The leaves are beginning to change, and so is the property market. Now that the kids are settled back into school after the summer holidays, sellers and buyers alike are keen for new properties before the chill of winter settles in. But with all of the properties currently on the market, how can you make your home stand out? Hoping to help you, I’ve tried to give you my best tips for helping your home cut through the crowd during the busy autumn property season.
I’m told that Autumn has a new colour palette, and your house should reflect the change of seasons as well. We took the advice of local design expert David Pickavance of Cubbon & Bregazzi in Tromode who said, “colours are a prerequisite in assuring a house sits within the seasonal trend, and offer buyers exactly what they’ve been anticipating even before they see it. Use colours like cranberry or salsa red, Buckingham or Eden green, and even muted colours like olive, coffee, or truffle brown. Décor-wise, highlight fireplaces, candles, rustic furniture, and historical features. Make your house autumnal.”
After all the beautiful flowers and foliage of the summer, your garden, like my own, is probably looking a bit tired this autumn. It’s a bit damp underfoot, the leaves are falling and the bright colours have changed into autumnal shades. Local gardening and Landscaping expert Richard Speight of Manx Marvel Gardens recommends that you “apply colour to the flower beds around the front of the house with evergreen shrubs, frame the entrance/porch to make a feature, and make sure that you consistently sweep up leaves during this season. A tidy garden, even in autumn, is an advantage.”
I think all agents worth their salt agree on this, it’s critical. Richard Cryer of Jewell Photography told me recently that when we take photos of the outside space “we must represent the same time, if a garden shot shows trees in full blossom rather than leaves slowly falling and changing colours”. This makes sense, because buyers look at properties at a certain point in time, in a specific season and most are pretty eagle-eyed these days and will spot the discrepancies! This is super important if your home has been on the market for a while and had photos taken during the summer months. I always advocate a blend of images, strike the right balance between the seasonality of when a house is being marketed with the strong points it offers would-be purchasers especially the benefits of a summer garden.
If you’ve lived in your house for many years, it can be hard to step back and judge where a property needs to be improved. A good estate agent will be able to look at your house with a critical eye and identify the areas that need sprucing. Constructively of course!
Have you got a real fire? If so, there’s nothing more welcoming that an open fire on a cold autumn day. Especially if it’s crisp and bright outside. On the day of the viewing, light a fire to cultivate that cosy autumnal feeling. Put the coffee on too, pleasant aromas make houses feel far more welcoming and homely.
Make sure your agent turns on all the lights in your home when he/she is showing it to prospective buyers. It gets darker much earlier in the autumn, and having a well-lit home makes it feel welcoming and cosy, two feelings you should cultivate when staging a property. If you’re doing your own viewings, this is great advice.
Taking a long hard look at your advertising after the summer is essential to achieving success in the autumn. How many viewings did you get in the first 6-10 weeks your property was listed? Viewings may have been booked on a regular basis, but no offers were received. In that case, make some time to discuss your marketing with your agent; talk about why an offer hasn’t been received. Talk about how your property is being listed, is the pedestal the agent has put it on high enough, bright enough? Consider your photos – we talked about that above – but also consider his/her advice on price. There is a buyer for every property and the market will determine the price anyone is prepared to pay.
Tim Groves
Black Grace Cowley
tim@blackgracecowley.com
(01624) 645555
