New door knobs could get you to sell your property. Here are three other quick fixes fixes from SA d
Category Property Selling Info
South Africa continues to be a buyers' market, with house prices looking limp and the average time to sell a house extending to beyond four months.
But a couple of quick DIY fixes can help increase your odds.
Business Insider South Africa asked three decor experts what they would do to sell their homes quicker:
Paint
Charl Edwards, Superbalist.com's decor editor, says a good clean fresh coat of paint is always a good idea. "It's obvious, but not always done."
Suné Fick, senior décor buyer for @home, recommends paint in a "trending" colour. This will liven up any room and make it "fresh and exciting".
According to the colour standard group Pantone, this year's most trendy colour is "coral".
Kansai Plascon says pastel paired with gold accents and a "pop of saturated pastel green" are in this year.
Avoid patchwork floors
Wicus Pretorius, editor Tuis and Home magazine, believes that rather than trying to fix your flooring with expensive patches here and there, you should replace all of it with more affordable flooring. Flooring is the "fifth wall" of your house, he says.
"Vinyl flooring in my opinion is better than laminated floors, and will last longer in 'wet' areas." Cement floors are still popular, and cement-look and wood-look ceramic tiles are available in a wide variety of designs, Pretorius said. "Tiles of course are colder, but loose rugs can fix that problem."
Add greenery
Superbalist' Edwards says some greenery can inject life into someone's home. "Add flowers to the entrance hall, fruit on the kitchen counter, candles in the bathroom and bedroom, and add a scent." He says home viewers tend to rely on all of their senses when making a purchase. "These small touches can have the biggest impact, especially when the budget is tight and there's no time for a renovation."
Replace doorknobs
One quick and relatively to make a space feel new is to replace small inexpensive items like door knobs on cupboards, says Fick. Also look at bathroom fittings that can be replaced. It's also always a good idea to add extra cupboard space and shelving.
Home magazine's Pretorius says bathrooms and kitchens are the most important rooms to invest in. "That's where most of your budget should be spent."
He believes South Africans are far more realistic and pragmatic in their approach to decor than other countries,
"This is likely a result of a poorer economy, but also because people are decluttering and scaling down," Pretorius told Business Insider South Africa.
"(They would rather have) one superb, expensive item, than cupboards filled with 'stuff' that hardly ever gets used."
He said South Africans also tend to be more creative, and enjoy do-it-yourself (DIY) projects than others. "We are a society of fixers and doers, and this is also visible in our homes."
Author: James de Villiers , Business Insider SA