While we’re in the midst of Autumn and all confined to our homes for most or all of the time, it is a great time to start thinking of how we can get our homes ready for winter. Especially if you are looking to put your home on the market.

Here are some easy tips to help you ensure that you are ready to showcase the best features of your home when it comes time to start those open homes.

Shine a light

A sunny home is something everyone craves. It not only helps to keep the home warm and dry; it also gives people a great feeling when they walk into a sunny room. Trim trees around your property that could be hindering natural light flowing in, clean windows inside and out to make sure that there is nothing to stop what little light there is during these autumn and winter months getting in. On the inside, make sure you have adequate lighting to ensure your spaces are well lit. This could mean changing the type of lightbulbs you use, purchasing lamps or just moving them around the room to help brighten it up.

Clean it up

The exterior of the home will be the first impression for buyers. Washing the exterior of your home is something that we know we should do once a year, but it often doesn’t happen! If you have a multi-story home you may want to enlist the help of a professional for safety reasons, otherwise you can give this a go yourself. Your local Bunnings or Mitre 10 will have exterior house wash detergent that you can use in conjunction with a water blaster or hose and telescopic brush. If you’re wanting to be more environmentally friendly, a quick Google search for some concoctions containing white vinegar or biodegradable dish soap are readily available. Either way, having a clean and shiny exterior will be worth the money or time you invest, not to mention it helps to lengthen the life of your paintwork by removing grime and gunge. 

In these colder months, many of us find the paths around our home can become mossy or mouldy and potentially dangerous to walk on. While you’re giving the house a good wash, get stuck into these too. Again, there are detergents available from your local hardware store or you can use other non-toxic methods but either way, you will need to have a good hard bristled broom or brush and be prepared to do a little scrubbing. In the end, these will look great and it will save you from having to tread carefully when putting out the washing or walking out into the garden so it’s well worth the effort.

While you’re out there, clean any leaves or dirt from guttering. It will look great, extend the life of your gutters and allow them to do what they’ve been designed for when you get a big downpour.

Fix it up

Take a look around your home and look for anything like cracks in your plaster or holes in your spouting. If you notice any, get these fixed. You’ll most likely need to get in a tradie but it will be well worth it. Even if you aren’t intending to sell right now, these small things could become big issues if they aren’t tended to right away. Once water starts to enter your home through cracks in plaster, leaky spouting or windows, it’s hard to get rid of and a lot of the time, you won’t notice the damage until it’s too late. Fixing small things now could save cost and heartache in the long run.

As well as the big things, fix up anything cosmetic that you see around the home. Most of these things can be done by any home handyperson with a few simple power tools or a paint brush. Reattach any cupboard doors or drawer handles that might need it, tighten any leaky taps and get some CRC on those squeaky door hinges. With a few screws or nails, these small fixes can go a long way in the overall presentation of your home.

Up your garden game

Whether you’re an avid gardener or not, everyone can do a little to make their front or backyard look a little nicer. Pull weeds, mow lawns, trim trees and bushes, replenish bark or stones if need be. If you want to get more involved, plant winter friendly flowers, shrubs or trees in spaces that could do with a little more life in them. When choosing where to plant trees, make sure you think about the size that they will be in the future – don’t plant too close to fences or paths and make sure they won’t block sun into the home when they grow bigger. Your local garden centre will be able to help you to choose the best plants for the season and your space.

Head indoors

While it might not be as much work as the outside, the interior of your home will also need a little attention. Think of it as a spring clean in autumn.

Wipe clean ceilings and walls in all rooms. In particular, the kitchen and bathroom where mould could have built up. A simple mixture of dish soap, white vinegar and water in a spray bottle can help easily remove any dirt while also killing mould producing bacteria. 

Give the carpets a good vacuum. We’re talking getting down on all fours if you can and get behind doors and any hard to reach places that wouldn’t usually be tended to. Try and get rid of any obvious stains with carpet shampoo. Vacuum up any cobwebs in the corners of the rooms that you might find. If you want to, enlist the help of a professional, but remember this time of year may not be the best for drying carpet – make sure to discuss this when you give them a call.

Make like Marie Kondo

We’ve all got things in our homes that we probably don’t need. It’s time to decide what those are. We’re not saying you should hire a skip bin but decluttering your home doesn’t just make your home look better but it can be a great feeling to just get rid of ‘stuff’ and it will be more presentable in photos when it comes time for them to be taken. Clean out the junk drawer in the kitchen, the old magazines piled on the shelf that you’ll never read again. It could just be moving things into a better space, think about moving the items on the top of the vanity in the bathroom into a basket under the sink or well organised in drawers. You’ll be thankful when it’s time to move that you’ve rid yourself of some unnecessary things that you would have otherwise just carted from house to house.