How Do I Fix Up a Home to Sell?

Good Morning, excellent point! It's hard for sellers to be objective with repairs and other necessary items to get their homes ready to sell, much of what they can do themselves.

A stager and a pre listing home inpection are becoming common pre-requisites for listing a home in today's market and I think it's all for the better.

I haven't once had a seller that was not pleased and wowed with the changes made by my home stager.  Even the most "hard core", resistant sellers are convinced, once they see the results. 

Part of my service is telling the sellers, I have a tough job for you to do before we expose your home to the market and that is to forget that this is your home and you want it the way you want it. Your job is to now declare that this is a house and only a house, and you have to do things that appeal to the buyers out their in the markket looking for a house, they don't want your home, they want a house they will make their home.,

if the buyers cannot relate the house to their needs, you get to keep it and if you really want to keep it then don't put it up for sale. That is the basic message attached to the old the way we live in a house that is your home verses the way you live in a house for sale is different but the good news M/M Seller is by appealing to the buyer's tastes you will normally net more money when it is sold.

Hi Ed,  It's that old thing about beauty being in the mind of the beholder !  It still comes down to " deferred maintenance " !

Ed....you hit it right on the nose when you said condition and appearance are more important now than they used to be.  Many Sellers don't seem to realize this.

I have to agree with Lenn and Bill. "Deferred maintenance" is the issue these days for sellers. It would be better for sellers to make those repairs, unless they can take the hit on lower price.

Ed  "The first thing you need to do is stop thinking of your home as "home" and start thinking about it as a commodity that you want to sell."

You are right but that is very hard for most homeowners to do, even though they really need to.

I agree that paint can be the least costly fix with the biggest impact if the seller does the work himself. If he hires a painter, it can be costly.

Ed - "stop thinking of your home as "home" and start thinking about it as a commodity that you want to sell"

This is so true, and it's so hard for some people to do when they decide to sell.

It is great when the person you list home for is also looking for a new home with you.  It opens his or her eyes to things he or she should take care of from seeing other peoples mistakes.

#16, #9 and #19- Couldn't agree with you more. With so much on the market you need your home to stand out. Work with a professional- many of whom have options that are very affordable. Our staged homes sell faster and at higher prices. This is even more true if for some reason the home is for sale and vacant! Professionally decorated and if need be, professionally occupied homes tend to present much better. So many advantages for owners and realtors when done well.

Ed, it's so difficult for a seller to detach themselves emotionally from their home.  I don't know if they can completely do that, but introducing a third party such as a home stager is a good start.  Two of the easiest, least expensive points you mentioned were painting and curb appeal, unfortunately it's a battle we fight almost daily with our sellers.

Great advice Ed! We find so often it is hard for Owners to be objective and unemotional. That's why they need our advice, its a realtors job to stay objective!

Ed, you're so right - some times the simplest, least expensive things will help a home sell at the highest price and in the quickest time.  Clean, freshly painted homes really show off a home to it's best advantage.  The rest is all in the pricing.  Great job. 

Thanks for the great information, and a home inspection prior to a buyer submitting a contract is always good, that's where I ' start with fising it up, next home staging.

Have A Great Day