making a house more saleable

kunekune

We also sold a house to the first viewers. It was a Sunday afternoon, pouring with rain, and the EA rang to say could they come straight over (in NZ, the EA brings the buyers, and usually the owner is out). I warned them which door to use as there was a persistent puddle by the other one. We'd been veging out in the living area ( big open plan job) and the fire was already going. I got rid of OH and the children, ran around and did tidying up. When they arrived I was curled up in front of the fire with a hot drink. The other thing was that usually you never meet somone viewing the house and you certainly don't get to tell them stuff. I made sure they knew why we were moving (to come back here), how much we loved the house (which was true) and how cosy it was (which was obvious). The offer arrived the next day. The trick is to get the person viewing the house to imagine living in it, which is why all white and totally bare can be off-putting.

chriserenity

Sure theres all the old tricks to consider like finish baking cookies before you get a viewing but there is something else to think about now too.

If you get an Energy Performance Certificate now you can benefit from the information in it by identifying the areas of your property you need to improve to raise the efficiency score by using available grants and discount schemes detailed on the Energy Saving Trust website.

The best thing about doing this is you can include your Energy Performance Certificate in your HIP when you actually put the property on the market. The EPC can be up to a year old by the time it goes in the HIP so thats a big window for improvement.

Check your local business listings or google for your local accredited energy assessor. There are six thousand of us out there so you shouldn't need to look far!

Based on feedback from our customers, energy efficiency is a growing issue for homebuyers and early indications show that EPC ratings and bandings are becoming the default representation of efficiency in the residential sales market.