Prepare your Home for a Summer Sale – Our week by week Checklist

With summer around the corner, if you are considering selling over the warmer months, it’s a good idea to start preparing your property for sale now.

Summer is all about showcasing your home’s summer living features and making sure you tick the box on some standard home preparation principles. Here is a look at what you should be doing in the 6 weeks leading up to your first open home inspection.

6 weeks before open homes start – plan and organise any pre-sale renovations and repairs.
Walk around your property with fresh eyes. Pretend you are a buyer inspecting your property for the first time and write a list of all the issues with the property that you spot on your walk-through. Whilst you may not usually notice the broken latch on the gate, the loose paver on the path, or the broken roof tile, potential buyers will, and you want to fix these issues before your first open home.

Once you have your list, start categorising them into jobs you can do, jobs another member of the family can do and jobs that require an expert. For the jobs that need an expert, get onto organising that now. It can take a while to find and book a tradesman, and some jobs, such as fixing decking, painting the house or fence, sanding, and refinishing floorboards, etc., can take a while, so you need to get organised now.

For the jobs you and your family are going to manage, make sure you add a due date to each task to ensure there is a steady list of jobs to be done each week rather than a mad rush at the end. And most importantly, start now!

5 weeks before open homes start – declutter, store, donate, sell, or discard.
This week is about decluttering the home and removing most of your personal items and potentially some of your larger pieces of furniture to create a flow through the property.

Pack and purge is what we like to call it. This week, go room to room and sort items into different piles.

Personal items and furniture you want to keep but remove for the open homes must be packed and stored until after the sale. Consider organising a short-term storage facility to keep these safe for the duration of the sales campaign, or better still, ask a friend or family member if they have space to store the items for a few weeks.
Group the things you want to get rid of into 3 piles – 1. Discard, 2. Donate or 3. Sell and start going.

Once you’ve decided what is to go where, make sure you action the groups appropriately.

Drop items you’re donating to your local charity bin.
For the items you are selling, photograph them and get them up on Gumtree or eBay.
For items you’re discarding, contact your local council about what options they offer here. Some councils offer a free collection of household clean-out items; alternatively, they can direct you where to take them.
Finally, for those pieces you are keeping but want to store while you sell, pack these up and take them to the storage facility or to your friends or family’s garage.

4 weeks before open homes start – landscaping the garden & patching and painting.
Whether you have a small or large outdoor space, it’s important that you showcase it, particularly if selling in summer. Buyers look at decks, verandahs, courtyards, and gardens as extensions of their homes. A place to entertain family and friends and enjoy our beautiful climate. Making the most of these areas is essential if selling during the warmer months.

This week, it’s all about getting your hands dirty:

Weed the garden beds.
Mow the lawn and add top dressing if it has been hammered over winter.
Trim all the greenery.
Edge your walkways
Plant new flowers in the garden beds
Spread fresh mulch.
If you own a pool, clean the pool fence and around the pool, and if you haven’t already, get the chlorine levels ready for summer so the pool is sparkling.
Look for every opportunity: a small nook, landing near a door or unused outdoor space. Consider adding a relaxing chair so buyers can envisage themselves sitting there reading a book, enjoying a glass of wine, or soaking up the sun.
If your outdoor furniture looks worn and tired, consider upgrading it or hiring outdoor furniture to have fresh, clean, crisp pieces that showcase your summer lifestyle.

If this seems overwhelming, consider hiring a professional gardener to help you. Depending on the size of your garden, they should be able to get through a lot in a day, which can significantly impact your sale result.

3 weeks before open homes start – Deep clean & curb appeal.
With the home looking more spacious and easier to clean, now is the time to start cleaning every nook, surface, cupboard, and drawer.

Go room-to-room to dust and clean every surface and nook.
Make sure all your windows and window frames are spotless.
Vacuum the property and mop the floors.
Dust the walls and remove cobwebs high on the ceilings.
Make sure there are no stains, mould, or animal hair on any surface.
Clean and tidy the cupboards inside and out, as buyers often take a sticky beak inside.

Enhance your curb appeal.
Making a good first impression right from the curb is your goal here. Buyers often do a drive-past before working out if they are going to come back for an inspection, so the view of your property from the street is important.

Fix your curb appeal.

Sweep all the paths and keep them swept for the duration of the sales campaign.
Power wash the paths and fence to ensure they are as clean as possible.
If you haven’t already weed the front garden and any garden bed visible from the street
Mow the lawn and clip the hedges.
Ensure the letterbox is cleaned out every day.
Ensure there are no cobwebs, wasp nests, or dirt on the facia and eaves.
Make sure the street number is clearly visible.
Ensure outside lights are working and leave them on during the sales campaign period.
And clean the windows.

If selling an apartment

Sweep outside the front door.
Ensure windows are cleaned and blinds/shutters are open.
If you have a visible balcony, ensure it is tidy and the table and chairs are positioned neatly.
Add some flowering plants to the balcony or hang a window box outside the kitchen window.

2 weeks before open homes start – Styling and staging.
With only 2 weeks to go and the property decluttered and sparkling clean, this week is about pulling it together and styling it to sell.

Presentation is a critical part of the selling process. Whilst it is not guaranteed, styling a property for sale adds up to 5% – 10% to the sale price. Of course, you don’t need to hire a professional; however, they can help transform a property to ensure it appeals to a broader market. Professionals can really help give your property that wow factor. If you want to do it yourself, download our room-by-room Styling to Sell checklist here.

1 week before open homes start – finishing touches.
With only a week to go, walk through your property again right from the curb into each room and space. Again, take notes of any issues or things you missed and action these. This week is all about finishing off the loose ends.

1 day before the open home starts.
You want your property to shine tomorrow, so today is all about last-minute jobs to ensure your property looks its best:

Sweep the path to the front door, including outside the front doors to apartments.
Remove dead flowers and letters in the letterbox and garbage bins, mow the lawn, and take clothes off the clothesline.
Vacuum the entire home and mop the floors.
Check all the light bulbs are working and replace any if needed.
Ensure the kitchen is sparkling, including the hot plate, microwave, and oven.
Remove all the clutter from the kitchen bench and only leave a couple of nice appliances on display.
Add a splash of colour with flowers, a fruit bowl, and fresh tea towels on the overdoor.
Make sure the furniture is positioned well for traffic flow.
Straighten all paintings and rugs, clean up, and remove all toys and pet stuff.
Open all the windows to get fresh air through the property and deodorise pet smells.
Add some luxury items into the bathroom, along with some fresh, soft towels.

It may be worth heading out for dinner tonight to keep any cooking smells out of the house and the kitchen clean.

Day of the open home inspection
Get up nice and early and make the final touches to your property:

Clean the kitchen bench…one more time with feeling.
Dry out the sink.
Add a clean tea towel to the oven door.
Put the toilet seat down.
Add a new roll of loo paper to the holder.
Add clean plush towels to the bathroom and hide toothbrushes, combs, etc.
Ensure all the beds are made and styled.
Turn all lights and lamps on.
Remove or lock up any valuables.
Open all the doors.
Open all the blinds, curtains, or shutters.
Empty garbage bins.
Put cushions on the outdoor furniture.
If it’s a hot summer day – turn on ceiling fans.

With the sun out and buyers often in relaxed holiday mode, if your property offers an inside/outside lifestyle, selling over summer may be the best time for you and your property.

Talk to us at Team Etchells about selling your property this Summer, and download the McGrath room-by-room Preparing Your Home For Sale Checklist HERE.

This article is an adaptation of a McGrath Article first published on 30/11/2021.