3 Most Important Steps Before Selling Your House
1. De-Clutter
a) Furniture- Put any excess furniture in storage. If you have 5 TVs in your house, get rid of most of them and I bet some of them do not work. Put the TV in the family room. Remove the TV’s out of the Bedrooms and make sure you do not have extra furniture; Bed, nightstand, small dresser and a lamp is all you need. Gigantic furniture makes the rooms look small too.
b) Closets- You need to remove all the junk and old clothing out of the closets. Box this stuff up and put in storage or give it away.
c) Bedrooms- Make sure your bedrooms are either staged as bedrooms or as an office. Do not have a junk room. You want the buyers to see this as bedroom/office as they are probably looking for a large house with lots of bedrooms. Give the impression this home has a lot of usable space.
d) Collections- Pack away all your videos, Books, Dolls, Plates, Hummel’s, Rocks, Stuffed Animals, Memorabilia, Antiques, etc. You get the idea as you need to pack this all up.
e) Linens- Make sure the counters are clutter free, the linens are subtle and in earthtone colors and bathrooms are free of sundries. New towels are nice too so it has a clean and fresh look; Earthtone colors are good.
2. Clean House
a) Clean, Dust and Polish- Clean the house from top to bottom and remove all doilies of the tables.
b) Odors- Make sure house smells nice too. This is one of the strongest senses we have. Buyers will be sure to remember your house if it smells good or bad…… Put some plug-ins in the bathrooms and kitchen. Usually a nice fruity odor (vanilla, apple, melon, grapefruit, and pumpkin) and not something real flowery that might make a buyer sick.
c) Windows- Wash “Inside and Out” and the trim on the doors where fingerprints are left. Remove heavy drapes and put up mini blinds or sheer drapes.
d) Floors- Shampoo the carpets if needed and if you have tile or wood floors covered up with rugs then you should remove the rugs and show off the nice floors. If you have a lot of little rugs all over the house, remove all but one by the front door and in front of the sink. You want the rooms to look spacious and little rugs just cut off the room.
3. Repairs
a) Minor Repairs- Make sure you complete any small repairs needed; broken switch covers, chipped tile, missing grout, missing knobs on the cabinets. You know the things you have been meaning to take care of for the past year or so. You want the buyer to know that you have kept the house up in tip top condition.
b) Walls- Patch holes in walls and paint the interior if it looks dull or dirty or the colors are bright. This is the least expensive way to spruce up the house. Choose a neutral color that will appeal to all who visit. Remove wallpaper as it will turn buyers off and make home look outdated.
c). Major Appliances- Make sure the heater and Air Conditioner work properly. If needed, have it serviced as it usually only runs $50-$100. You want to keep the invoice to show the buyers during escrow as this is a real big selling point. Leave the A/C on in the summer about 75-78 degrees. You want buyers to walk in and remember how cool it is. If they think the AC is not working, they will probably not put in an offer and you do not want to give them that idea. Your agent can put in MLS that the AC was serviced recently. Water heater, HVAC, Garbage Disposal, and Stove all must be working.
d) Minor Repairs- You want the house to look nice and well maintained. Take care of minor repairs to make it look like a buyer would want to live here. Fix leaky sinks or tubs. Make sure all light fixtures work and all bulbs are working. Good lighting is important too as it makes the home look biger. Do not replace the fence, build a patio cover, put all new sod in lawn, have the entire backyard cemented, etc.
e) Keep a List- Keep a list of all upgrades and repairs you have done to your home in the past year or two. This list is also good to give the appraiser when they come to inspect. Also the Home Inspector would enjoy a copy. This list can be given to your agent and he/she will pass it on.
Summary: I did an article several months ago entitled 30 Simple Steps to do "Before" Listing Your Home. This new article covers the 3 most important things to do.
If you have any questions, I suggest you call a home stager. But if you cannot afford one, look in magazines and online. You can find a lot of help there and your Realtor can give you lots of suggestions too. Here are several links for ideas to stage your home; 1) Real Simple or 2) HGTV or call me if you have any questions.
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