Selling your home can be one of the most stressful and emotionally charged things you do and every seller wants to have a quick sale and get top dollar for their home.
Every seller wants to have a quick sale and get top dollar for their home and that doesn’t happen by accident. Preparing your home for going to market takes our expert guidance, careful planning and a good deep clean to get your home into tip-top shape. When we have buyers come through your home-the goal is to have them writing great offers!
Get Mentally Prepared
You have already decided to make your move and sell your home…it’s time to go forth and begin to think of your home as if it is a product you are selling. You need to de-personalize and make it appealing for others to envision living in.
De-Clutter & Pre-Pack
You want buyers to imagine themselves living here, not wondering “What kind of people live in this home?”
- Pack up all family photos, images of your travels, books, dvds and movies, seasonal items you are not currently using.
- Pare down your plant collection and clean surfaces throughout the home.
- Know that the special things you surround yourself with, others may not experience it with the your same sentimentality.
Organize Closets and Cabinets
Channel Martha Stewart! Buyers will always explore the house and see what storage capacity it holds. Organized closets and storage areas make the home seem much more livable and gives the impression that the rest of house is taken care of, as well.
- Line up cans, boxes and alphabetize spice jars
- Neatly stack dishes
- Line up shoes
- Hang clothes neatly, with shirts buttoned up and facing the same direction
- Buy matching bins and use them to store away items that do not need to be displayed or are in use.
Rent a Storage Unit
Most of the time when we live in our homes, we have something for everything we do, but it is important to remember that homes with less furniture and fewer items on shelves show better.
- Store those now-empty bookshelves
- Remove extensions from tables to make the room look larger
- Leave just enough furniture in each room to show its purpose and lots of room to move around
Make Small Repairs
- Replace burned-out light bulbs
- Fix cracked tiles in the floor or counters
- Makes sure doors and drawers open properly
- Repair holes in the walls
- Paint rooms with neutral colors
Housekeeping 101 – Don’t Forget a Good Cleaning!
- Wash interior and exterior windows
- Re-caulk tubs and showers
- Polish chrome and faucets
- Whiten dirty grout – Make a paste with baking soda and water, spray with vinegar and scrub
- Hang up fresh towels and replace worn out rugs and mats
- Clean out the refrigerator (yes, that will get opened, too!)
- Dust cobwebs and light fixtures
- Vacuum every day
- Make sure it smells clean – odors and musty smells are a no-no
Remove and Replace Favorite Items
Remove and replace anything you are not including with the sale – window coverings, light fixtures and appliances. We all want what we can’t have and if a buyer sees something you are keeping, they will want it even more!
Details Details Details
- Walk through your front door and ask yourself if this home looks inviting as you enter
- Stand in the doorway of each room and imagine what the room will look like to a buyer
- Check that furniture is arranged in a way that makes sense for the room
- Make sure window coverings hang level
Check Curb Appeal
- Mow the lawn and trim bushes
- Keep sidewalks cleared
- Plant flowers or groups pots of flowers together (yellow is a great color!)
- Make sure the house number is visible
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