spring clean the house you’re selling, bring in the professionals.

Northshore Professional Cleaners are a cleaning team located in Lane Cove North. They have more than 15 years experience in the industry. Find out more about them here.

Questa Property Services can also give your home an all-over spruce up before selling. Read about them here.

Do Minor Maintenance

If a door knob is missing, a tile is missing, a door needs rehanging or any other maintenance issue needs doing – fix them before you list the house. Hire a Hubby Lane Cove are very used to doing these types of jobs for people looking to sell.

Street Appeal

You only have one chance to make a good first impression. Gardens should be pruned, trimmed and lawns mowed. If your garden is not landscaped you might want to discuss with a professional landscaper some ideas about how to make the garden “sale friendly”. Give Catherine Gard from Branch Out Landscape Design a call. Even adding some garden ornamentation spruces the place up.

If you need someone to undertake the landscaping and some carpentry work we recommend you speak to Wood n Stone.

If you grass looks like it needs a bit of TLC, it’s time to speak to the green grass expert Stuart from Coochie Hydrogreen. When Stuart moved into Lane Cove and gave his grass the Coohie Hydrogreen treatment, his neighbours were impressed. You can read our blog here about Coochie Hydrogreen.

Styling the House

Styling a house can be overwhelming.  It might be time to speak to an expert about styling the house. Local interior designer Ornella Botter offers this service. Style to Market, in collaboration with Ornella Botter Interiors, looks at ways to style your house to help you make an impression. Whether it’s a small apartment, a large home, or a development, Styled to Market can help you improve the ‘look and feel’ of your home to maximize the appeal to potential buyers.

Their stylists work to recreate a home for purposes of marketing and sale. They have a range of services that can be tailored to suit all budgets and requirements. They can work with your existing items or can provide furniture rental options, advise on colour, source items or help to de-clutter. All with the aim of improving your home to appeal and sell.

If you would like to speak with Ornella, she can be contacted on 0421 084 919 or email [email protected]

Contract of Sale

Unless you are a brave individual, you need to instruct a professional conveyancer or solicitor to help you with buying or selling a house.

Whether you’re buying or selling, Select Conveyancing ensure their service is easy and stress free every time. Nicola Lacey, our experienced conveyancer, is ready to guide you through every step, and take the hard work off your hands. Select Conveyancing are located in the heart of Lane Cove.

If you need a solicitor to assist in the sale of your house (powers of attorney or  a deceased estate, subdivision, easements etc) you should speak to local lawyers SRM Lawyers.

If you have a pool, you should be aware of the new pool compliance legislation. If you are selling or leasing a pool you must now have a compliant pool.  Find out more here.

If you’re looking to buy a home in Lane Cove, we will have some tips for you next week.

In the Cove is so grateful to Rebecca Mitchell of Stone Real Estate who helped fund inthecove.com.au by being a #platinumsponsor. Rebecca has lived in this area for years. You can find out more about her on our blog here.