How to make your luxury home more buyer-friendly

Posted by Cynthia Madison on June 28th, 2019

If you invested in a luxury property, you probably had two reasons for doing so: one, you wanted the best possible comfort for you and your family and two, you heard that luxury real estate is one of the safest long-term investments. Without a doubt, having an exclusive property is a sure-fire way to generate high ROI and secure your retirement, but you can only enjoy the benefits of your investment if you know how to market the property.

Luxury properties cater to luxury buyers and they are worth a lot of money. However, there are many homeowners who keep their house on the market for months, receive plenty of visits and still don’t manage to find a buyer. This can happen for several reasons: the location is not as popular as it used to, the selling price is too high, the property has lost its curb appeal and, sometimes, the presentation just isn’t buyer-friendly.

Luxury homes require a considerable investment, so you should expect potential buyers to be demanding and nit-picky. To uncover your home’s potential and make it irresistible to buyers, use these tricks:

Repaint the walls in neutral shades

It’s perfectly normal to want to customise your home and give it a unique personality, but once you decide to sell it, you need to keep in mind that one clear rule: a property up for sale should appeal to as many people as possible. When they’re inspecting your home, potential buyers need to visualise themselves living there. The walls should be like a blank canvas and allow them to move in right away, without having to do a lot of repainting. If you chose a bold colour scheme for one of your rooms, or you have patterned wallpaper, you might want to apply a fresh coat of paint in a neutral colour scheme that appeals to everyone. This way, the buyer doesn’t have to make a lot of changes and they won’t be forced to use the rooms exactly like you designed them.

Remove all clutter and personal items

Just like the colour of the walls, the number of personal things that are still in the house when you decide to sell it can influence the viewer’s decision. Some real estate agents say that you shouldn’t leave the house completely empty because it feels too cold and unwelcoming. Others say that you need to take everything out to help visitors visualise how they would decorate it. The truth is somewhere in the middle: keep the essentials, such as beds and large pieces of furniture, and remove all the clutter.

Things like children’s toys, tableware, tools, clothes, and toiletries can make the rooms look smaller than they are and create a lot of clutter, which can become distracting. According to research carried out by Anglian Home Improvements, a quarter of people spend more time looking for mess and clutter than they look at interior design elements and room layout. Apart from clutter, buyers also look for personal belongings, such as photographs, which again can become very distracting. If possible, tuck all of these items away in closets or rent out some storage space until the house is sold.

In case you’re worried that the home looks too impersonal without all these little details, don’t worry. There are many tricks you can use to give buyers that warm and cosy home feeling. For example, you can burn a scented candle that smells like cookies or vanilla, or use an expensive air freshener to give the house a luxurious feel. Just make sure the fragrance isn’t too strong, because that can be off-putting. If you want to go the extra mile, you can bake some cookies yourself and offer them to prospective buyers. Another way to make the place more inviting is to leave on some soft music in the background and turn on the water fountains.

Pay attention to the details

Sometimes, it’s not the furniture or decorations that make a property luxurious, but the attention to the details. Little things such as bathroom fixtures and drawer knobs can make a property look very unappealing if they’re old and malfunctioning, so make sure you replace them before scheduling the first property viewings. The best exclusive properties on the market don’t just feature vintage furniture and hardwood floors. They also have a well-maintained lawn, a spotless countertop, and intact floor tiles. Before selling your home, take the time to fix all those little details that you never got around to doing. Make sure the wallpaper isn’t feeling off, that the window frames are clean and in good condition and that bathroom appliances aren’t all covered in limestone. Last, but not least, the viewer should be as comfortable as possible, so turn on the heating or AC.  All of these things may seem minor, but if it comes down to choosing between two nearly identical properties, the buyer will choose the one that gives the best vibes and looks cared for.