How to best prepare for selling your home
When contemplating the sale of their property many home owners must take a number of steps and perform a variety of actions in order to properly prepare the home and its surroundings to be listed, inspected by potential buyers and appraised. Some of the work to be done is readily apparent to the home owner, but everything that should be done may not be as conspicuous to the individual who has occupied that home for an extended period. Areas of the for-sale property that must be carefully examined and prepared are the interior and exterior, but the home owner must also be mentally and emotionally prepared before listing.
As stated in the 'Preparing Your Home For Sale' article published on Owners.com, a home owner preparing his/her house to put it on the market should focus “...on the exterior of the house first because if that doesn't attract buyers, they won't even walk in the front door.” This is a truism which can be applied to almost anything put on the market for sale. There is probably wide ranging agreement that a boat, car, entertainment center or apple which outshines the others will attract more buyers' attention and ultimately bring in more sales.
So keeping the exterior of a home-for-sale well polished, or beautified, is topmost on the list of a home seller's to-do list. Keep in mind however that, the optimum enhancement of exterior curb appeal encompasses several tasks which must be attended to, and unless the home owner has a list of these items at hand there is a good chance s/he might overlook them. A task that is readily apparent might be the frequent watering, mowing and edging of a lawn to keep it looking attractive at all times; while the alignment of gutters and replacement of roof shingles might not immediately be thought of by the home owner.
Let's face it, the one thing a home owner does not need to have happen is for any such unattractive feature to be observed and pointed out by someone else (perhaps a buyer?) after a showing, when it's already too late to impress what might have been the ideal buyer; and in order to avoid this occurrence, home owners at this stage of their home selling preparation process should heed this piece of advice from the professionals at Realtor.com:
Your REALTOR®, who is familiar with buyers' expectations in your neighborhood, can advise you specifically on what improvements need to be made. Don't hesitate to ask for advice.
It is important to point out here that keeping a house clean, enhancing the beauty of curb appeal and keeping the lawn well manicured in preparation for putting it on the market does not suggest that it must, or should be an extravagant undertaking. In this regard the article, 'Get the House Ready' published to Realtor.com, points out that home sellers are advised to “...spend as little money as possible...” when preparing their homes for the market; because while buyers might be impressed by a brand new roof, they are unlikely to pay enough “extra” that will justify the cost. To paraphrase, the cost of preparation should in time and labor, but not a lot of money.
That having been said, the home preparation process should not be rushed but rather be allowed to consume as much time as is necessary to accomplish a reasonably thorough completion of all the areas which are in need of polishing and/or touching up, as well as any repair(s) that may be necessary. It is suggested by many home prep experts that enhancing exterior curb appeal can be done in a number of ways which includes: planting colorful flowers; pruning trees and bushes so they don't touch the house and polishing door handles, address numbers and fixtures, just to name a few.
Some things that can be done to prepare the interior include: adding fresh scents like potpourri, fragrant indoor plants and perhaps certain aromas; cleaning out closets and cabinets; cleaning out the garage and basement; cleaning fireplace(s); removing excess collectibles; removing excess artwork and photographs, as well as anything else which creates a cluttered look but is not absolutely necessary. It seems to work best when the bigger and most difficult tasks are dealt with first and gotten out of the way. This includes the completion of any “must-do” repairs or replacements, after which the smaller, more detailed stuff preparation can be dealt with in an easy and relaxed manner.
Speaking of “relaxed manner”, let's talk a little about the intending home seller's mental preparation. As stated earlier if the property's exterior curb appeal is not attractive enough, buyers won't even bother to ring the bell, thereby eliminating all chances of making the sale before it can even get started. Well, the same can be said about a home seller who has not fully come to terms with selling the house and moving out.
The seller's failure to prepare for this eventuality can incur a “willful default” charge and be found liable for a broker's commission, as well as a monetary award to the buyer as a result of that buyer's lawsuit. So it is best that a potential home seller has a good, if not strong, reason (motivated seller?) for deciding to list the house, followed up by actions that indicate s/he is a cooperative seller; because absent this aspect of the pre-listing home-for-sale preparation being completed in similar fashion to the physical interior/exterior house preparation, the entire exercise would end up having been a complete waste of time.
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