Selling in the Sun: How to Prep the Home for Sale in Spring and Summer
All Active Rainers should stop by Chrissy Doremus’ blog and U.S. Inspect’s web site for a set of excellent hand outs for home owners, buyers and sellers. They have put together some excellent information. (And the price is right as well :-) )
I thought this topic was a great candidate to be featured in my print library. As always, being in the library means that I've added the capability to add your logo and use in your marketing!
The Selling in the Sunshine blog is also pasted below.
Description: This time of year can be a wonderful time to sell a house, the foliage is in full bloom, sunlight pours through your home highlighting its features, and many people are simply smitten with the sunshine and are eager to call your place their new home. A great way to prepare your home for sale is to take care of some maintenance tasks and to otherwise polish the property. Warm weather preparations are no different, just with a little extra focus on harnassing the natural benefits of the season.
original blog post:
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During the spring and summer months temperatures aren’t the only thing heating up—so is the real estate selling season. This time of year can be a wonderful time to sell a house, the foliage is in full bloom, sunlight pours through your home highlighting its features, and many people are simply smitten with the sunshine and are eager to call your place their new home.
As always, a great way to prepare your home for sale is to take care of some maintenance tasks and to otherwise polish the property. Warm weather preparations are no different, just with a little extra focus on harnessing the natural benefits of the season.
We’ve all heard of spring cleaning, but no matter what the time of year, cleaning is also the most basic form of home maintenance, and is a great place to spend some targeted energy when listing a home. By paying close attention to tasks that help highlight the freshness in your house, you’ll be taking extra steps to impress potential buyers.
A good way to make sure you get to all the tasks your particular house requires, is by creating your own custom checklist ahead of time. A great approach is to walk around your home with a note pad, and jot down each task you'd like to do in each room (you can organize your plan of attack later).
Here are 10 great ideas you might want to include on your list!
- Clean Ceiling Fans: Slip a pillowcase over each fan blade and slide any dust away without a mess. It’s as simple as that. Then, when you turn on the fan, make sure it’s turning in the right direction (look for a tiny sliding switch that changes the direction). Make sure yours are set so that, when you stand underneath, you can feel the fresh, cooler air blowing down into the living space.
- Launder or Vacuum Curtains: This is not only refreshing, but it will help to eliminate the dust, dander, pollen and other allergens that may have accumulated on the fabric over the long winter—which could exacerbate spring allergies for anyone in the home.
- Dust: Dust, dust, dust: Clean all the surfaces in the home. Sunlight is great, but we all know how nicely it highlights the presence of dust.
- Freshen Up: Pick up a few packets of unsweetened lemonade powder and empty a packet into your dishwasher soap dispenser. Run the EMPTY dishwasher through a full cycle and you’ll love the result—a clean, lemony scent! While you’re at it, quarter up a few lemons, squeeze the juice into your ice-water, tea, or onto your fish then throw the quarters (peels and all) into the disposal. Run cold water and grind away. The smell is great and, the citric acid kills smells and maybe even a few germs.
- Vacuum Furniture: Clean the surface of pet hair, dust and other dirt, and don't forget to lift the cushions and vacuum crevasses too.
- Clean Pillows: We often change our pillowcases, but how often do we launder our actual pillows? Follow tag instructions to help eliminate mold, bacteria, and smells and stains too. Clean fabrics do wonders for improving the overall freshness of the smell in the home.
- Clear the Cobwebs: A dust buster or small vacuum is great for paying attention to all the corners and crevasses of your house and sucking away dust bunnies and cobwebs.
- Clean the Windows: This not only makes your windows look nicer, but helps to let in more light.
- Open windows: Leave those windows open to air out the house. It smells great and also helps to let stagnant air and indoor allergens escape. Just remember to close them when you are radon testing! Learn more at: usinspect.com/AboutRadon.
- Organize & Purge: Okay, this one is great for any season whether your selling or not! Clean closets, organize drawers, and sort through the stacks—somewhere underneath the piles of mail, laundry and over-due library books is your beautiful house!
Posted by: Chrissy Doremus, U.S. Inspect Blog
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