Having a house on the market for several months and not attracting any offers or interest is not only an extremely frustrating experience but can also cause you to put your dreams and hopes on hold while you are unable to move away from your current home.

There are typically two main reasons why someone chooses not to buy a house. Either the price isn’t right (too high) or the house is not what they’re looking for. If you’ve engaged the services of a good estate agent then the first should not be a problem; your estate agent will have assessed the value of your home and valued it using comparisons to other homes that are on sale in your area, homes that have been recently sold and homes that have failed to sell.

Assuming your house is priced correctly the likely problem is that your house is just not attractive enough to potential buyers. This can be hard for some sellers to understand because they love their home and it has everything that they need. However your taste might not be the same as your buyer’s taste and you might want to consider making some changes to your home to raise the value and help buyers to see that it is the house for them. Selling your home is about showing off your home in such a way that potential buyers can imagine themselves living there – and sometimes you need to make a few small changes and additions to help this happen.

Three Simple Ways to Improve the Likelihood of Selling Your Home:

Fix Those Small Problems – The average person is busy and getting busier. Less and less people are looking for homes to fix-up and would prefer to move into a house that is perfect straight away and requires no work. This means that the small issues in your home which you overlook, or not even notice, may be putting off potential buyers, even if they’re only superficial problems. Get out your tools and get working or hire a local handyman and make sure your gutters are cleaned and fixed, the garden is looking as good as possible and that spot on the ceiling from when the bathroom flooded five years ago is sorted!

Use Neutral Colors – When buyers visit your home they are trying to visualize what it might look like if they move in and lived there; as a buyer it is your job to help them do this. Your idea of interior design might involve bright colors or patterns on your walls but this won’t help your buyer think about moving in. Consider repainting your rooms in neutral colors such as white or cream, this will help your potential buyers imagine what they might do with the room.

Build a conservatory – Building a conservatory is one of the easiest ways to improve what your house can offer to buyers. Make sure you choose a decent roof as this can make a big difference to how people perceive the house. The house is extended by an extra room at a cost far lower than that required for a true extension. Once you’ve built the conservatory your home will be worth more so you can recoup the costs (and often more) when the value of your home goes up. Your home will also be more attractive to buyers especially if other houses in your area lack this feature.

1  Kindesign readers tell us what mistakes you have made when trying to sell your home!

Photo Sources: 1. Pinterest, 2. VanBrouck & Associates, 3. Front Door, 4. Alexander Design Group, 5. Arcanum Architecture, 6. Bosenberg and Company Landscape Architects, 7. Structures Building Company, 8. Studio S Squared Architecture, 9. Ownby Design, 10. Raven Inside Interior Design, 11. Home Gallery Store, 12. Ballard Designs, 13. The Design Co., 14. Linda Burkhardt, 15. Dominick Tringali Architects, 16. Martha O’Hara Interiors, 17. B. Jane Gardens, 18. HartmanBaldwin Design/Build