Thursday 31 January 2019

PART 3 OF 5: PREPARING YOUR HOME FOR SALE......

Tip 3: Flooring

A typical lifespan for modern carpeting is 5 to 15 years, depending upon the quality and the amount of foot traffic it receives. Other types of flooring generally need replacing based on fashion or general wear-and-tear.

It is important to consider a flooring update prior to listing your home for sale for the following reasons:
-   worn, tired or stained carpet gives the appearance of being dirty (even if it’s not)
-   slate and tiled floors can seem dated, depending on the colour and style. Appealing to the majority of buyers means you want your home to look fresh and modern
-   if you have damage, cracks, scuffs or chips in your slate, tiles or floorboards, this will devalue the property in a buyer’s mind

Carpeting and floating floorboards, as a general rule, can be a relatively inexpensive way to update flooring. Depending on specials and promotions from carpeting stores you could carpet three bedrooms from around $1,200. Floating floorboards can be purchased from as little as $25/m2 and if you’re handy you can even lay them yourself!

Like paint and wall colours, flooring should be neutral shades, so it will go with anything. If you’re worried about picking the wrong colour, you should ask advice from the store you are buying from. Neutral shade fashions do change from time to time (for example from cream and beige shades to charcoal grey shades), so it is best to seek advice on what’s current.

Carpet - as a general rule, buyers like to have plush carpeting in bedrooms and lounge rooms. Other areas, we recommend more durable, easy clean flooring.

Polished floor boards - if you have an older home with quality floorboards, we highly recommend that you stain and/or polish them up as real polished floorboards are a great selling point.

Floating floor boards – floating floorboards are an inexpensive way to modernise the high traffic and living areas of a property. Beware of high gloss options as they look amazing but scratch and wear easily. Perhaps use these if your property has either a couple living there or no occupants at all! If you have a family and/or indoor pets, steer clear of the high gloss.

Tiles – if you can afford to tile or re-tile your property, go for large square neutral toned tiles. If you can’t afford to re-tile and your existing tiles are dated, you can look into having the grout professionally cleaned or you can even have the tiles professionally painted. You can paint tiles yourself, but we do not recommend it – leave that one to the experts.

Slate – slate is a little old fashioned these days but if you can’t afford to replace the slate in your property, you can at least freshen it up by sealing the flooring.

“The adventure of every new day begins the moment your feet touch the floor.” ~Susan Gale~

If you would like to see all our tips, please email info@spartners.com.au to request a copy of our Preparing Your Home For Sale booklet.

Tip # 1 - To Help You Get That Rental