HMO Investing Wendy Whittaker-Large  

Dressing a Room

As an additional sales tool when showing potential tenants around your HMO, the room ideally needs to be dressed. By dressing a room I mean ensuring that it is displayed to its fullest effect so that potential tenants can imagine themselves actually living there, sleeping there and making this their home. This means making the bed with a duvet and cushions, and possibly a throw. Are the pictures straight, the bin empty, the windows clean? Is the living room tidy, cushions plumped and curtains drawn? Turn all the lights on and consider replacing the low energy lights with higher wattage ones for the viewing. Close all the doors and drawers to the furniture. If the room has a slight smell (either from the previous inhabitant or as a result of being new) stick a plug-in air freshener into one of the sockets. Before the viewing you will also need to arrive early to check all the communal areas and tidy up anything which looks obviously off-putting.