Selling: Tips to prepare your home for summer.

As the days grow longer and temperatures rise, summer presents a prime opportunity to showcase your home to potential buyers.

To make your property stand out and attract serious offers, it's essential to prepare it for the season. 3%.Com Properties share how you can get your home ready to shine this summer.

Boost Curb Appeal

First Impressions Count:

• Landscaping: Refresh your garden with seasonal plants and flowers. Trim overgrown bushes and maintain the lawn for a well-groomed look.
• Front Door: Give your front door a fresh coat of paint or polish it to make it stand out. Add a welcome mat for a personal touch.
• Outdoor Living Spaces: Stage patios, decks, and outdoor areas with comfortable furniture and decorative elements to highlight their potential for summer enjoyment.

Enhance Interior Comfort

Create a Cool, Inviting Atmosphere:

• Air Conditioning: Ensure your air conditioning system is in top condition. Have it serviced to guarantee it works efficiently on hot days.
• Light and Bright: Open curtains and blinds to let in natural light, and use light, airy, and neutral colours for decor to create a fresh and welcoming feel.

Refresh and Declutter

Showcase Space and Cleanliness:

• Deep Cleaning: Conduct a thorough cleaning of all rooms, including carpets, upholstery, and hard-to-reach areas.
• Decluttering: Remove excess items to make spaces look larger and more organised. Pack away personal items (especially in the bathrooms) to help buyers envision themselves in the home.

Highlight Summer Features

Emphasise Outdoor Living:

• Pool and Spa: If you have a pool or spa, ensure it's clean and well-maintained. Consider adding poolside furniture or decorative elements to enhance its appeal.
• Braai Area: Set up the braai area and stage it with summer essentials like a grill, table settings, and outdoor lighting.

Make Your Home Accessible

Ease of Viewing:

• Flexible Showings: Be flexible with showing times to accommodate potential buyers' schedules, especially during weekends and evenings when people are more likely to visit.
• Open Houses: Let our agents host an open house to attract more potential buyers. Our agents will ensure that all marketing materials highlight summer-ready features.

Preparing your home for summer involves more than just sprucing up the garden. Enhancing curb appeal, improving interior comfort, and showcasing seasonal features will help your property stand out in the competitive market. Our property professionals can also assist with marketing, viewings, and negotiations to ensure a successful sale.

Here are some ideas for home improvement projects that pay off courtesy of Home-Dzine:

Kitchens - Kitchen remodels are among the best for recouping the cost of renovations. Modernise with new appliances, counter tops and cabinets.

Bathrooms - Adding a bathroom increases the value of your home. So does upgrading an existing one. Adding new light fixtures, vanities with plenty of storage, ceramic tile or marble, and a new coat of paint are just some of the ways to improve a bathroom.

Outdoors - Building a deck or patio enhances your enjoyment of your garden and lets you recover approximately 85 percent of the project costs in added value.

Additions - Converting an attic into a bedroom or adding a family room are great ways to add value and make your home fit your needs as your family grows.

Painting - One of the most affordable and effective improvements you can make to your home is painting both the interior and exterior. Painting maintains the beauty and value of the home.

In an article published on 16 July 2022, Seeff Property Group, provides six tips to adapt your home to make it more convenient for loadshedding. These improvements will also add value to your property as load shed-ready homes are in demand:

Tip 1 - Install a battery-driven inverter system. A basic inverter with two 12-volt deep cycle batteries could provide power for up to four hours for a television, internet, and laptop. Wire these to the appliances so they remain on, but never boil a kettle or add a heater to an inverter system.

Tip 2- Install a petrol generator as an alternative to an inverter. A minimum of 6.5kVA could provide power for basics such as a television, lights, internet and a laptop, your fridge, and other appliances. Generators can power a kettle, microwave, and a small heater, but it is best to limit these.

Tip 3 - Fit your lights with rechargeable globes. This could ensure that you have lights during a power outage. Be sure to also fit exterior lights or install solar or battery-powered lights to keep your property lit for security purposes.

Tip 4 - Install a battery backup for your security systems. Power outages are the perfect cover for criminals. It is therefore vital to ensure your gate, garage doors, and security system remain functioning during a power outage.

Tip 5 - Switch to gas for cooking. Now is probably the ideal time to convert to gas for your cooking needs. That way mealtimes need not be interrupted. A stovetop kettle means you can still enjoy your morning coffee even during a power outage.

Tip 6 - Install a solar geyser. Replacing your geyser with a solar-powered geyser is relatively easy. One thing that SA has plenty of is sunshine to power solar systems and this way you can ensure there is always hot water, even during a prolonged power outage.