Tips for summertime home selling

Although it is one of the most hackneyed and often repeated pieces of wisdom that residential estate agencies communicate to the public, it nevertheless remains true that spring and early summer are ideal times to sell a home.

Such initiatives as replanting the garden to give it more colour, upgrading and cleaning the swimming pool and, inside the house, cleaning all the carpets, curtains and tiles can - and do - make a huge difference to visitors’ impressions.

This is according to Bill Rawson, Chairman of the Rawson Property Group, who says by this stage of the year not only is the weather good, but the long evenings make it easier for people to get out and look at homes and meet estate agents.

By this time, too, he says many people will know whether they are to be transferred or if they are in line for earning more. He says it is also the period in which parents start looking for new schools for their children, and it is an excellent time to present one’s garden and home in the best possible way.

This last point, Rawson says, is exceptionally important and sellers cannot be reminded too often that every rand spent on smartening up their home will be a good investment. Such initiatives as replanting the garden to give it more colour, upgrading and cleaning the swimming pool and, inside the house, cleaning all the carpets, curtains and tiles can - and do - make a huge difference to visitors’ impressions.

Rawson says that, above all, ensure that the approach to the home is looking good, because this is the first thing that prospective buyers will see, and it may well set the tone.

Anyone selling a home at the moment should be looking back on a fairly lengthy period in which they have been able to achieve above inflation growth on their home’s value, and they are therefore in a position to make a significant profit, he says. The latest (November) Absa home loan indices report shows that, despite a slowdown in price growth this year, medium and large sized homes have seen a more or less consistent growth path since early 2012, and on an annualised basis show respectively seven and eight percent nominal growth increases. Average prices in these two categories are now R1.173 million and R1.818 million respectively.

Rawson says when you compare these prices to those of a decade ago, the old message is reinforced - investing in a home for your family to live in is the wisest move a family can make.