By Roxanne Alterio · Place Estate Agents
The difference between a well-prepared Brisbane property and one that is not is not subtle. In a market where buyers scroll through dozens of listings on their phone before deciding which open homes to visit, first impressions are everything. A property that looks tired, cluttered or poorly maintained will be priced accordingly by every buyer who walks through.
These 10 tips are ordered by impact. Do them in sequence and your property will be in the strongest position it can be before the agent starts the campaign.
Before you speak to a single agent or trade, know what your property is actually worth. Pull the comparable sales for your specific street. Know whether a $30,000 kitchen renovation will add $50,000 or $15,000 to your result. An independent valuation gives you the data to make every subsequent decision rationally rather than emotionally.
Buyers need to be able to picture themselves living in your home. Personal items, excess furniture and clutter all make that harder. Hire a storage unit for 6 to 8 weeks and remove anything that is not essential. The goal is for every room to feel spacious, neutral and move-in ready.
Walk through your property with a buyer's eye. Fix everything you have been meaning to fix for the past two years. Running toilets, sticking doors, cracked tiles, dripping taps, broken fly screens. These small issues signal to buyers that the property has not been well maintained, and they will deduct far more from their offer than the actual cost of the repair.
A full interior repaint in a neutral contemporary colour is consistently the highest return pre-sale investment for Brisbane sellers. It makes a tired property look brand new in photography, and it removes all evidence of the previous occupants. Keep it simple: warm white or off-white throughout. Let the styling add the colour.
Book a professional clean after all trades are complete and before the stylist arrives. Every surface, window, floor and fitting should be spotless. Buyers notice clean. They also notice the absence of it. This is not the time for a quick vacuum.
The exterior is the first thing buyers see when they arrive at an open home and the first frame in most listing photography. Pressure wash the driveway and paths, trim hedges, mow and edge the lawn, refresh garden beds and clean the gutters. A well-presented exterior creates the expectation of a well-maintained interior.
Styled properties sell faster and for more money than unstyled ones. A good stylist knows which furniture proportions suit which rooms, how to create flow through a space and how to make a room photograph well. For a 3 or 4 bedroom Brisbane house in the $1 million-plus range, professional styling typically costs $2,000 to $4,000 and is almost always recovered in the result.
Your listing photos are your property's first impression for the majority of buyers. Smartphone photos taken the afternoon before the listing goes live are not good enough. Book a professional photographer who shoots residential property in Brisbane. Allow time for twilight shots, which consistently perform better than daytime-only listings in this market.
Queensland requires smoke alarm compliance certificates before settlement. A Form 2 seller disclosure must be provided before any contract is signed. Getting a building and pest inspection done before the campaign, rather than in the cooling-off period, means you know what is there and can address it on your terms rather than under buyer pressure. Do not leave compliance to the last minute.
Your agent is the final variable. A well-prepared property with the wrong agent is still a risk. Research agents by their actual recent sales in your suburb, not their marketing materials. How many properties have they sold in the past 12 months within 2 kilometres of yours? What was their average days on market? What was the gap between their appraisal and the actual sale price? These are data questions and they have data answers.
Do these steps in sequence: valuation first so you know what preparation is worth doing, then maintenance and painting, then cleaning, then styling, then photography. Each step sets up the next. Doing them out of order wastes money.
If you have a question about anything in this article or your Brisbane property, Roxanne is happy to chat. Free and no obligation.
If you have a question about anything in this article, or about your Brisbane property, Roxanne is happy to chat. Free and no obligation at any stage.