Selling a home you’ve lived in for decades can be very different from selling a house you’ve only lived in for a few years.
I think one of the biggest issues when you’ve lived in a home for 20, 30 or even 40 years is that you become so comfortable in it that you don’t necessarily see it in the same way a potential buyer does.
The first thing I tend to ask my clients to do is to remember why thye bought it in the first place.
What attracted them to it? What did they love about it? What appealed to them about the house and the area? And, importantly, what stage of their life were they at when they bought it?
I think it’s really important to try and get back into that mindset of what it was like when you first bought the house, because that can help you start seeing it through a buyer’s eyes rather than just seeing the home you’ve become so familiar with.
I worked with a couple who had lived in their home for around 30 years and wanted to move to France. Their property had been on the market for two years. One of the things I suggested was that they take photographs of their home and then actually sit down and look at those photographs.
When you see your home in a photograph rather than just walking around it every day, you often notice things that you don’t normally see. It helps you look at it from a completely different perspective.
Look at the condition of your home
When you’re looking through those photographs, start to look at the colours and tones you’ve used in each room. Ask yourself, when was the last time you updated the wallpaper or paint?
I’m not saying you need to invest in expensive renovations or completely redecorate your home. But there may be a few things that need updating, and sometimes making a few simple changes can make a big difference.
I’d also look at the general condition of the house. Are there little repairs that you’ve been putting off because you’ve simply got used to them? Things that perhaps don’t bother you anymore because you’ve lived with them for so long, but that a buyer is going to notice straight away?
Getting those things done can make a massive difference.
Another really important thing that we all accumulate over the years is furniture.
Have you accumulated lots of extra furniture that you don’t actually need anymore? Having too much furniture in a room can obviously make the room look much smaller than it actually is.
Once you’ve started clearing some of those things, particularly excess furniture and belongings, you’ll often be amazed at how much bigger the rooms can look.
And if you’re struggling to see it yourself, ask somebody else to come in and have a look. Sometimes having an outsider look at your home can be really helpful because they don’t have the same emotional attachment to it and can see things that you’ve simply stopped noticing.
Think about what a buyer is going to see
Once you start looking at your home through somebody else’s eyes, you often realise that you’ve accumulated an awful lot of belongings over the years.
I’m not suggesting that you take every photograph off the walls or remove everything that makes the house your home. But you do need to make it less personal so that when a buyer walks through the door, they don’t feel as though they are intruding in somebody else’s home.
You want them to be able to walk in and start thinking, “I could live here.”
I’d also look at how you’re using the rooms. If it’s a five-bedroom house but the bedrooms aren’t actually being used as bedrooms anymore, I’d suggest putting them back to their original purpose. You want buyers to be able to see what the house has to offer rather than having to work everything out for themselves.
Start decluttering before you have to move
I also encourage people who have lived somewhere for many years to start thinking about their belongings well before they actually move.
If you’re downsizing, you’re probably not going to have the same amount of space in your next home, so there’s no point moving lots of things that you no longer want or need.
I suggest sorting things into what you definitely want to keep and take with you, what you’d like to pass on to family or friends, what could go to charity and what simply needs to go.
It’s also a really good opportunity to ask family members if there are things they particularly want or treasures that they’d like to have. That can make the whole process much easier later on.
And once you’ve had a really good declutter and cleared some of those belongings, you’ll often be able to see the house in a completely different light.
Don’t forget the outside
For me, kerb appeal is really important.
The house needs to appeal to somebody as soon as they see it. That starts when they see the photographs online, then when they drive or walk down the road and see the property, and finally when they arrive at the front door.
It needs to make them want to come inside.
And then the hallway is really important because that’s the first thing they see when they walk through the door. How does it look? How does it feel? Does it make them want to explore the rest of the house?
Ultimately, it’s about changing the way you look at your home
I think when you’ve lived somewhere for decades, you become blind to certain things because you see them every single day.
So my biggest piece of advice would be to stop and look at your home as if you were seeing it for the first time.
Remember why you bought it.
Think about what attracted you to it all those years ago.
Then start looking at it through the eyes of somebody who has never seen it before.
What would they notice? What would make them want to come inside? What would make them want to stay?
You’re not trying to take away the memories or everything that makes the house yours. You’re simply preparing it so that somebody else can start to imagine making their own memories there.