Simple Selling Tips to Make your Home in Katy more Marketable #2
I wrote a blog back in June concerning simple selling tips to make your home in Katy more Marketable and I wanted to write a series of blogs concerning selling tips. I did not forget but due to many circumstances I just did not get back to this series of blogs until now. This is my number 2 tip. Gosh I do sometimes ( not frequently) write posts concerning Real Estate topics. I have found most folks in my market say this Real estate stuff is my job and they have no interest.
I have found during my Real Estate experience there are few no brainers when it comes to getting a home ready for sale. This statement does imply there are no simple fixes it just states most sellers have no clue or do not want to take the time or effort to properly get their home ready for sale.
This specific tip should be on one discussed at length by every Realtor or agent with their client. The tip is to remove all clutter. This is easier said than done. One person’s trash is as we all know another person’s treasure. I firmly believe in developing a plan of action of how to get rid of this clutter or many times just plain old crap.
I think the first step to go through the entire home and throw away stuff such as newspapers, mail, personal papers, coupons magazines, paper bags, plastic bags, etc. You get the idea! Now what I suggest is to recycle as many of these items as possible. Every area has a different menu of items that can be recycled or not. Home files need to be organized and old paperwork really should be shredded and recycled.
The garage needs to be completely cleaned, organized and trash removed similar to the entire home.
(Above image courtesy of Bing free to modify, share and use pictures)
Next step is to look for items which can be donated to charity. This list obviously can include old clothes, furniture, appliances or whatever your household does not need or use. All of these items should be properly boxed and taken to a charity such as Salvation Army, Purple Heart, Katy Christian Ministries, Fort Bend Women's Shelter etc. If you are unsure contact me and I will give you a potential list.
Now we start to get to the hard part. Excess furniture and other items of clutter need to be removed from the home and stored in some type of fashion. Personal items such as family photo’s, religious articles, painting or photo’s covering a majority of the wall space need to be taken down and stored. I think this is a topic which needs to be covered in a separate post.
Storing this excess stuff can take many forms. I personally recommend boxing or putting items into containers and renting storage space. Another possibility is to engage a storage company who will store excess items into PODS and remove these from your premises. These companies will even as part of their services and fees deliver the PODS to your new residence. I realize these methods do involve costs to the homeowner. Some folks may not be able to afford this solution.
A less costly solution to removing all these valuables you think you cannot live without is to box everything in storage boxes and neatly stack in your cleaned out garage in one main area. I recommend putting a large note on the boxes indicating these items are ready for the eventual move of the owners. The applicable Realtor should be told and ask if a note could be added to the listing telling folks these items are ready for the ensuing move. This certainly is not the ideal or best solutions but at least the inside of the home is now mostly clutter free or hopefully.
I have to issue a warning to all folks who want to store these excess valuables at their home. DO NOT put boxes of these items up in the attic and especially things such as fuel cans, paints, paint thinners, or anything which could catch fire or explode. Again this sounds like a no brainer but in my experience it is not something to overlook by assuming sellers will know better! The vast majority of home attics in Katy and through the Houston area have both the heating/cooling systems and the hot water tank located in the attic.
As a critical part of this entire process hire a competent and experienced Realtor such as me to assist you with this entire process.
Comments(7)